Reviews (29)

Wonderful Film, An Homage to USA Jazz In Paris
The late saxophonist, Dexter Gordon, was absolutely fabulous in this film about an American jazz musician in Paris as the 1950s come to a close. He befriends a young Frenchman who tries to help him but ultimately such friends will always be the givers in a relationship with a jazz artist. There is dialogue in this movie that is always the first thing I remember about it. Gordon's character wonders why people always expect that by escaping to somewhere else, that they will find a new life. "But you're still yourself when you land there," he adds, "You'd have to be a different person inside if you wanted to escape into a new life." These are prophetic words because although race-blind Paris will offer yet another jazz opportunity to this American black musician, he will never escape from himself. He ultimately sees a French psychiatrist when he can't stay away from booze and drugs. "I can't turn off the music in my head," he says, "It is always playing." Perhaps no truer words have ever been spoken by an artist because even those with smaller gifts in the fine arts see images or hear music in their heads. They might be able to turn it off at times but a huge talent won't be able to do so. As they say, there is no free lunch. This film also offers a superb soundtrack that I had to buy upon leaving the movie theater. This is an excellent film where you are justified in owning both the DVD film and the CD soundtrack.

Real emotions from real characters
This touching and realistic movie is quietly dedicated to jazz pianist Bud Powell and saxophonnist Lester Young (both expatiriates who lived in Paris) on whose life the character of "Dale Turner," the saxophonist, is based. The character of Dale Turner, a jazzman in his last days, is played by Dexter Gordon, a jazzman soon to die of throat cancer. Dexter Gordon, a real-life expatriot jazzman who spent much of his playing years in Denmark, deservedly received an academy award nomination for his moving portrayal based on not only a real life story but people and settings with which he was personally familiar. In many ways it is the story of all three musicians, Gordon, Powell and Young. But even more it is based on a fine book on the life of Bud Powell by the young Frenchman who befriended him (which I cannot put my hands on right now). It's as close to truth as you can come. By the way, Dexter played Montreux the next year and while he sounds fragile in the film, he play with great strength.

Gordon rips off Bud Powell
This is a rip off of the Bud Powell story, plain and simple. Francis Paudras was an artist of sorts, similar to the graphic artist in the movie. Francis lived with his girlfriend rather than his daughter. Buttercup was the devil woman in Powell's life, they don't even bother to change the name here. Making money off of the story of Bud Powell without having to pay anyone for it seems ridiculous to me. If you want the real story behind this movie, read "Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell", written by Paudras himself. The book, while tedious at times, is drenched with the emotion of a truly heartbreaking story, rather than this cheap ripoff.

Friendship, music and far too much whisky
This movie stars Dexter Gordon and features among others Herbie Hancock, Billy Higgins, John McGlaughlin, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard and Ron Carter. If you like jazz that's probably all you need to know to make you go see it.

It's a loving recreation of Paris in the 1950s when many of the best American jazz musicians liked to hang in and around the Blue Note café, a venue which, if I only had a time machine is probably where I would most want to spend my evenings. There we find Dale Turner (Gordon) who is in France playing his tenor and drinking himself to death. Turner is based on a kind of amalgam of Bud Powell and Lester Young. His self-destructiveness and bizarre speech habits (all his male friends are nicknamed "Lady" something or other) are pureYoung. The friendship with a young Frenchman Francis (Francois Cluzet) with forms the film's dramatic centre is based on an episode in the life of Powell.

Cluzet's character is perhaps one of the weaker aspects of the film. His conversations with Turner are a bit unsuccessful in getting very far past fanspeak, You are so wonderful, I love your music so much, etc., etc., which I confess I started finding a little tiresome. But generally it's a really delightful movie and one it is possible to enjoy even if you aren't a jazz nut.

But the music is certainly a huge treat. The scene where Gordon and Lonette McKee's Darcey Leigh (clearly based on Billie Holiday) perform "How Long Has This Been Going On" is one of the most unforgettable and mesmerizing musical moments in any film.

Music aside, it's a rather quiet, low key drama about how Turner befriends Francis and his young daughter who must then struggle to help him control the drink habit which is inexorably killing him. It's fairly slow moving. Not a lot happens. But it's a touching and likeable movie, slow and tender like much of its soundtrack, and is kept interesting mainly by Dexter Gordon's marvellous performance as Turner, a heartbreaking mixture of poetry and kindness on the one hand and hopeless alcoholic desperation on the other. He acts almost as well as he plays and he plays, well, he plays like Dexter Gordon.

Jazz anyone?
Being a sax player, I was completely sucked in. It's one
of my favorites. It's a slow-paced movie, but the acting is
exellent and it's very real. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Powerful Recreation of the Middle Ages
Beatrice awaits her father and brothers return from war. The family fortune has dwindled but Beatrice looks after the castle and its surrounding farmlands the best she can. These early scenes have a beauty and magic to them and Julie Delpy's etheral beauty seems perfectly at home in this setting. Her world is charmed with wonder and she looks destined to live the romantic life of princess. It seems all that is missing is a father to restore the castle to its former glory. The longer he is gone the more Beatrice idealises this man she never knew. When word reaches her that he is on his way back she is ecstatic. Meanwhile we see what kind of man he is. From the first glimpse Tavernier gives us of him we know he is not what Beatrice imagines him to be. As they welcome the father and his band of soldiers into the castle and feed him someone asks to hear of his exploits...a silence fills the room. Reluctantly he begins to tell a tale quite different than the one the listeners expected to hear. We soon realize a more disillusioned man never walked the earth than this man. He paces the halls of the castle like an animal hungry for prey. Nothing is sacred to him, nothing safe from him. Religion nor family hold any sway over him, he takes what he wants & the biggest prize in the castle is Beatrice. This homecoming begins to feel like a state of seige. It is not long before the prize is forcibly claimed.

Beatrice pleads with the priest for protection but he will do nothing that might offend the Lord of the castle. In fact its Beatrice who is blamed for her fathers actions. Her only ally proves to be a female witch and witchcraft in this film seems to be the one activity available for women to feel powerful and it proves to be quite seductive to helpless Beatrice. Tavernier seems to be saying that once a man loses faith his capacity for destruction is limitless. The father defies every natural law and in so doing seems to beg for someone to destroy him once and for all. And finally someone does.

In other films Tavernier has dealt with family dysfunction in a profound way (The Clockmaker) but this goes well beyond mere dysfunction. There is something compelling about this recreation of the middle ages as it seems to capture the essence and contradictions of the time--and even offer a very modern way of explaining why such forces co-existed.

