Blind Witness

Starring:Victoria Principal, Paul Le Mat, Stephen Macht, Matt Clark, Tim Choate, Marcia Reider, Jeff Olson, Jesse Bennett, Dennis Saylor, Russ McGinn, DonrÃ© Sampson, Jayne Luke, Will C. Hazlett, Josh Devane, J. Omar Hansen, Curley Green, James Cash, Dana Purser, Mark Van Wagener, Steven Anderson (II)
Director: Richard A. Colla
Studio: Trinity Home Enterta
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

"I'm an actress," Can't you see?"
Two stars for Jerry Hall
A Delightful French Farce
Merci Messieurs Merchant and Ivory...

Merci Docteur Rey
Starring: Dianne Wiest , Jane Birkin , Stanislas Merhar , Bulle Ogier , and Karim Salah
Director: Andrew Litvack
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009S2K8S
Release Date: 2005-08-09

Description

An opera diva, hustlers, and murder collide in this rollicking Parisian farce from Merchant Ivory.

Customer Reviews:

"I'm an actress," Can't you see?".......2005-09-16

My how the mighty have fallen. Well, that's what I was thinking while watching this Merchant Ivory production, Merci Docteur Rey. Gone are the glory days of beautifully wrought period pieces, and in place we have the team producing films like this - second rate, laboured, Paris-set farces that are more annoying than funny.

In fact, Merci Docteur Rey would have to be one of the most aggravating films to be released in recent years. Written and directed by Andrew Litvack, it's a convoluted tale of operatic divas, neurotic actresses, rent boys, dead bodies, bumbling cops, family secrets, and hash brownies.

The efforts of an experienced cast - including Dianne Wiest, Jane Birkin, and even Simon Callow - can't invigorate the tedious screenplay or distract from the stilted direction. Is the film a comedy or drama? I think it's trying to be a bit of both, but the problem is that the comedic elements distract from the drama, and the drama just isn't given enough screen time.

Merci Docteur Rey starts off quite well, telling the story of a young Parisian Thomas (Stanislas Merhar) who is obsessed with meeting rent boys. His secret search for sex has oddly led him to a stranger's closet, where he witnesses a brutal murder. Bewildered and anguished, Thomas attempts to see Dr Rey, a psychoanalyst.

Except it's not really Dr. Rey to whom he speaks, Dr. Rey is dead of a heart attack under her desk, but a longtime patient, Penelope (Jane Birkin). Penelope believes her cruel words have killed Dr. Rey, and so has impersonated the physician to the newcomer in an attempt to hide her crime. Penelope, who thinks she's Vanessa Redgrave, was once an A-list actress, but now she's resorted to doing voiceovers for B grade horror films.

Meanwhile, Thomas' American opera diva and face cream obsessed mother, Elisabeth (Dianne Wiest), has hid from him for years that his father Bob (Simon Callow) had left her for a man. Blithely unaware of her son's sexual orientation, Elizabeth is absorbed in the preparations for her part in Puccini's Turandot, whilst also being overly concerned about her son's well being.

The movie has a wealth of wealth of bewildering coming and going, but this is less a coming-out tale than a showcase for late-middle-aged hysterical divas in flowing caftans to yell, scream and ride roughshod over the young men who are nominally the movie's center.

Along with some nonsensical cameos by Jerry Hall and Vanessa Redgrave, one gets the feeling that all the pros involved here decided to "lets all just have some fun" and ignore such the old but essential storytelling rules of narrative flow and tone.

There are exactly two laughs in this movie: one involving a dress and wallpaper, and the other involving Wiest, as she consumes some hash brownies. For the most part, the characters remain resolutely irritating throughout, with the performances ranging from the ineffectual (Merhar) to the unsubtle and over-the-top (Wiest and Birkin.) The plot unwinds in fits and starts, with a great gap in the center of the movie where nothing happens at all to advance the mystery of the murder.

