the LAST FILM YOU'VE SEEN thread

[Chris Knipp]

Going by reports I wasn't going to see this, but now I'll reconsider.

It was partly shot in Berkeley, in fact I walked by them making it.

[Chris Knipp]

Benoît Jacquot, Sade (2000) Netflix DVD

An admirable antidote to Philip Kaufman's tiresome and campy Quills(2000)with Geoffrey Rush, this features a fluent, strangely appealing, only mildly reptilian Daniel Auteuil, whose tireless acting fluency here reminded me of Al Pacino. No "de": Sade is at pains to deny he's a noble and favors the revolution and expresses contempt for Christianity and particularly the notion of a Supreme Being which the momentarily ruling Robespierre is promoting. Sade is being held with a lot of aristos at a big "asylum," actually a country-club style prison at Pictus, a former convent with a grand park where everyone is paying a manager for what favors they can afford hoping to remain there till the guillotine is retired or they start beheading some other group. In fact the Reign of Terror ends and Robespierre and his Jacobins are out and the asylum is vacated . (This all takes place ten years before Quills, I'm told.) But meanwhile Pictus is a bizarre mixture of frivolity and horror, since cart-loads of decapitated bodies are being brought to be buried in mass graves, leaving a horrible stench and reminding the inhabitants they could be next to go.

Sade's libertine stances and immense self confidence make him attractive to rebellious young people and he particularly chooses to instruct and flirt with the young Emilie de Lancris, played by "gamine du jour" (Hoberman) Isild Le Besco (of the 2004 À tout de suite). Eventually, in the film's most "shocking" scene, Sade arranges for Emilie to be deflowered in his presence by the tall young gardener, Augustin (Jalil Espert), getting Augustin to whip him first, which turns Autustin on. The longtime mistress he calls "Sensible" (Marianne Denicourt) lives in town with their little boy and the uptight, sadistic Fournier (Grégoire Colin), a nervous member of Robespierre's inner circle. There are scenes with Fournier and Sensible; and others when Sensible and the boy visit Sade, whom Fournier doesn't like, but protects out of love for Sensible. There is also an orientalist pageant depicting the "joys of captivity" which begins as a staging of one of Sade's milder plays. There are astonishingly bright-colored and eccentric costumes, which are apparently true to the fashions of the Terror. Jacquot, in a brief interview which is the DVD's only extra, says he took pains to have all details authentic. But it tends to feel like a project whose vague aim was simply to make a movie about Sade starring Daniel Auteuil. In that Jacquot succeeded; otherwise; he rehabilitates the writer's reputation, or presents him more as a serious figure than an ogre, monster of depravity, or household word. An interesting and smart film, but not a profoundly memorable one.

[arsaib4]

I don't think that Jacquot’s Sade is "an admirable antidote" to Kaufman’s Quills, but its vision is certainly quite contrasting. As extravagant as the English language film was, it still offered numerous pleasures that seemed to be missing in the French's sterile, almost "masterpiece theater" kind of environment. I’m not sure if the Marquis’ Charenton visit is being retreaded here but Auteuil’s rather sensitive, bleary-eyed portrayal turns him into what he should never be: boring. On the other hand, while Rush’s lunatic tactics were also hard to take at times, he was still incessantly watchable. Our "gamine du jour" exudes sensuality but not the innocence required to perverse the ultimate debauchery. And so the affair turns out to be rather mild all around. It was also hard to buy Colin as a sadistic count.

________

Avoid Siri's Hostage at all costs.

[Chris Knipp]

No problem with Siri's Hostage: I'm not tempted. Were you? I didn't even realize Grégoire Colin was supposed to be a count. He was a no account count. I agree Auteuil's and Jacquot's Sade is a bit boring. I didn't find the gamine du jour particularly attractive (as she is in A tout de suite). But I definitely do persist in finding Sade an antidote to the tiresome and tediously campy Quills, and admirable because it brings us closer to the historical period in which it's set -- and closer to taking the man seriously as an intellectual figure, instead of seeing him as he is in Quills, as a grotesque scenery-chewing clown. If you found Rush watchable, perhaps that's because he wants so desperately to be watched.

[Chris Knipp]

Gaspar Noë's Seul contre tous/I Stand Alone.

[Chris Knipp]

Craig Lucas: The Dying Gaul.

http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/show...&threadid=1583

[Chris Knipp]

Rent.

[arsaib4]

It was partly shot in Berkeley, in fact I walked by them making it.

Yeah, Gere's character taught at Berkeley.

No problem with Siri's Hostage: I'm not tempted. Were you?

No, not because of Siri, but it sounded like a Die Hard clone with Willis. It turned out to be crass and offensive.

[Chris Knipp]

Yeah, Gere's character taught at Berkeley.

I realize that, but it could have been shot in Canada. I think his house was a Berkeley house. I'll let you know when I see it.

It turned out to be crass and offensive.

That's a shame. But you watched it ,then?

[arsaib4]

IMDB lists all CA locations for the film so it's safe to go with that.

Yes, unfortunately I did watch Hostage, the reason why I said what I did. Didn't realize that you've now become a fan of French action films.

[Chris Knipp]

I don't think I'm becoming a fan of French action films particularly. I'm just watching pretty much whatever recent French (language) films I haven't previously seen that are available on Netflix and seeing how I like them. The Siri film was nifty but not very memorable; Crimson Rivers sticks more in my mind maybe because of having both Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel and featuring a good commentary by them and Kassovitz as an extra. That was my first time watching a film commentary on a recent film in French, and I enjoyed that. They really went into a lot of detail about the circumstances, chronology, and techniques of the action sequences and the character's interactions and I got a sense of their camaraderie and involvement that was fun and appealing to me.

[wpqx]

got to be brief seeing how I have no computer for the time being.

In theaters I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which imo is the best of the series so far. They do seem to get better as the characters get older, and Ralph Fiennes (this years Jude Law) makes a great appearance as Voldemort.

At home I watched Vera Drake (fantastic), A Very Long Engagement (pretty good), Office Space (I know finally), Kung Fu Hustle (everything I hoped it would be) and Hotel Rwanda (much better than I expected). Sorry for the quick and cheap reviews, but time is of the essence.

[Chris Knipp]

Lucile Hadzihalilovic: Innocence. French-only dvd bought in Paris in October.

[arsaib4]

Peter has created a space for this film in the "In Theaters Now" section; you might wanna post your review there.

I am very much looking forward to watching Innocence. Seems like it turned out to be a good selection for you from Paris.

[Chris Knipp]

Some of my good selections I couldn't buy because they were too expensive, but this one had a nice price at Fnac, €15.