Incannerax
What a waste of my time!!!
NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
Ava-Grace Willis
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Hot 888 Mama
. . . of "young" Madeleine, anything does everything with anything. I wish I could be more specific, but it's obvious that Facebook--even with its 50 new gender\orientation labels announced this week--STILL lags far behind the French cinema in imagining variations of desire and longing. Between BELOVED and last year's sex epic BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR, every possible sexual proclivity and\or perversion is covered at least once. BELOVED more aptly could be titled RED SHOES, as "hot" spike heels of that color star at the beginning and ending of this lengthy spelunking expedition through the cavernous Tunnel of Love, turning "young" Madeleine into a whore, and apparently leading her daughter Vera to dance (figuratively, at least) amid the falling ashes of 9-11 victims. I think it was Gertrude Stein who said, "those who can, do; those who can't, sing sad songs in French." Though lovers of plaintive Parisian ballads will award BELOVED with ratings of 8, it's only fair to point out that one-third of this flick involves people wandering actual French city streets at night, wailing out sad ditties about horribly bad sex to anyone within earshot, as a stage spotlight inexplicably follows them along!
audrey lescaux
This film is remarkable.Beautifully shot, full of inventions, the film is extremely refreshing as most of Honoré's work. The tone is pop and lighthearted, while addressing unconventional subjects, such as elder's sexuality.The casting is impeccable as always with Honoré. If the duo Deneuve-Sagnier and the depiction of a female character of that generation had a taste of dejà-vu (Ozon? Todd Haynes?), Honoré managed to make it feel like unexplored territory. But that's with Vera's character that Honoré is at its best. Mastroianni is AMAZING!! You've never seen a woman in her late 30's depicted that way in a movie.The downturn of the film are the singing parts. It really doesn't work and it's even painful to watch. Other than Jacques Demy's films, one can think of Resnais's "On connait la chanson", Ozon's "8 femmes" or Ducastel & Martineau's "Jeanne et le garçon formidable" as examples of the successful mix of serious subject matters and musical. But with Honoré, it doesn't work (with the exception of the elegant telephone scene with Duris and Preiss in "Dans Paris"). It's tempting to just recommend to skip the singing parts as the film is otherwise quite long.Other than that, the film is a must see.
jerush
I was surprised to see that most people across the internet hate this movie. I don't (and I am a recent Film grad, to qualify that). In fact, this is one of the most perfect movies I've ever seen, and one of my top 3 favorite French films. I was incredibly surprised by how long it was. A musical-y epic? But towards the second half I could actually sense how devoted Honore must've been to this movie, and why he didn't want to compromise it by condensing it. I watched this on my laptop logistics-wise, so I didn't have the same experience as someone stuck in a chair in a too-cold theater. The soundtrack? Exquisite. The cast? Perhaps could've been improved upon, but it's the familiar Honore cast and as such carries with it solid chemistry that was essential to the story. It channeled the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, with its lovely palette of colors. Yes, it has songs, and *yes* it took creative license. My imagination is vivid, so I didn't have to tax it too much to buy the story. I think the <25 demographic would prefer it more than the 30+.I feel that people had problems with it because they were expecting a da Vinci, but this is highly Impressionist in spirit.
doddy_f3
This review can't possibly contain plot spoilers as there was no plot.Acting was average at best. Singing was just awful. I didn't even know it was a musical (term used loosely here) until someone started 'singing'.The storyline was largely incoherent and when it was coherent it was criminally bad. We, along with virtually everyone else, left the cinema before it finished so I don't know how it ended but I can guarantee that it was terrible unless the final scene was Ashton Kutcher revealing that we had all been Punk'd. All in all it was very disappointing, if slightly unintentionally hilarious, and a poor representation of the French film industry