It's not all Prince Charmings and Happily Ever Afters
This movie disturbed me but was still unbelievably compelling to watch as the three main characters, the father, the son, and the daughter wage an internal war upon each other.

The father and son return after an humiliating experience at war only to find that the battle continues with each other at home. The son is constantly berated by the father for his shortcomings. The father forces the daughter to express the same emotions of compassion and love she shows to her brother to him. What ends up happening is a fierce battle of strength versus intelligence.

A disturbing, compelling, and haunting movie. Be warned, it's not for all tastes.

Offbeat, ritualistic medieval classic
I've watched this film many times, and it never fails to move me. It has the aura of ritual -- as when the father points to his heart and says "Here" before his daughter stabs him, a death he has surely earned. Is this what he has desired all along? Did she have to dress up in her disgraced brother's clothes before being capable of murder? Etc. This film is so un-PC, the viewer might be best off seeing it as an exploitation movie gone arty and strange. Best witch-burning sequence ever. Best dirt-eating. Best ancient castle with hand-held chase scenes. Magnificent acting. Won't bore you for a second, that's for sure. The real thing without any cinematic cliches. Compare to "The Devils" or "The Return of Martin Guerre."

Beatrice (French title: La Passion Beatrice)
This film is well acted and well directed; however, emotionally it is VERY difficult to watch. The father in the film is a full-blown psychopath. It's hard to say which is more horrifying: his emotional abuse of his son or the sexual abuse of his daughter. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this film was, unless it was to de-romanticize the Middle Ages; in this, it certainly succeeds. I do have to give director Tavernier credit for an honest treatment of child abuse in all its revolting reality. Watch it only if you have a strong stomach. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A chamber opera of a film dealing with mortality and family
This film was a quietly moving and wrenching film about the ties of family sharing a moment of grief, all the more devastating for being an undercurrent, rarely articluated. A father is dying and his daughter and wife attempt to build a barrier of denial concerning his true conditiom. Slowly we are witness to the tragedy of human life in all of its mystery and beauty. Each of the performances are a marvel of subtle emotion, and expression. The film explores the meaning of a person's life and attempts to suggest ways of accepting the inevitable, that is death.

A rare gem
I was browsing the video section and picked up this movie on a lark. It is a beautiful movie about the complex family relationships of a terminally ill father, his daughter and his wife. This thought provoking film is set in the Cote D'Azur. Dirk Bogarde is marvelous as the dying patient who sneaks out with his daughter to have a glass of whiskey for old times sake. This is not one of the depressing emanicated man - on the contrary, his outlook on life is a lesson to us all. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Life, Dedicated to the Deceased
Philippe Noiret turns in an unforgettable performance as a French Army Officer given the thankless task of not only uncoverning the identity of all the dead of the post World War One battlefields but also the shell-shocked who reveal not their names but only speak in phrases or silly songs. On top of all of that the powers that be come up with the idea of honoring an 'Unknown Solider' and ask our hero to provide one - an order that flies in the face of his assignment to return France's fallen sons to their loved ones. Also into Noiret's lap fall two women, one a humble teacher, the other a society lynchpin, who it becomes clear are searching for the same man. Noriet is no more impressed by the money or connections of the one than he is by the brass of the General Staff, but as a lonely man he finds himself increasingly drawn to her, but will his shy professionalism allow him to make a move? Wry humor and touching performances make this an important film that expresses the most depressing fact of all: Noriet cares more for the dead he must identify than their commanders cared about them when they were alive.

War and Relationship:Very French
As the title suggests, nothing disrupts life and living persons and definitely not war. Along with humane messages, an impressively strong portray of loving sentiments. Noiret, excellent acting of the lead part. Every now and then, I watched it again and again. Recommended ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Lots of Silly Fun!
The whole premise behind the 570 musketeer films that have been released thus far (Dec. 2003) is pretty flimsy, and the premise behind this one is among the flimsiest. BUT--for people who like to watch adventure-comedies in which beautiful women kick butt, this belongs on your shelf beside the CHARLIE'S ANGELS films. The chief advantage this film has over other members of this genre is that it stars the ever-adorable Sophie Marceau. We get to see her fence with evil-doers and have a tender moment or two with her aging father, the famous D'Artagnan. The script is better than average, and the film contains many other scenes that are enjoyable in various ways. Finally, if you happen to like "musketeer films," this one is far better than the half dozen big-budget productions that have come out of Hollywood in the past few years. (Sorry, Leonardo. Yours stank, despite its high-powered cast.)

Revenge of the Musketeers
The comic tone of the film disappointed me. I adore Sophie Marceau, but her talent was unnecessary for this piece. And the needless breast-bearing was insulting. Comedy should be used to tell the story in period films - not be the story. I should have suspected something foul from a film francais with an English title.

Marceau Carries The Day
The spirit of Dumas is alive and well as D'Artagnan and his three legendary companions regroup and once again go forth in defense of the Crown in "Revenge of the Musketeers," directed by Bertrand Tavernier. This time around, however, it's D'Artagnan's daughter, Eloise (Sophie Marceau), who sounds the alarm after witnessing a cold-blooded murder at the convent she has called home these many years, having been raised there while her father was off on one adventure after another in service to the King. And it's the King for whom Eloise is concerned; in the wake of the murder, she has uncovered a conspiracy to assassinate the about-to-be-crowned Louis XIV during his coronation. Her evidence is a cryptic message discovered among the personal effects of the recently deceased resident of the convent. So throwing caution to the wind, Eloise takes to horseback, alone, to seek out her father and inform him of this threat to France and the King. What she doesn't know is that D'Artagnan (Philippe Noiret) has recently withdrawn from the service of the King, and not by his own choosing. It seems that the King-to-be is something of an upstart, the fact of which D'Artagnan conveyed to him personally-- in no uncertain terms-- after which the now former Musketeer retired to private life to give lessons in the art of swordsmanship. All of which is about to change with the arrival of the daughter he hasn't seen for many years, and who to his knowledge is still safely ensconced in the convent.

To successfully present yet another episode of "The Three Musketeers," it must have that certain sense of bold carelessness born of confidence and larger-than-life adventure, and Tavernier's film has it. Though it takes a couple of scenes to find it's legs after an intense opening that makes you sit up and take notice, when it finally kicks in (which it does fairly quickly) it becomes a rousing adventure steeped in the tradition of it's predecessors. And, as in the best of the "Musketeer" movies, it's laced with subtle humor and intrigue. Tavernier sets a pace that is at times inconsistent, but he provides enough action and fun that it can be easily overlooked; it may threaten to stall occasionally, but never actually does.

