Some days when I try to update this journal I have trouble deciding which of the various things I have watched deserves the pride of place. This is a pretty easy decision if I have seen something unusual or a film which really moved me or one which I absolutely hated, but occasionally none of the recent candidates seems to fit the bill. By rights I should be reviewing "Casque d'or", a Jacques Becker-directed, Simone Signoret-starrer from 1952. It's probably some 20 years since I last viewed this film which is considered a classic, but this time around I found it heavy going to get involved in the turn of the century tale of gangster's moll Signoret becoming involved in an 'amour fou' with reformed convict turned carpenter Sergi Reggiani and ending with her watching his death on the guillotine. It all seemed terribly French -- which of course it was, but it really wasn't terribly compelling as well. The 'golden helmet' of the title refers to Signoret's blonde tresses, but I just kept on thinking what a huge head she had...
Then there were some freebie Romance DVDs from the backlog which needed clearing so they could be put away (probably never to be watched again). I watched three of these, all of which fell into the mini-series category, but if any of them have actually been shown on television in the past, I must have missed the event. The fun of these (if this is not too strong a word) came in discovering cast members who have either moved on to better things or who were taking an easy pay cheque in their late careers. The one with the most strings to its bow was Rosamunde Pilcher's "Coming Home" from 1998. This one boasted Keira Knightly playing a 16-year old schoolgirl who them morphed into the 18-year old Emily Mortimer (since there were only a few years between them in the storyline, I don't really see why Mortimer just couldn't play younger by a few years) who gives herself to Paul Bettany who is then blinded in the war. The action was set at a splendid country house, the home of Peter O'Toole and Joanna Lumley (which I gather features in a sequel which is also somewhere panting its turn to be watched) and other familiar faces came and went. Then there was Danielle Steele's "Zoya" from 1995 which followed TV-stalwart Melissa Gilbert over seven decades from the Russian Revolution through her trials and tribulations in Paris and New York. That one had Diana Rigg as her aristocratic grandma and David Warner as a would-be elderly suitor, but it was spotting Jennifer Garner (who I didn't even know had a career back then) as Gilbert's troublesome daughter that made my day.
In fact what I've probably been enjoying more than anything else are some shortish Spanish television scary movies from a 2005/6 series labelled 'Tales to Keep you Awake' or some such such and the first two "Spectre" and "A Christmas Tale" were so very creepy that I really am looking forward to seeing the remaining four.
Of course I've watched an assortment of other films over the last week or so, but that is a story to be told another time.
2 comments:
The Spanish series is definitely worth watching with, to date, two contrasting
stories, both equally scary. I wonder if the exotic background adds to this as
I think the same stories told by an English director would have less impast - and
probably be completely different.
'Casque d'Or' is considered one of the great French films with references to the
luminous images produced by Becker, the brilliant acting of Signoret and, less
frequently, that of Reggiani. I don't know that a cinema showing would change
my mind but I was rather disappointed. I did not feel any connection between
Signoret and Reggiani; both seemed to be near sleepwalking through their roles
as if they had no choice but to do what they did. Yes, there were some fine
pieces of camera work but the whole was like a stale croissant rather than the
feast that is claimed for it.
I haven't seen coming home...might pick that up and take a peak...hope all has been well with you....has some ups and downs here but such is life you know..wishing you a great week! Hugs,TerryAnn
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