trpdean
I perfectly understand the comment of the person who wrote that they needed a script. They do need better defined characters, an interesting story, a more intriguing atmosphere, more realistic scenes with recognizable reactions to human events, and perhaps something else that will make a viewer want to keep watching. The characters in this movie are so grotesque that I kept expecting one to begin to eat another. First, the fact that people are in some kind of emotional pain does not thereby cause one to find them sympathetic - particularly when there is little attempt whatever to relieve each other's troubles. That is fine, so long as the characters are made nevertheless interesting - through their actions, their dialogue, something.These eight or so principal characters seem to cry, rage, fight, yell, grab one another, insult one another, kiss each other, scream, slap, hug, kick -- non-stop without any dramatic build-up or suspense. It's just relentless displays of extreme emotion - whether it's of someone truly sobbing after finding that the water in the bath is cold (yes,undoubtedly some metaphor, but so poorly done);whether it's because someone else saw the deceased more recently than they;whether it's because someone they fancy doesn't want to be buggered on a train;-- or just for no reason at all.This is awful stuff - a portrait of self-absorbed decadence without anything interesting to say - and to boot, it's excruciatingly slow because terribly muddled for a long time. I don't at all mind working to figure out a movie - but there must be something intriguing to motivate the work. Thus, for example in Place Vendome, we don't know what is going on but it's well worth finding out. Not here - not with these characters who serve simply to embarrass those around them. This is an ugly movie - not because the ugly side of people is realistically shown, but because characters who never become real are created -- to personify ugliness of character.I had high hopes - and am very disappointed.
blackriverfalls
With the exception of Wim Wenders first ever movie (which I forget the title of), this is the most boring film I have ever seen in my life. There is no real plot other than that a group of characters, most ex lovers of the deceased, travel to attend a funeral. The interaction between the characters is so banal as to make even TV soap operas look professional. The only thing that stopped me walking out was my assumption that something was actually going to happen eventually. Ok, big spoiler coming up: nothing happens!The portrayal of the transgender Vivienne was generally weak and reaks of a feeble misguided attempt to educate the audience, at the same time making the character seem particularly self obsessed.
scotty-37
This movie was ok--and probably better if you speak French since it would be easier to watch and not strain to see the poor subtitles on the DVD.The region 1 DVD isn't an especially great value. For one thing, the subtitles are part of the letterboxed movie image--not a separate subtitle track that you can turn on or off (as you can on most DVDs). The subtitles were also difficult to see since they were small and there were a number of times that they were white lettering on a white background and almost impossible to read.The transfer to DVD didn't seem to be especially great since most scenes were very dark or with very dark portions and then extremely bright portions. It seemed very contrasty and I suspect the original film didn't have this much contrast. It's my guess that they made the DVD transfer off an English language reprint of the film with subtitles embedded in the image and not off the best available French masters. I also suspect they used the same transfer for both DVD and VHS versions of the film. I found it difficult to see what was going on since a lot was extremely dark and I could only see silhouettes of people's hair or heads while at the same time trying to read small, poor-quality English subtitles.I find it hard to comment extensively on the content of the movie since I was so bothered by the poor quality of the DVD and I couldn't pay the best attention to the story.I would guess that many non-French-speaking audiences wouldn't be especially interested in this film because there are many characters to keep track of and they all seem most interested in bickering with other characters about romantic or sexual escapades. It all began to make some sense by the end of the movie--when I finally could put together some context for the characters. But by the end of the movie I was already too tired of petty bickering to care very much what happened to these people (and straining at the poor subtitles and transfer didn't make the movie very enjoyable either).
bl-2
I liked that movie, if "like" is the right word for it. I would have liked it even better, if the music hadn't got on my nerves in quite an unspeakable way.
AD