Philippe Noiret cuts a striking figure as the aging D'Artagnan, who though slowed somewhat by the years, is still one of the best swords around. He successfully embodies that spirit and sense of "legend" that makes his D'Artagnan believable, and delivers it all with the confidence befitting his character.

The highlight of the film, however, is the lovely Marceau, who as Eloise proves that she can cross swords with the best of them. Her technique with a blade may be a bit awkward at times, but it gives credibility to the character; a young woman raised in a convent-- even the daughter of a famed Musketeer-- wouldn't necessarily be a master swordsman. And Marceau gives a lively performance as Eloise, diving into the action with a reckless abandon that makes her endearing, as well as fun to watch. She has a radiant screen presence that draws the eye to her, even in a crowded scene. But what really puts this character across-- and again, the entire film, for that matter-- is that unabashed spirit of adventure, which Marceau manifests in Eloise.

The supporting cast includes Claude Rich (Crassac), Sami Frey (Aramis), Jean-Luc Bideau (Athos), Raoul Billerey (Porthos), Charlotte Kady (Eglantine de Rochefort), Nils Tavernier (Quentin), Luigi Proietti (Mazarin) and Jean-Paul Roussillon (Planchet). Proving that even Musketeers beyond their prime can be engaging, especially when combined with a spirited beauty like Marceau, "Revenge of the Musketeers" is a welcome cinematic chapter in the saga Dumas began so many years ago. In the end, it's a satisfying experience that will transport you to another place and another time, when chivalry was alive and well, and right always triumphed over wrong.

All for One, One for the Ages!
With all due respect to The Three & Four Musketeers of Richard Lester, Revenge of the Musketeers surpasses these and all other Dumas musketeer films ever. This takes into account a lot of movies, from Fairbanks to Walter Abel, the Ritz Brothers, Louis Hayward, Gene Kelly, Hal Roach Jr., Gordon Scott, Louis Jourdan, Cornel Wilde, and lately Leonardo with Gabriel Byrne et al. Never mind Sophie Marceau fencing with the guys with nary a lesson. Sophie's fine. My money's on Sophie over feisty Kim Cattrall of Lester's Return of the Musketeers. It's reverence that really makes Revenge a winner; reverence for Dumas Pere. D'Artagnan first sees his daughter (Sophie) and mistakes her for long-dead Constance. He alludes to the 'Porthos thrust' and the 'Aramis thrust.' Planchet remains addled, and now aged. Porthos can be lured out of retirement with mounds of food. Brooding Aramis as always follows intrigue. Athos says much with few rasping words. They reunite and allude longingly to the old days, and we feel their aches and pains, and smile at inside references to old foes among the Cardinal's guards. Never mind the slow spots and confusing plot machinations. This is Dumas-inspired after all. Just savor the French sensibilities and the gentle mockery of Mazarin, and D'Artagnan spurring his comrades on by saying, 'We can't let Cyrano have all the fun!' Oh yeah, Sophie gets naked, which can't hurt. And the swordplay is excellent, a la William Hobbs. We may never see the likes of this one again. Magnifique one and all!

Marceau shines in respectable swashbuckler
After a slow start, Revenge of the Musketeers (originally released in France as La Fille de D'Artagnan) picks up some dash and humor by the second half and leaves the viewer credibly entertained. There are good performances from all the cast (except a fairly colorless love-interest for Marceau's Eloise), who seem to be enjoying themselves immensely. The lovely Sophie Marceau gets to parade in a variety of flattering cavalier costumes and the villains are full of bravado and duplicity as befits these sort of romps. Messieurs Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan may be twenty years older than in their heyday, but they still have plenty of fight in them, and when the headstrong daughter of D'Artagnan unmasks a nasty conspiracy -- or IS it? -- they race into action once again for France and King Louis.

The production is top-notch and Marceau's Eloise suitably steals the show, giving perhaps the best swordswoman display since Kim Cattrall's Justine in Richard Lester's "Return of the Musketeers", which this film most resembles. (Close runner-up: Catherine Zeta-Jones in "The Mask of Zorro.") The pace seems less than dynamic, perhaps due in part to the strange lack of a musical score to complement the action -- you'll appreciate just how much the soundtrack can add to a scene when you watch these au naturel fights and duels. But on the whole, this was better than I'd expected and eminently watchable, with a fine spirit that even bursts out of the closing credits. En garde, mes braves! A cheval! (Add an extra star if you truly love films of this genre.) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

One of Tavernier's Best
This film was barely shown in the U.S. but it's a fascinating recreation of French filmmaking during World War II and a moving study of a few of the people who worked with the French Resistance. Much more serious than another recent French release set during WWII, Bon Voyage. The film will probably be more interesting to lovers of French filmmaking than the general public. But the performances are first-rate so you might want to give it a look even if you might not be initially interested.

I used to like French movies
The obsession of French filmmakers with the German occupation gets another airing in "Safe Conduct," a scattershot, confusing and uninvolving tale of moviemakers under the thumb of the Nazis. If Tavernier had used maybe half the plot he has, it would be a much stronger movie. We keep moving back and forth between an assistant director who divides his time between working for the German-owned movie outfit and working with the Resistance; and a ludicrous screenwriter who keeps getting himself thrown out of his lovers' apartments. In the the best sequence, the assistant director steals documents out of a German officer's office, which results in him getting put on a plane and flown to England -- for a weekend. Movie and history buffs are the best audience for this middling drama, which nevertheless has richly detailed sets and costumes evoking World War II. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This was the film debut of critic-turned-director Bertrand Tavernier, an outstanding 1973 thriller based on the Georges Simenon novel. The Clockmaker stars Philippe Noiret, Tavernier's onscreen alter ego, as a quiet watchmaker forced to retreat from his self-imposed solitude and face the messy and painful world when his son is arrested for murder. Tavernier is superb at combining politics and philosophy in trying to solve soul-searching dilemmas, and his choice of actors is always effective for physical and emotional ballast. Here he pairs Noiret with Jean Rochefort, a sympathetic police commissioner. Both have restrained natures and are slow to burn, as they confront the parallels to their existences. --Bill Desowitz ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Critics CAN make good movies.
Former film critic Bertrand Tavernier's debut film from 1973, *The Clockmaker*, still stands as one of the best French films of the Seventies -- a decade that saw some pretty damn good French films. (The two intervening decades between then and now cannot make that claim.) Based on a novel by Simenon, the screenplay was written by Tavernier along with New Wave veterans Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost -- hence the occasional New Wavey jump-cuts and mannerisms, especially early in the film. But Tavernier -- a writer, after all -- soon calms down and does what all good writers do, which is to focus on character. He's helped considerably with this by two tremendous performances from Philippe Noiret as the titular clockmaker and Jean Rochefort as Lyons' chief police detective. Transplanted from the New York setting of Simenon's book to Lyons during "the last days of De Gaulle" (to quote the review below mine), the story is about the befuddlement of the town's widowed clock repairman whose grown son has apparently murdered a man. The son is on the lam with his girlfriend, leaving the father with no comprehension of why they did it. We soon learn that he has no comprehension of his son, period, despite the fact that the son still lives at home and that they are on relatively good terms. But "good terms" are not the same thing as involvement, knowledge, or caring. (Deftly, Tavernier makes a political parallel to the main plot with an interweaving theme about France's government during this period: French citizens are, according to the radio, "89% happy", but at the same time there are leftist insurgents and terrorists burning cars and striking factories.) The most interesting conflict in this character study is between Noiret and Rochefort's compassionate detective on the case: Rochefort, having an adult son of his own that he hardly knows, latches onto Noiret, perhaps hoping that the clockmaker's experiences in this awful situation might provide some insights for his relationship with his own kid. The main suspense in this "thriller" is whether or not Noiret will allow himself to be taken under the cop's wing. His son may get a lighter prison sentence as a result, but the compromises entailed in not standing by the kid will only widen the distance between them. So . . . an action-adventure about lovers on the lam? Hardly. Tavernier is interested in the deeper stuff. *The Clockmaker* is a difficult, thoughtful, emotional film that deserves wider recognition on this side of the pond. This DVD release from Kino will hopefully get that process started.

