Film Reviews by SB

In his review of this, Roger Ebert said 'Nelly is one of those women who is so beautiful that everything she does is about her beauty'. That is perhaps unfair both to the character and to Emmanuelle Beart who plays her, for the film is really about the way different men try, and fail, to find what is in Nelly's heart. Their approaches to this task vary, but in the end none really succeeds. On the way, there is a typical French dance of intellect and desire, set in a better but not flashy part of Paris. Each scene is well constructed and beautifully acted, with as much unsaid as said. This is a gem of a film.

Set in the world of violin playing and repair, a woman conducting a relationship with a suitable man finds herself impelled to pursue an unsuitable man, who is the work partner of the first man. Like so many women before her, she believes that the unsuitable man can change if she loves him enough. Nothing very dramatic happens but the film is very clear and true in its exposition of feelings. Emmanuelle Beart is convincing as a beautiful, intelligent woman who hopes but does not understand.

This tangled tale of the hidden relationships between an aristocratic and a 'trade' family in the first half of the 19th century was written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and carries many of his trademarks - storyline carried forward through multiple upstairs and downstairs scenes, a bit of skulduggery, an excessive number of somewhat stereotyped characters, and so on. It's still a quite engrossing story. The older generation of actors have the best of it in terms of roles and performances, especially Harriet Walter and Tom Wilkinson, whilst the younger ones, such as Alice Eve's decorative but unfaithful wife and Ella Purnell's lively and 'over-intelligent' fiancee, are more one dimensional due to the script. Production values are quite high, perhaps a little too glossy. The servants are not a sympathetic bunch, by and large.

This film sends up lots of conventions like the American high school film, court room drama, determined cops don't give up, erotic thriller etc, and is centred around shenanigans in a Florida coastal town inhabited by rich white trash and poor white trash. At times it's very funny indeed, either through one liners and sight gags, or more sustained pleasures like Bill Murray's ultra relaxed defence lawyer and Teresa Russell as a selfish mother. Neve Campbell is somewhat wasted in her part as a school student at the lower end of the social scale, and the leading man is a little anonymous. Denise Richards is, well, Denise Richards, and she dominates the whole film. Despite that, the 18 certificate is probably a bit unnecessary.

Considering she was so inexperienced at the time of filming, Kinski does well enough as the tragic heroine, although at times a little more emotion might have been good. She always preserves a feeling of apartness and difference from her peers, which is important. Generally able support from the rest of the cast, including a small role for Suzanna Hamilton as Izzy, the lovelorn milkmaid whom Angel ought to have married. Peter Firth makes a believable Angel Clare, torn apart by conflicting beliefs. It's all too obvious (especially from the buildings) that the film was made in France rather than England for legal reasons, but the rural atmosphere is still captured beautifully. Costuming is quietly authentic.

This unassuming film set in a very ordinary suburban America about falling in love, and becoming one's own person, starts so gently that it's not easy to get engaged immediately. But after that, it hits its stride. The performances are good across the cast, and the note of comedy is sustained well, including the switch to farce near the end. Men are conspicuous by their almost total absence; where they aren't absent, they are usually jerks or weird. But that feels natural too. There is perhaps a bit too much effort to point up class differences between the two young women, but that isn't serious. The title is ironic, except that deep down it isn't.

In this daring-do adventure tale of a struggling young aviator in the late 1930s who falls amongst crooks and spies and has to fight for America and his girl using only his rocket-pack, Billy Campbell makes a rather one-dimensional hero. But that probably doesn't matter too much in this instance. He is outshone easily by Timothy Dalton hamming it up as the chief villain and by Jennifer Connelly, who manages once again to combine innocence, determination and sexiness in a very natural way. The FBI appear to eb as crooked as the crooks. The period settings are fine, awkward questions about how it all works are avoided, a big airship appears at the end for the final shoot-out, and it's a pity the film was somewhat overshadowed upon its release.

This long, interesting film in German (subtitles) set mostly in Dresden and Berlin before, during and after WWII, stars Sebastian Koch as a doctor who has been involved in unethical practices. Koch's performance has none of his usual easy charm; this is a dour, conflicted man who find the consequences of his actions affecting his own family down the line.

There are some fascinating portryals of ordinary life in the period (post-war, the setting is East Germany) and there is no fear of letting things be a natural length rather than hurried along. Among the supporting cast, Saskia Rosendahl gives a luminous performance as a young woman let down by everyone.