How the producer of so many fine films as Howards End and A Room With A View helped gestate such a misguided and foolish movie is hard to fathom. The end will leave most viewers' left shaking their heads, and saying "merci," blissfully thankful that the credits have finally rolled. Mike Leonard September 05

Two stars for Jerry Hall.......2005-08-13

In spite of a highly original and promising beginning, the French/American comedy film, "Merci Docteur Rey" quickly fizzles and sinks into mediocrity. Opera Diva Elisabeth Beaumont (Dianne Wiest) is in Paris for a performance of Turandot. Son, Thomas (Stanislas Merhar) has a secret habit of surfing the personal ads for action, and when he responds to an offer made by a mysterious stranger over the telephone, he becomes involved in murder.

"Merci Docteur Rey" attempts to blend 2 genres--the comedy and the mystery--and create a madcap farce. Genre blending is problematic--it has to be done well in order to succeed. "Manhattan Murder Mystery" & "Bon Voyage" are both good examples of films with genre blending that succeed.

"Merci Docteur Rey" is fraught with problems. Most of the characters are quirky, larger than life types, but they're also extremely annoying. There's Diva Elisabeth Beaumont whose face is perpetually smothered by a variety of facial concoctions. She is doting, overbearing, and possessive. Her son, Thomas, is the most normal person in the film. Thomas meets actress Penelope (Jane Birkin) under the most ridiculous circumstances. Penelope, who makes her living by providing voices for dubbed films, is played as a sort of breathless, clueless ingenue. Think Meg Ryan. Jane Birkin just doesn't fit the role, and it's played as badly overacted (and VERY annoying). One senses that the filmmakers are just trying too hard. Unfortunately a handful of eccentric characters do not make a film naturally funny or even interesting. This film is just silly. In French with subtitles--displacedhuman

A Delightful French Farce.......2005-08-11

Though promoted as a 'Merchant Ivory Film', MERCI DOCTEUR REY is related to the team in production only. The film is written and directed by Andrew Litvack and is a well-made bit of fluff in the tried and true tradition of French Farce - mistaken identities, misconceptions that backfire then produce good things, and characters that are as off the wall as they come.

Elisabeth Beaumont (Dianne Wiest) is an aging American Opera Diva who moves to Paris to perform with an opera director of note Claude Sabrié (Bulle Ogier) for an edgy performance of 'Turandot': she also wants to be near her Parisian son Thomas (Stanislas Merhar) who just happens to be struggling with his gender identity and spends his time in the sex personals and phone ads. Thomas decides to see a psychiatrist Doctor Rey, but upon arriving at her office he mistakes one Penelope (Jane Birkin) to be the psychiatrist, not knowing that not only is Penelope wildly nutty (she thinks she is Vanessa Redgrave, having a job as the actress who provides the French dubbing for Redgrave's movies), she thinks she is responsible for Doctor Rey's dropping dead. Thomas and the newly discovered real Penelope bond and begin a 'crazy romance'.

While Elisabeth primps and prepares her Turandot she is told that Thomas is seeing a girlfriend (Linda), which in ways surprises her, as she believes Thomas to be gay. Thomas becomes involved in a response to a phone ad, goes to a 'john's' (Simon Callow) apartment where he observes voyeuristic murder involving a young man (Karim Salah). The law becomes involved and through innumerable twists and turns the 'observed' murder is manipulated in a winning way. Elisabeth debuts as an outrageous Turandot, Penelope meets Vanessa Redgrave (playing herself), Thomas discovers secrets about the identity of his father in a strange manner...etc. The result is a crazy bit of lunacy that works extremely well.

This farce can be a bumpy road if you allow your attention to stray, but plug into the manner in which it is played and the result is a showcase for some fine actors having a swell time. Yes, it is froth, but what a fine froth it is! An exhilarating comedy outing. Grady Harp, August 05

Merci Messieurs Merchant and Ivory..........2005-08-07

I saw "Merci Docteur Rey" at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and it blew me away. My stomache ached from laughing so hard. If it's not a cult classic yet, I predict it will become one.

The movie follows Elizabeth Beaumont, an aging and overbearing American Opera diva who moves to Paris to reunite with her estranged son Thomas. Elizabeth has a flair for wearing garish caftans and floating around her house warbling out her sons name. Thomas is just coming to terms with his own burgeoning homosexuality, and develops a taste for personal ads and phone sex. In his efforts to see a psychiatrist (The Dr. Rey of the title), instead he meets the neurotic and definitely insane Penelope, who does the French language dubbing for Vanessa Redgrave films, and has now begun to think she IS Vanessa Redgrave. Of course, mistaken identities and plot twists ensue, and all of the crazy characters entangle and intertwine.