Tender Story of Parental Love and Liberation
Noiret is superb in the role of a (single) father who quietly works towards reconciliation with his son, after adolescence and differences in their characters have put distance between them, when the son is charged with murder of a factory worker. Rochefort's (the cop) performance complements Noiret's. The main theme, exquisitely developed, is the challenge of authenticity in the love between parents and children; political alienation of the French working class people in the last days of DeGaulle is the (perhaps allegoric) secondary theme. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Real French Connection
This is one of the best police dramas to come out of France in years. Charlotte Kady has a small gem of a role as an undercover cop in DEA style crime unit. Strong performance and great directing make this a foreign film buff's dream. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

an authentic feel for the the blues
I saw this years ago on late night German TV and rang the station to get details the next day. They wanted to sell me there own copy for 200 Deutschmarks. This was about 8 years ago but I cannot forget the impressions of that night from this film. I am keen to have this and am overwhelmed to find it offered here.

Pass the grits and gravy
A French film crew travels in Mississippi seeking the roots of the blues. There are elements of travelogue (small town/rural) and historical documentary (interviews that focus largely on the role of the black church in the social and political fabric of the south), but the rest is performance footage of some amazing musical performances, almost half gospel, the rest blues, gospel's secular cousin. The performances are all for small groups (some only for the film crew) and are not slick and commercial--some are rather rough hewn. The filming made me feel "right there" but it was not an immediacy acheived with jerky, blurry images and fuzzy sound. This is quality film work that lets the quality and deep expression of the musical perfomances shine through. Some of my favorite segments: an all female choir, a young man with two drums keeping a furious rhythm at a church celebration, a harmonica player backed up by guitar and drums, and a man playing blues on a cane fife, first solo sitting on his mule drawn wagon while the filmmaker holds the reins, then in a procession accompanied by two drums. Almost all in English with only a few subtitles.

mississipi blues
I'm a brazilian painter.I saw that film years ago in international show of cinema in sao paulo.I liked very much,since that time i've been looking to buy a copy. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Life, Dedicated to the Deceased
Philippe Noiret turns in an unforgettable performance as a French Army Officer given the thankless task of not only uncoverning the identity of all the dead of the post World War One battlefields but also the shell-shocked who reveal not their names but only speak in phrases or silly songs. On top of all of that the powers that be come up with the idea of honoring an 'Unknown Solider' and ask our hero to provide one - an order that flies in the face of his assignment to return France's fallen sons to their loved ones. Also into Noiret's lap fall two women, one a humble teacher, the other a society lynchpin, who it becomes clear are searching for the same man. Noriet is no more impressed by the money or connections of the one than he is by the brass of the General Staff, but as a lonely man he finds himself increasingly drawn to her, but will his shy professionalism allow him to make a move? Wry humor and touching performances make this an important film that expresses the most depressing fact of all: Noriet cares more for the dead he must identify than their commanders cared about them when they were alive.

War and Relationship:Very French
As the title suggests, nothing disrupts life and living persons and definitely not war. Along with humane messages, an impressively strong portray of loving sentiments. Noiret, excellent acting of the lead part. Every now and then, I watched it again and again. Recommended ... Read more

Amazon.com

Bertrand Tavernier tranforms Jim Thompson's pulp novel Pop. 1280 into an engrossing and unsettling meditation on moral collapse. Arguably his best thriller, the French director transposes the story from the American South of the 1910s to colonial West Africa of the 1930s, where the very first black slaves entered the New World. Philippe Noiret plays a bumbling police chief who's the butt of ridicule in the corrupt town, with an abusive wife (Isabelle Huppert) who cheats on him and laughs in his face. But Noiret reaches a point of quiet madness, slowly getting his revenge by going on a killing spree. The subdued actor is at his best here, adopting a goofy attitude that works to his benefit when no one suspects him of the diabolical murders. A great subversive film enhanced by Philippe Sarde's jazzy score and wild camera movements intended to be out of sync with the action. --Bill Desowitz ... Read more

Reviews (4)

An excellent but difficult film - Coup de Torchon
Philippe Noiret's character, quintessentially French, sardonic, funny and witty is sometimes overwhelmed by the pace and setting of this film. The underlying themes and metaphors ultimately, if uneasily, resolve but the hugely funny slapstick elements superimposed on the murderous mayhem is a difficult balance.

