federicogarciaserrano-13701
Do not be fooled. This film is a historical nonsense, no lack of rigor and truth. a historical figure is used to invent a story that has nothing to do with historical reality or staff Amadeo: never lived in a Catalan farmhouse, but in the Royal Palace of Madrid. It was not homosexual, but was He married twice and had three children and a good collection of lovers female, including Adela Larra, of which seems never They learned who have made this film. The psychological portrait character is a grotesque caricature. Moreover, the film includes one allegedly forced references want to see Spain parallels the nineteenth with the current, either by approximation succeeds. It's crazy! This film does not serve to meet the history of the country, at the time, nor to know anything real one historical character who apparently know nothing neither the director nor the screenwriter and actor. The movie just goes to show until point cinema is an instrument for the lie (as Godard said) and pure invention. This movie makes me ashamed!
Kirpianuscus
not a comfortable movie. too slow, too analytic, form of homage to the fall of world from Visconti's movies, it is support for reflection. about power, about beauty, about choices, about illusion. and that fact transforms it in a form of poem in images. because the characters are only silhouettes, the dialogs - pillars of the atmosphere, the performances, far to be bad, sketches for who the characters are water colors. it is not Ludwig by Visconti and far to be a Fellini. it is only delicate exercise for define the essence of foreign authority in a foreign land.Alex Brendemuhl does an admirable job for define a king who loose the power from first steps in the new country. Lorenzo Balducci is the another significant piece for define the end of the illusion. more than historical episode adaptation, a precious reflection about the illusion of power.
Armand
cold, heavy, precise, delicate.a game. and crumbs from Ludwig by Visconti or Autumn of Patriarch. pictures and atmosphere. large slices of freedom and splendid reflection about beauty, purpose of life, sacrifice, duty, love or power. slow, aesthetic, it seems be part of another world. and this conclusion is not wrong. because more than a film it is a confession from a great artist. not very comfortable but useful. a king in middle of a strange society. and the fall in himself. that could be all. but the details, the dialogs, the acting, the isles of silence, the eroticism does the delicate line between universes convincing. and a film so strange who could be a Fellini or Pasolini or, maybe, Visconti, becomes a trip in essence of few options. and that is the most important thing.
euroGary
Seen at the 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival under the English title 'Falling Star'. When Amadeo is elected monarch of Spain in 1870 he has all sorts of plans for social reform, but those are blocked by his ministers, so instead he spends his days in his castle - which he is not permitted to leave - accompanied only by some shifty servants (and, for a while, by his wife).This could have been a grand historical drama, but instead is used chiefly as an excuse for a series of vignettes of varying accessibility: Amadeo teaches his oft-disrobed kitchen maid to read; a servant shaves his pubic hair; a melon is sexually molested. The tone is usually gloomy (almost typed 'boring'!) which makes the musical interludes especially jarring: when Amadeo's wife María Vittoria arrives the soundtrack features a Spanish crooner; when she leaves, the bewildered viewer suddenly finds himself listening to a Spanish version of 'I only wanna be with you'.I expect those who care about such things will say this has great artistic merit; those who want more story and character development will, however, be disappointed. Two more points: Amadeo was in his mid-twenties when he became king; actor Àlex Brendemühl was in his early forties when this film was made and, to be frank, looks it. Secondly, if you want a better idea of what kind of film this is, one of the final lines spoken in it is "and God was a turtle". 'nuff said!
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