The two powerhouses of the film are Dianne Wiest and Jane Birkin, who each manage to steal the scene every time they walk on screen. When you see them both together towards the end of the film, it feels like your head might explode from too much funny. The role of attention-whoring older diva is certainly new to Dianne Wiest, who previously always seemed to play nice mom types, and she rises beautifully to the occasion. Jane Birkin is absolutely fabulous as Penelope, and her obsession with Vanessa Redgrave is such a brilliant metatheatrical gag (The beauty is that since this is a Merchant Ivory produced film, Vanessa Redgrave has a cameo that delivers the final punchline the audience craves).

If you are expecting typical Merchant ivory fare, this is pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum. But anyone who likes, well, laughing, happiness, or just general entertainment will not be disappointed. The humor is sort of in the vain of Absolutely Fabulous. Over-the-top women who create general mayhem around them, and even though they are completely reprehensible people, you can't help but love them. "Merci Docteur Rey" is definitely a go.

Average customer rating:

Not based on a true story.
Blind woman looks for justice.
Blind Witness
Blind Witness

Blind Witness
Starring: Victoria Principal , Paul Le Mat , Stephen Macht , Matt Clark , and Tim Choate
Director: Richard A. Colla
Manufacturer: Trinity Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009MEGT
Release Date: 2003-04-30

Customer Reviews:

Not based on a true story........2005-01-16

Made for TV movie first aired on November 26th, 1989 Victoria Principal plays a blind burglary victim whose life is left in tatters after two intruders break into her lakefront home in search of monetary gain and end up using a taser to kill her husband. The two intruders continue to victimize maggie as she lives out her life and completes her daily errands. Forced to sell her home and move into a more secure building maggie finds and constructs a loft apartment filled with booby traps, cameras, and an electric taser. Maggie then waits for the two perpetrators to revisit while she waits with her homemade weapons and cameras running and waiting to unveil their face.

Blind woman looks for justice........2003-01-13

The Queen of Made-For-TV drama, Victoria Principal, appears as a blind woman looking to avenge the death of her husband.

Two robbers invade her home and torture her husband to death. Their biggest mistake is in leaving behind them an `eye-witness'. Frustratingly the police seem to agree with the killers and discount the evidence that she CAN offer (height, smells, and voices). Only one dedicated officer (handsome and widowed himself) believes in her and fights with his superiors to get her side of the story told.

Finally she decides to take matters into her own hands and uses herself as bait to get the killers of her husband and vindication of her own abilities.

Blind Witness.......2000-06-17

I think that Victoria did a fantastic job in this movie. Do to the restrictions she had faced. With wearing contact lenses that would keep her blind through every inch of Blind Witness. Me and my friends were extras in the :Looking for work scene." It was a true inspiration watching her act out this day. Victoria plays a great role in trying to catch these two crimnals. She uses her senses to her fullest capcity to help catch these murders all on her own. The two criminals play an excellent role. They really show the meaning of mice of men.

Blind Witness.......2000-06-17

Average customer rating:

Blind Witness
Starring: Tim Choate , Paul Le Mat , Victoria Lemat , Stephen Macht , and Jeff Olson
Director: Richard A. Colla
Manufacturer: Trinity Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000JMKJMI
Release Date: 2007-01-01

Average customer rating:

Not based on a true story.
Blind woman looks for justice.
Blind Witness
Blind Witness

Blind Witness
Starring: Victoria Principal , Paul Le Mat , Stephen Macht , Matt Clark , and Tim Choate
Director: Richard A. Colla
Manufacturer: Trinity Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Dancing in the Dark
The Abduction
Where the Truth Lies
Nightmare at Bittercreek
Naked Lie

ASIN: B0001WTV9I
Release Date: 2004-05-04

Customer Reviews:

Not based on a true story........2005-01-16

Blind woman looks for justice........2003-01-13

The Queen of Made-For-TV drama, Victoria Principal, appears as a blind woman looking to avenge the death of her husband.

Finally she decides to take matters into her own hands and uses herself as bait to get the killers of her husband and vindication of her own abilities.

Blind Witness.......2000-06-17

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