Chilling, Funny Neo-Noir Masterpiece
This is the film version of Jim Thompson's dark comedy "Pop. 1280" transplanted from Texas to French-colonial Africa. Noiret is the secretly-smart sherriff who slowly goes insane from the brutality and backwardness of the life he is forced to endure. Huppert is dang sexy as the woman who helps triggers the violence. Brilliant film switches back and forth from dark humor to horror: it keeps you guessing and on edge. Yes, you could say it is a mix of Kafka, Beckett, and good old-fashioned American madness, with a Gallic accent. Over the years this sly but scarifying movie has become one of my favorites.

best movie in the world
just as in Shakespeare, everybody dies, and we are very happy about it. Noiret and Eddy Mitchel are excellent, disturbing

A Lot Better Than The Book
Great Movie. Sub-titles are humorous as you listen to the French and read the English. ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Wonderful Film, An Homage to USA Jazz In Paris
The late saxophonist, Dexter Gordon, was absolutely fabulous in this film about an American jazz musician in Paris as the 1950s come to a close. He befriends a young Frenchman who tries to help him but ultimately such friends will always be the givers in a relationship with a jazz artist. There is dialogue in this movie that is always the first thing I remember about it. Gordon's character wonders why people always expect that by escaping to somewhere else, that they will find a new life. "But you're still yourself when you land there," he adds, "You'd have to be a different person inside if you wanted to escape into a new life." These are prophetic words because although race-blind Paris will offer yet another jazz opportunity to this American black musician, he will never escape from himself. He ultimately sees a French psychiatrist when he can't stay away from booze and drugs. "I can't turn off the music in my head," he says, "It is always playing." Perhaps no truer words have ever been spoken by an artist because even those with smaller gifts in the fine arts see images or hear music in their heads. They might be able to turn it off at times but a huge talent won't be able to do so. As they say, there is no free lunch. This film also offers a superb soundtrack that I had to buy upon leaving the movie theater. This is an excellent film where you are justified in owning both the DVD film and the CD soundtrack.

Real emotions from real characters
This touching and realistic movie is quietly dedicated to jazz pianist Bud Powell and saxophonnist Lester Young (both expatiriates who lived in Paris) on whose life the character of "Dale Turner," the saxophonist, is based. The character of Dale Turner, a jazzman in his last days, is played by Dexter Gordon, a jazzman soon to die of throat cancer. Dexter Gordon, a real-life expatriot jazzman who spent much of his playing years in Denmark, deservedly received an academy award nomination for his moving portrayal based on not only a real life story but people and settings with which he was personally familiar. In many ways it is the story of all three musicians, Gordon, Powell and Young. But even more it is based on a fine book on the life of Bud Powell by the young Frenchman who befriended him (which I cannot put my hands on right now). It's as close to truth as you can come. By the way, Dexter played Montreux the next year and while he sounds fragile in the film, he play with great strength.

Gordon rips off Bud Powell
This is a rip off of the Bud Powell story, plain and simple. Francis Paudras was an artist of sorts, similar to the graphic artist in the movie. Francis lived with his girlfriend rather than his daughter. Buttercup was the devil woman in Powell's life, they don't even bother to change the name here. Making money off of the story of Bud Powell without having to pay anyone for it seems ridiculous to me. If you want the real story behind this movie, read "Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell", written by Paudras himself. The book, while tedious at times, is drenched with the emotion of a truly heartbreaking story, rather than this cheap ripoff.

Friendship, music and far too much whisky
This movie stars Dexter Gordon and features among others Herbie Hancock, Billy Higgins, John McGlaughlin, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard and Ron Carter. If you like jazz that's probably all you need to know to make you go see it.

It's a loving recreation of Paris in the 1950s when many of the best American jazz musicians liked to hang in and around the Blue Note café, a venue which, if I only had a time machine is probably where I would most want to spend my evenings. There we find Dale Turner (Gordon) who is in France playing his tenor and drinking himself to death. Turner is based on a kind of amalgam of Bud Powell and Lester Young. His self-destructiveness and bizarre speech habits (all his male friends are nicknamed "Lady" something or other) are pureYoung. The friendship with a young Frenchman Francis (Francois Cluzet) with forms the film's dramatic centre is based on an episode in the life of Powell.

Cluzet's character is perhaps one of the weaker aspects of the film. His conversations with Turner are a bit unsuccessful in getting very far past fanspeak, You are so wonderful, I love your music so much, etc., etc., which I confess I started finding a little tiresome. But generally it's a really delightful movie and one it is possible to enjoy even if you aren't a jazz nut.

But the music is certainly a huge treat. The scene where Gordon and Lonette McKee's Darcey Leigh (clearly based on Billie Holiday) perform "How Long Has This Been Going On" is one of the most unforgettable and mesmerizing musical moments in any film.

Music aside, it's a rather quiet, low key drama about how Turner befriends Francis and his young daughter who must then struggle to help him control the drink habit which is inexorably killing him. It's fairly slow moving. Not a lot happens. But it's a touching and likeable movie, slow and tender like much of its soundtrack, and is kept interesting mainly by Dexter Gordon's marvellous performance as Turner, a heartbreaking mixture of poetry and kindness on the one hand and hopeless alcoholic desperation on the other. He acts almost as well as he plays and he plays, well, he plays like Dexter Gordon.

Jazz anyone?
Being a sax player, I was completely sucked in. It's one
of my favorites. It's a slow-paced movie, but the acting is
exellent and it's very real. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

an authentic feel for the the blues
I saw this years ago on late night German TV and rang the station to get details the next day. They wanted to sell me there own copy for 200 Deutschmarks. This was about 8 years ago but I cannot forget the impressions of that night from this film. I am keen to have this and am overwhelmed to find it offered here.

Pass the grits and gravy
A French film crew travels in Mississippi seeking the roots of the blues. There are elements of travelogue (small town/rural) and historical documentary (interviews that focus largely on the role of the black church in the social and political fabric of the south), but the rest is performance footage of some amazing musical performances, almost half gospel, the rest blues, gospel's secular cousin. The performances are all for small groups (some only for the film crew) and are not slick and commercial--some are rather rough hewn. The filming made me feel "right there" but it was not an immediacy acheived with jerky, blurry images and fuzzy sound. This is quality film work that lets the quality and deep expression of the musical perfomances shine through. Some of my favorite segments: an all female choir, a young man with two drums keeping a furious rhythm at a church celebration, a harmonica player backed up by guitar and drums, and a man playing blues on a cane fife, first solo sitting on his mule drawn wagon while the filmmaker holds the reins, then in a procession accompanied by two drums. Almost all in English with only a few subtitles.

mississipi blues
I'm a brazilian painter.I saw that film years ago in international show of cinema in sao paulo.I liked very much,since that time i've been looking to buy a copy. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Required Viewing!
Now and then brave directors and producers gather their courage and create a film that carries a profound message and seem to be concerned not about the glitz and glamour of their product, but about the impact it has on its audience. The French film IT ALL STARTS TODAY is such a movie.

