Water Drops On Burning Rocks

Starring:Bernard Giraudeau, Malik Zidi, Ludivine Sagnier, Anna Levine
Director: François Ozon
Studio: Zeitgeist Video
Product Type: DVD

Description

Leopold, a smug, still-hunky 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces fresh-faced, carrot-topped 19-year-old Franz who swiftly moves into his bachelor pad. Their cozy relationship soon sours as Leopold, a kind of gone-to-seed Dirk Bogarde, turns cranky and argumentative. When Franz's buxom blond girlfriend surfaces, and then Leopold's elegant and enigmatic ex, things get funnier, steamier and a lot more complicated. Set in Germany in the '70s, and brilliantly adapted from a play by the great R.W. Fassbinder, by one of France's most daring and innovative new directors, WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS is fraught with intimations of violence, betrayal, and sexual shenanigans run amok.

Customer Reviews:

Campy surface with murky depth.......2006-11-06

I watched this film because I am a fan of Ozon's quirky, witty, surprisingly deep work. As some have mentioned, this bears some similarity to 8 WOMEN, but this actually works better, due to a more complex script. (Ludivine Sagnier, of the boyish face and the hottie-girl body, played the tomboy in that.)
Every element here works on a level of being both interesting and stomach-turning. This is one of the very few works I have ever seen that captures the reality of the "free love" 70s; that it really only "worked" for those who were heartless users willing to play games with other people's lives for their own fleeting desire.
Ludivine Sagnier, is not at her acting peak here, and part of what is stomach turning is that she is so beautiful, but possibly underage when she shot this film... (she was 20 when it was released), it completes the "outside looking in" voyerism of the film. The patently absurd casting of the mysterious lady with a very female, if enhanced, beauty (Anna Levine) completes the kind of fantasy where people enmeshed in a menage a quatre could stop to take a break to dance.
Exceptionally fine performances by Levine and the young male lead take this frothy sexcapade into much deeper territory (but not 1/2 so deep as SWIMMING POOL which is brillant). Vintage Ozon.

Fassbinder a la francaise.......2006-04-08

'Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brulantes' (= French for 'drops of water on burning rocks') is a theatre play by the famous German Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Dating from the late sixties till the early eighties, Fassbinder's plays & movies are renowned for their unexpected twists - mostly set against a background of sexuality or homosexuality. Being German, Fassbinder always exhaustively works out his plots, leaving no detail to uncertainty.

This German playwriter may not overly appeal to American taste, in Europe he surely is big. And 'Drops of water on burning rocks' is one of his good & characteristic works.

However, with Rainer Werner Fassbinder one is used to a very heavy, German, not to say slightly depressive scene. Hardly allowing any opportunity for laughter and joy. Not so in this movie, though. Director Francois Ozon did a very good job by mixing 'Drops'' German foundations with a French build-up. This movie's plot lends itself very well to utter, sad seriousness; its fine French acting & styling prevents such a thing from happening.

Ozon Updates Fassbinder in an Edgy Ménage a Quarte .......2005-08-26

François Ozon has flair and style ('Swimming Pool', 'Under the Sand', '8 Women', etc) and in scripting Rainer Fassbinder's 1970s play 'Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes' for the screen he has created an edgy, fun, and poignant examination of the lives of four people at their intersection.

Act I (for that is the way the film is laid out in homage to Fassbinder's play): 50-year-old Léopold (Bernard Giraudeau) is entertaining 19-year-old Franz (Malik Zidi), who he has picked up in a bar, with sharp repartees about his past loves and is sparred by Franz relating his current affair with the young and beautiful Anna (Ludivine Sagnier). The conversation gradually gets around to seduction and both Léopold and Franz happily reenact each other's physical fantasies. Act II: some months later and Franz has moved in with Léopold becoming the devoted housewife in lederhosen to Léopold's increasingly cranky self. They argue, threaten, but eventually succumb to the safety of the boudoir to settle differences. Act III: Léopold's ex lover Vera (Anna Levine) arrives at the door to find Léopold in a new life and departs brokenhearted. Anna likewise arrives during one of Léopold's absences and for two days Franz and Anna try to recapture their previous affair. Upon Léopold's return, Anna finds Léopold appealing and behaves seductively. Vera arrives, reports that she is a transsexual now in a female form, and Léopold is delighted with the idea of a ménage a quarte. But it is Franz who has found his true life and love and how he deals with the proposed turn of events forms the rather surprising end to this film.

