'Cheri' succeeds in capturing Collette’s world
By Joyce Glasser - 13/05/2009
Twenty years ago, Stephen Frears directed Dangerous Liaisons, adapted from the novel for the screen by Christopher Hampton, and featuring a young, splendid, Michelle Pfeiffer. Set in France in the 18th century, it was about a closed group of bored aristocrats playing sexual games where the stakes are high if the players break the rules and fall in love. With Chéri, Frears, Hampton and Pfeiffer are reunited, again with a film set in France (albeit about 125 years later). Based on the two celebrated novellas by Colette, Chéri and the Last of Chéri , the film focuses on another coterie of wealthy, bored Parisians whose lives are irrevocably changed when Léa, a middle-aged courtesan (Pfeiffer) makes the mistake of falling in love with Fred (Rupert Friend), the 19-year-old son of a former rival, Charlotte Peloux (Kathy Bates).
More Stories
'Gran Torino' - one last stab at life
Joyce Glasser reviews Clint Eastwood's ' beguiling, multi-layered film' .
Valkerie - a turning point in history
Singer’s research, superb productions values, attention to historic detail and use of historic locations (this might have been one the last film to have been film in Templehoff airport before its closure for demolition) lend the film the credibility it needs given the primarily English (and American) cast. Singer deftly handles the material turning it into a taut thriller. Review by Joyce Glasser.
North Face - ascending the heights with a gripping tale
Those who think the ‘North Face’ is that overly familiar logo on fleeces and ski jackets, or the polluted side of Mount Everest, will never make that mistake again after experiencing Philipp Stoelzl’s movie that, despite some flaws, sticks to the gut like ice to the side of mountain. Review by Joyce Glasser.
The Man from London - a film that tries to bring Georges Simenon to life
The story of a railway switchman, Maloin (Miroslaw Krobot) who works nights from a viewing platform over Dieppe Harbour where he witnesses a murder during which a suitcase full of money is thrown in the harbour. Maloin fishes out the case containing half a million in British bank notes and dreams of how his humdrum life will change. Review by Joyce Glasser.
Stone of Destiny - a true story with authenticity
Not a good film, but it won me over with its unabashed exuberance, engaging performances and underlying message. Review by Joyce Glasser.
Dean Spanley - back to the '30s with an original conceit
'Dean Spanley' features a refreshingly original conceit, based on Baron Dunsany’s 1936 novella, ‘My Talks with Dean Spanley’ and adapted for the screen by Alan Sharp (Rob Roy). Set in Edwardian England, Peter O’Toole plays Horatio Fisk, a grouchy, old widower who is unable to mourn the loss of his pet dog, Wag, or the son he lost to the Boer War. Review by Joyce Glasser.
'The Express' and 'The Secret Life of Bees' - two very different treatments of segregation
The Express' well-researched script that focuses on Brown’s amazing career against the background of the burgeoning civil rights movement, makes this film a cut above the rest. The Secret Life of Bees is recommended only for insomniacs or masochists. Reviews by Joyce Glasser.
'Lakeview Terrace' - tense direction and three great performances
The reason there have been so many ‘neighbour from hell’ movies (Pacific Heights, Rosemary’s Baby, Arlington Road, House of Sand and Rear Window to name but a few) is that we can all empathise from the get-go, and half the director’s work is done. If Lakeview Terrace is an above average member of the pack, it’s thanks to Neil LaBute’s (In the Company of Men, Our Friends and Neighbours) tense direction and three great performances. Review by Joyce Glasser.
'Julia' and 'Girl in the Park' - kidnapping and tour de force performances
This might well be remembered as the year of the child kidnapping movie. We’ve already had Gone, Baby Gone and Changeling and now there are two more, Julia and The Girl in the Park, both released this week. Child kidnapping is not the only thing these two new releases have in common: they both feature a tour de force performance from a celebrated, middle aged actress whose character is named Julia. Reviews for both of these new releases by Joyce Glasser.
'To Get To Heaven First You Have to Die'
To Get to Heaven First You Have to Die offers up bleak, derelict fringes of abandoned cities, nasty architecture, filthy buses, and miserable people. With all due respect to the people of Tajikistan, it’s the pits. Review by Joyce Glasser.
Changeling - a monumental new film from Clint Eastwood
Thirty-seven years after Roman Polanski’s monumental China Town exposed the corruption behind the Los Angeles water wars of the 1920s and 1930s, 78-year-old Eastwood explores one of the biggest political scandals in the late 1920s, with the equally monumental Changeling. Joyce Glasser reviews one of this month's top new films.
Flawless - a diamond of a new film?
If the film of a diamond heist itself is not entirely flawless, it’s almost as rare as the Tiffany Yellow: a non-violent, mildly entertaining heist movie featuring characters over the age of 45 who are still working and a middle-aged, female protagonist who isn’t somebody’s mother. Review by Joyce Glasser.
'Blindness' - ‘If you can see, look. If you can look, observe.’
You go for a decade without seeing a movie about quarantine, and then, two crop up in a week. Review by Joyce Glasser.
'Tis Autumn - the search for the roots of jazz
‘Tis Autumn… the Search for Jackie Paris is a fascinating documentary about an American jazz singer who toured with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, made five LPs in the 50s and 60s, made Esquire’s Top Vocal Picks six years in a row, was praised by Ella Fitzgerald and, according to Hoagy Carmichael, immortalised the song ‘Skylark’. Review by Joyce Glasser.