Briefly stated, the story deals with a committed kindergarten school teacher/director whose pupils are for the most part from homes of poverty, where obtaining an education is unwillingly pushed into the 'luxury' status of adults who are jobless, emotionally damaged, and otherwise unable to nurture the children they have brought into the world. The school is a haven where excellent, warm teachers and staff provide not only inspiration to the mind but at time the only food the children can access. The director struggles with the mayor, the social workers, the System - all frustrating to the point of denying even the most basic essentials needed. When despite all of the loving attention showered on these children, one particularly needy child/family succombs to the social distress of need and the ensuing family suicide sparks the director and his staff to fully commit to the ideals they have been tempted to abandon. The result is an ingenious one that involves students, teachers, parents and neighborhood in a celebration to conquer the grief that threatened to destroy the school's mission. With a cast as sensitive as any ever assembled (including some of the most endearing small children ever photographed!), this movie strikes a blow at governmental insensitivity to the plight of the poor while genuinely and without maudlin overtones demonstrating the difference committed educators make. There are enough side stories of love interest and incidents to prevent this potentially heavy-handed topic from becoming burdensome: preachy it is not. The message comes from the heart and because of the tender understatement of the director's technique, IT ALL STARTS TODAY becomes part of your heart and your belief in the potential goodness of mankind. The film is in French with easily readable English subtitles and the DVD gives biographies on the main people involved in the creation of the project that help flesh out the reasons for making the movie.

I cannot urge you strongly enough to PLEASE see this film. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A rueful epic, Bertrand Tavernier's superb French-language feature, Capitaine Conan, is about a secret war that took place after World War I, when French troops were ordered to stay behind in the Balkans to continue patrolling the unstable borders. Conan, played in solitary fury by Philippe Torreton, is a merchant's son from Normandy who has come alive in the war and finds in himself a shrewd and ruthless guerilla fighter. His elite unit--a unit of "warriors," he says, rather than soldiers--operates outside the regular army, and is sent by the uncaring, aristocratic officers of the high command to take care of those operations too difficult and too messy for regular troops. A monster under normal circumstances, Conan becomes a hero in the hell of battle.

Tavernier uses the widescreen frame to give the action greater scale and scope, but also uses a handheld camera mount to make the point of view as personal, impulsive, and emotionally colored as that of a separate character. The effect is one of being inside and outside the action at once, of being able to see the large-scale movements of the battles while tasting the fear and exhilaration of the individual soldiers. --Dave Kehr ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Unknown Classic of WW1
This little known movie deserves greater noteriety. For one thing it shows a different aspect of WW1. The Balkan Front. Here was a somewhat more fluid campaign and the fact that it is depicted shows that the director wanted to provide a different perspective of the war. Everything as far as equipment and uniforms goes is super-accurate. Even the French Infantry uniforms are shown to be khaki-green instead of the standard blue-grey that they wore on the Western front.

The battle scenes are chaotic and confused and show the ironies of war. The character of Conan is fascinating. He thrives on war. As he once says to his friend Norbert "you are a soldier, but I am a warrior". An important distinction as it turns out. It's interesting to see that the French also employed Stosstroopen tactics like the Germans did. Admittedly these same even more unconventional than the standard. At times Conan's "Attack Group" seems more like WW2 commandos than WW1 trench raiders. I wonder if the director went a little over- board in trying to show Conan's unconventional tactics. Still, the poertrayal seems to work and we get to see that Conan's men are fierce in their unconventional ways. This is contrasted by his friend Norbert who is an effective leader of men in the standard infantry tactics of the war. The friendship between these two in post war Bucherest is meant to show their contrast of character. The fact that the war ends before half the movie is over might seem odd, but the conflict is really between Conan and the French military.

This movie is rich with minute details, and the picture qaulity is often quite dark. Turn up your brightness on this one! While intended to show a period feel, the dark scenes while effective in the movie theater, come off badly on the video screen.

The French military gets lambasted in this movie. Every French officer above captain seems interested only in the next meal, and can provide endless details on how certain dishes should be cooked, but otherwise cares little about the welfare of their men. Norbert and Conan are noteable exceptions in an otherwise inept French officer corps. One wonders how the French accomplished anything with officers like this. Conan's comment that many participated in the war, but only a few actually fought it seems apt as far as the French army goes.

The movie is slow and tedious at times, but all the while it is providing a careful character study of Conan. We see him in war and peace. At one point the movie takes on the character of a murder film almost! The final battle scene in 1919 is fascinating. The Soviets were just beginning to expand after their Revolution and the use of French troops to guard the Balkan border is little known. Another fascinating aspect about this movie. The river raid staged by the Russians explodes into a real heavy fire-fight where we again see the contrasting styles of how Conan and Norbert lead and fight. With the bloody repulse of the Reds at the last minute we see Conan finally lose it as he realizes the war is truly over for him.

The final scene some years after the war brilliantly shows how peace has affected both men. Norbert seems to thrive while Conan's health is rapidly going. This great movie is not your standard war movie. While concerned with war, and is more a chartacter study of what war does to men's souls. It is a fascinating work and deserves to be right up there with "Paths of Glory" and other WW1 epics. Those wanting an unconventional war movie can't go wrong here. This is a French movie that is really worth something for a change.

Warrior and the Poet
This film comes at you like a sneak attack. The central character Conan is always on the move and this film does not bother with formal introductions, we get to know Conan by watching him do what he does best--he leads a select band of men who make guerilla raids often at night sneaking up on the enemy then surprising them with a volley of grenades and then while the enemy is still in shock they rush at them and finish them off with knives. The fighting is absolutely brutal and Conan as his name suggests is an absolute brute but for this time and place he is just what is needed to make the difference. Conan instinctively understands tactics which combined with his instinct for killing makes him the most valuable player on whatever front he is on. He is respected by both his subordinates and his superiors. So long as there is war Conan performs like a man made for such a task. As the war ends Conans band of fighters do not take well to the transition to civilian life where petty authorities(in most cases men who never saw any action)call all the shots and reap all the rewards. In war things were quite clear and the band of fighters knew what they were good at and they were admired for doing it but in peacetime the army has no more use for them. Many of the men in Conans band were recruited from prisons and in peacetime many of them return to their criminal ways. Tavernier is doing several things at once with this film. He is telling the story of Conan himself but using the story to illustrate large social themes. Tavernier loves Conans earthiness and through him we experience the exileration of life being lived with a kind of barbaric lust. There is something of the French love for the Noble Savage in Taverniers depiction of this warrior but he shows the "Savage" in Conan is not always "noble". In fact as a contrast Tavernier gives us a character who has all the lofty attributes that earthy Conan lacks in Norbert who in civilian life was a literary professor. One man shines during wartime, the other will shine in times of peace. Their curious friendship underlines the many sides of human nature. The two men are fascinated with each other as they are such opposites. Conan is the man who did heroic things on the battlefield and is absolutely inept and unfit for life during peacetime and Norbert is the man who sees through the word "heroic" to the real story of the man capable of doing such things. Norbert both admires and is repulsed by Conan. Both men share a hatred for hypocrisy in all its forms. Norbert voices his disgust with words while Conan knows only how to vent his rage by killing(often one imagines he is channeling rage directed at his own superiors toward the enemy and it is a fierce rage indeed). Both men are however in some ways fighting the same battle. Tavernier's vision of civilization is that it is hopelessly hypocritical and compromised. With these two characters he gives us two possible reactions to that state of things-- Conan earthy simplicity only capable of expressing itself with violent outbursts and highly educated Norberts lofty attempts to reconcile mans conflicted state by understanding it. This is as exciting as any war movie and yet deep as any novel. Highly recommended you view this more than once.