This drama by Stephen Poliakoff about British/English identity, spying/end-of-empire etc is very handsomely made, set in the late 50s in a time of anxiety about nuclear bombs, and using gorgeous locations and colour palette. The story revolves around an emigre White Russian Jewish family, trying to improve their place in 'society' and not always sure what that place could reasonably be. Toby Stephens plays an inventor whose connections and invention bring him to the attention of the security services, who set about using him and his family.

There is a rich assortment of minor characters, some more mad than others. By and large the cast perform well, especially Lily Sacofsky as the daughter and Keeley Hawes as the perfect wife for an imperfect MP. If there are criticisms to be made, one is that Poliakoff lays his points about discrmination and prejudice on with a trowel, often revealing his own uncertain understanding of English culture in the process. Another is that the sub-plot concerning the lost son of the MP is not well integrated into the main plotline. But this is still a series well worth watching over its 6+ hours.

Fairly straightforward biopic of Patsy Cline, who was possibly the best ever country music singer - at least in the 'heartbreak of love' sub-genre. She had plenty of material from her own life to feed her art. Jessica Lange gives a spirited but not over-the-top performance in the lead (she does not do the singing, which is dubbed in), and the no-good husband is played well by Ed Harris, never tipping over into caricature. The locations in 1950s southern USA are convincingly drawn in their ordinariness. This is not such a good film as 'Coalminer's Daughter', which covers similar territory, but is still well worth seeing.

This black and white film, set in a bleak setting which appears European rather than English, invites comparisons both with 'The Seventh Seal' and in particular the much less well-known film 'The Navigator', in its unflinching and austere treatment of medieval faith, which for good or ill permeated every aspect of life. Natalie Morris is very good as the teenaged anchoress; it's never clear whether she is genuinely a visionary or just on to a good thing. Toyah Willcox does well as her angry mother. In a role well before he became famous, Christopher Ecclestone radiates power and bafflement in equal measurement as the village priest (the budget was evidently tight as the village itself never appears, just a church in the middle of nowhere and a few larger buildings where needed). Dialogue is sparse but this together with the action convey the story well enough.

Once again the blurb deceives – a 'sensual tale of religious conflict' it is not - although there is a short and somewhat hazy scene of bestiality in its proper meaning.

This is a difficult film to watch in some ways because it can seem that Verhoeven is just deploying his trademark urge to shock audiences. But to me it seems better to regard it as being in the tradition of ribald, often anti-clerical, comedy of the sort found in The Canterbury Tales and The Decameron. It is a valid way to explore that borderline between the senses of the body and those of the spirit.

Even at the end of the film we cannot be sure whether Benedetta is a fraud, a genuine visionary, or something in between with just a good deal of cunning. The period settings in Renaissance Italy (though the film is in French) are well done. Charlotte Rampling puts in one of her usual cool, restrained performances as a woman who is in power, loses that power but remains always significant. In the lead role Virginie Efira shows again what a superb, brave actress she is, holding nothing back.

Nina Hoss is good as the somewhat unbalanced woman of a certain age who is obsessive, about daily life and about the violin, which she teaches. She is also sexually demanding, carrying on an affair with a colleague whilst being both warm and distant with her husband, who spends most the film looking perplexed and more interested in making instruments. Her relationships with her pupil and her son are entangled and unhealthy. The ending is a bit unconvincing but opens another window into this woman's very unhappy mind. Set in Germany but with much of the dialogue in French (English subtitles).

This version of Orwell's 1984 is well performed by its three leads, even though Burton apparently had difficulty with lines. I wonder if that may account for the fact that the scenes where Winston Smith is re-educated are somewhat shorter than might have been justified. But the horrible totalitarian milieu, the drudgery of everyday life, the manipulation of information are well drawn. Suzanna Hamilton ably suggests both warm humanity and a certain ambiguity as Smith's lover - who does she really work for, apart from herself? Parallels with today, Trump etc can be over-stretched but this is still very thought provoking.

This semi-autobiographical story of a middle-class family's joys and tribulations in the run-up to WWII and its first years is generally well-made, with good acting. The period settings are mostly accurate, although it must be said that the attempts at seasonaility are poor: half-hearted artificial snow on full-leaved trees, birds still tweeting loudly in what is meant to be the depth of winter, and so on. But the interaction of characters is believable; some of them are a lot more pleasant than others. Working out all the relationships is a bit of a challenge in the first hour, so close attention is needed. The ending is a bit abrupt. Amongst a large cast, Ursula Howells, Emma Griffiths Malin and Hugh Bonneville stand out; Frederick Treves makes an irritating but probably accurate obsessive old man.