The Kind of Guy Who Lives For War
Capitaine Conan is an interesting French-language war film that focuses on the role of the hero in war and peace. The title character is a proven combat leader who has risen from the ranks and leads a small commando-type unit to spearhead trench assaults. Conan does not fit anyone's image of a military hero; he is not handsome, debonair or a macho Rambo-type. Even the other French regular army officers only grudgingly accept this sloppy and ill-uncultured fellow in their mess. Yet on the battlefield, Conan is in his element, cutting throats and smashing faces. The film captures the hard-nose mentality that arose among the fittest of the combatants after four years of brutal fighting. Unlike other officers, Conan leads from the front and participates in killing the enemy, which gains him the respect of his troops, if not his peers. In the most telling remark of the film, Conan remarks to his more conventional friend, Lieutenant Norbert, that, "millions were in the [First World] war, but only a few thousand actually fought in it."

The film is set on the obscure Salonika front in 1918, with the French trying to break through the crumbling Bulgarian defenses. In one action, there is an interesting contrast between the adroit commando tactics of Conan's unit versus the costly frontal assault methods of other French infantry units. After the armistice, which arrives about one-third through the film, the French troops remain in the Balkans as occupation troops. In one final fling, Conan's troops are even involved in repulsing a Bolshevik Russian raid across the Romanian border. The one other really telling scene in the film occurs at the end, when Lieutenant Norbert tracks down Conan years later, in civilian life. While Norbert is flourishing, Conan is a shadow of his former self, slowly dying of cancer. Of course, the director infers that the absence of war and the status he derived as a military hero is what is actually devouring Conan. There is nothing particularly new in this film, but it does an effective job of portraying the kind of gritty characters that thrive on war, in comparison to the vast majority of people who shrink from its horrors.

Slow but powerful WWI drama
This film's virtues have been well documented by the previous in depth review. I found this movie slow at times, which can be unfortunatly discouraging to those not completely captivated by the time period. The concept for the film is excellent and the characters well rounded and believable. To those interested in the World War I Stormtrooper style forces (most armies took some of their finest men to be trained as commandos to spearhead offensives and during stalemates especially, to make lightning assualts on enemy trenches at night to stab, toss grenades, and nab prisoners) this movie is a rare place to see them on film. This film opens with one of these such chaotic night assaults by the French under Conan. This skill executed by these soldiers under fire is nothing short of amazing, but the film captures the twin edged, tragic swords of what war turned them into. While able to rise to any occasion of combat in wartime, they are totally unable to adapt when it is over. Few war movies besides this one take the fascinating angle of chnonicallying the aftermath, the tragedy of those who become at war with peace.

Best film of the '90s hands down; Tavernier Rocks!
Tavernier is probably the greatest film artist working in the world today, and, yet one of the most misunderstood. Why? Because what he has to say is not only highly original and important, getting viewers to re-examine seemingly impenetrable myths, outmoded illusions and patterns of ritual and communication within society in order to evolve healthier ones in their place, but he often packs it all into a deceptively simple, almost B-movie-like format with feisty, energetic characters that tend to entertain people a little too much in ways not easily associated with 'profoundity .' Since 1973's "Clockmaker" (arguably the best adaptation of a Simenon novel ever), and notwithstanding "DeathWatch," (which cheaply squanders its fantastically relevant premise about 'Reality Television' and great performances from Romy Schneider and Harvey Keitel) and the fluff-exercise of "D'Artagnan's Daughter," his films have always been subtly spectacular for anyone willing to pay attention, but with Capitaine Conan he has really outdone himself (deservedly winning the Cesar for best director).

As a further refinement to the thematic begun with "Life and Nothing But," "Capitaine Conan" expresses a different side of Tavernier's view of how war is not something that goes away at peace-time, but on the contrary, merely an extreme expression and cathartic resolution of all the contradictions, animosities, suspicions, injustices and hypocrisies that seeth under the surface during 'peacetime,' and once more reestablish their old patterns insidiously once the war 'ends.'

Using weathered, almost time-warped Roumanian locations, cinematographer Alain Choquart achieves a truly awe-inspiring look: most of the shots are made using a complex lighting scheme (and later film-stock manipulation to achieve the deep blacks) that nevertheless gives the impression of only available light being used (the light available given the circumstances of the scene if you were actually there in as authentically imagined a war-zone-1918 as possible). As a result, the film looks uniquely dark and shadowy in the night scenes--almost painted on film through a thin layer of distancing, mythic mist in the day scenes. This takes some getting used to, and people conditioned to being spoon fed every scene mega-lit will definitely be disoriented, but the atmosphere achieved far outweighs the negatives. Some shots are kept in total darkness with barely a face showing to indicate who's talking to who! Then the people gradually come out into different shades of light, each shift in the color balance more nuanced than the next.

Tavernier structured the fact-based plot only as the reality-anchored pretext which will allow him to go as deeply as possible into his existential obsessions about the human condition. The layered details and nuances is where the true art of Tavernier lies hidden. The acting from the awesome leads of Phillipe Torreton (a richly deserved Cesar award for best actor), Le Bihan, and Le Coque, down to the smallest bit player is uniformly brilliant (the 'fleshing out' of any given person on the screen, along with the whole implied history that goes with it, is achieved almost instantly, with or without any dialogue).

Like Kubrick's "Paths of Glory," "CC" is only incidentally an historically based war epic (it covers a forgotten chapter of French Army history in World War I, when certain squadrons were kept fighting long after the war officially ended). It is mainly about the thin and precariously balanced area called 'amorality,' that free-for-all zone of those who know the 'real deal' and refuse to be duped, even if it means messing with evil. In a war-time situation 'amorals' of the perfectly shaded 'moral middle gray' tend to do well for themselves and advance far faster than in civilian life where opportunities for 'ruthless expression' are harder to exploit. Conan, a tough special forces officer whose group makes sneak attacks on the enemy and kills at knife-point, is that perfect 'amoral' character or 'anti-hero', i.e., that guy (or gal) who sometimes does 'evil' things, but manages to justify and fuse this within a higher integrity that seems, if not exactly 'good,' then at least somewhat admirable, because it shows true guts in facing the harshest that life offers head-on. Lt. Norbert is the more traditionally 'moral' man who comes to admire Conan's skill at operating rather openly in that precarious zone against the hypocrisies of his superiors (which keep them well-protected and in power) while managing to show unmatched bravery and leadership during battle. When Conan comes to defend a few of his men who have clearly gone over the line and committed atrocities which must be punished, Norbert, given the job of prosecuting, makes his position clear and breaks with him. All through the film he tries to become more like Conan and yet stays wary of the line Conan could easily cross into outright criminality and fanaticism, like Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now." What draws Conan and Norbert together is their common integrity against the hypocrisies of society (made even more glaringly obvious by the behavior of their war-time superiors) as opposed to Lt. De Sceve, the other main character, who's an honorable soldier, but an establishment man who sees strength in an essentially fascist attitude.

"Capitaine Conan," never got the distribution it should have in the U.S. I would conjecture that not 1 out of a 100 people who've seen Spielberg's melodramatic "Saving Private Ryan" has even heard of "Capitaine Conan." A damn shame! They missed the greatest film of the '90s! It's out on DVD, so call your video store, demand that they carry it, so that you can rent it! Or better yet, just buy it from Amazon; if you're a true film fan, there isn't a chance in hell you'll be disappointed.

About the DVD: Kino have done a fair job transferring the film, and the one hour documentary included, by Nils Tavernier, on the hellish anxiety his dad went through making his masterpiece in Roumania is excellent, much more illuminating than any 'audio commentary' could have been, but tell me WHY IS THERE NOT A REMOVABLE SUBTITLES OPTION?! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Powerful Recreation of the Middle Ages
Beatrice awaits her father and brothers return from war. The family fortune has dwindled but Beatrice looks after the castle and its surrounding farmlands the best she can. These early scenes have a beauty and magic to them and Julie Delpy's etheral beauty seems perfectly at home in this setting. Her world is charmed with wonder and she looks destined to live the romantic life of princess. It seems all that is missing is a father to restore the castle to its former glory. The longer he is gone the more Beatrice idealises this man she never knew. When word reaches her that he is on his way back she is ecstatic. Meanwhile we see what kind of man he is. From the first glimpse Tavernier gives us of him we know he is not what Beatrice imagines him to be. As they welcome the father and his band of soldiers into the castle and feed him someone asks to hear of his exploits...a silence fills the room. Reluctantly he begins to tell a tale quite different than the one the listeners expected to hear. We soon realize a more disillusioned man never walked the earth than this man. He paces the halls of the castle like an animal hungry for prey. Nothing is sacred to him, nothing safe from him. Religion nor family hold any sway over him, he takes what he wants & the biggest prize in the castle is Beatrice. This homecoming begins to feel like a state of seige. It is not long before the prize is forcibly claimed.

Beatrice pleads with the priest for protection but he will do nothing that might offend the Lord of the castle. In fact its Beatrice who is blamed for her fathers actions. Her only ally proves to be a female witch and witchcraft in this film seems to be the one activity available for women to feel powerful and it proves to be quite seductive to helpless Beatrice. Tavernier seems to be saying that once a man loses faith his capacity for destruction is limitless. The father defies every natural law and in so doing seems to beg for someone to destroy him once and for all. And finally someone does.

In other films Tavernier has dealt with family dysfunction in a profound way (The Clockmaker) but this goes well beyond mere dysfunction. There is something compelling about this recreation of the middle ages as it seems to capture the essence and contradictions of the time--and even offer a very modern way of explaining why such forces co-existed.

It's not all Prince Charmings and Happily Ever Afters
This movie disturbed me but was still unbelievably compelling to watch as the three main characters, the father, the son, and the daughter wage an internal war upon each other.

The father and son return after an humiliating experience at war only to find that the battle continues with each other at home. The son is constantly berated by the father for his shortcomings. The father forces the daughter to express the same emotions of compassion and love she shows to her brother to him. What ends up happening is a fierce battle of strength versus intelligence.

A disturbing, compelling, and haunting movie. Be warned, it's not for all tastes.

Offbeat, ritualistic medieval classic
I've watched this film many times, and it never fails to move me. It has the aura of ritual -- as when the father points to his heart and says "Here" before his daughter stabs him, a death he has surely earned. Is this what he has desired all along? Did she have to dress up in her disgraced brother's clothes before being capable of murder? Etc. This film is so un-PC, the viewer might be best off seeing it as an exploitation movie gone arty and strange. Best witch-burning sequence ever. Best dirt-eating. Best ancient castle with hand-held chase scenes. Magnificent acting. Won't bore you for a second, that's for sure. The real thing without any cinematic cliches. Compare to "The Devils" or "The Return of Martin Guerre."

Beatrice (French title: La Passion Beatrice)
This film is well acted and well directed; however, emotionally it is VERY difficult to watch. The father in the film is a full-blown psychopath. It's hard to say which is more horrifying: his emotional abuse of his son or the sexual abuse of his daughter. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this film was, unless it was to de-romanticize the Middle Ages; in this, it certainly succeeds. I do have to give director Tavernier credit for an honest treatment of child abuse in all its revolting reality. Watch it only if you have a strong stomach. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Life, Dedicated to the Deceased
Philippe Noiret turns in an unforgettable performance as a French Army Officer given the thankless task of not only uncoverning the identity of all the dead of the post World War One battlefields but also the shell-shocked who reveal not their names but only speak in phrases or silly songs. On top of all of that the powers that be come up with the idea of honoring an 'Unknown Solider' and ask our hero to provide one - an order that flies in the face of his assignment to return France's fallen sons to their loved ones. Also into Noiret's lap fall two women, one a humble teacher, the other a society lynchpin, who it becomes clear are searching for the same man. Noriet is no more impressed by the money or connections of the one than he is by the brass of the General Staff, but as a lonely man he finds himself increasingly drawn to her, but will his shy professionalism allow him to make a move? Wry humor and touching performances make this an important film that expresses the most depressing fact of all: Noriet cares more for the dead he must identify than their commanders cared about them when they were alive.

War and Relationship:Very French
As the title suggests, nothing disrupts life and living persons and definitely not war. Along with humane messages, an impressively strong portray of loving sentiments. Noiret, excellent acting of the lead part. Every now and then, I watched it again and again. Recommended ... Read more