Each of the four actors is excellent and Ozon paces them well. There are some really fine moments, as when Franz reclines in his bath quoting Heine's poem 'Lorelei' revealing how far more penetrating the changes in his vision of his life really have become, when Ozon improves on Fassbinder. Not a great movie but a bit of the different that spices movie viewing. Grady Harp, August 05

good.......2003-12-30

very unique film. Boy has older male lover and his ex girlfriend tries to rekindle an old relationship with boy. Odd, but worth a watch. Great cast, unique story.

Funny, stylish, powerful - even if haven't seen Fassbinder.......2003-11-01

With his deliriously rich fourth feature, Water Drops On Burning Rocks, François Ozon (See The Sea, Under The Sand, 8 Women) tackles the legacy of the great Rainer Werner Fassbinder in fascinating ways, even as he refines his own distinctive voice. This brilliantly acted film is alternately tender and sardonic, visually opulent yet claustrophobic, and wise beyond its years.

Although you do not need to have seen a single Fassbinder to enjoy Ozon's film, those people familiar with the German enfant terrible will recognize his perennial theme of the vicious circles of exploitation - with all of the attendant love, loathing and unsettling but sometimes hilarious humor. Yet his worldview is refracted through a new, and razor-sharp, perspective. Middle-aged Leopold and 20-year-old Franz obviously love each other, but their familiar, and all-too-human, inability to communicate divides them. Into that breach Leopold is only too eager to bring exploitation, as he turns Franz into a hausfrau, albeit one in lederhosen instead of pantyhose. Typical of Fassbinder, we see the exploitation spiral into a second generation, as Franz uses Leopold's strategies on his former girlfriend, Anna, when she makes a surprise visit in the hope of snagging back her beau. Perhaps the most poignant, and surprising, example of these circles - within circles - of need and frustration comes when we learn the story of the mysterious Vera, Leopold's former lover.

Ozon also uses, and creatively plays with, Fassbinder's visual style, especially as seen in the ravishing Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Like Fassbinder he narrows the visual field with edges of walls, doors, and windows to re-frame and imprison the characters, and employs frontal shots, extreme angles, and merciless close-ups; although Ozon favore more diffused lighting. Like his predecessor, Ozon wrests genuine visual beauty from the claustrophobia of the single hermetic setting. He also paid meticulous attention to a dead-on recreation of a 70s bachelor pad, from clunky rotary-dial phones to swamp-like shag rugs.

There is also much of originality here; and Ozon had not set out to make a neo-Fassbinder picture. As he remarked, he had "wanted to make a film about a couple for a long time.... about the difficulty of living together and putting up with the daily routine. In discovering Fassbinder's play, I realized that I didn't need to write an original screenplay.... Funny and moving at the same time, the breakdown of the couple touched me."

Ozon brings the play to life, inspiring in his four cast members performances of outstanding range and depth. Fassbinder is justly praised for his use of actors, but as a disciple of Brecht and Godard he often emphasized the political ideas which his characters embody, creating an intentional distance between audience and the allegorized figures onscreen. With Ozon, the ideas are there for anyone interested in extracting them, but there is more spontaneity. And Ozon is already a master at revealing increasingly subtle psychological layers in his extended scenes with characters - most notably Franz - alone. To take one example, Franz in the bathtub reading Heinrich Heine's poem "Lorelei" is not just some highbrow beefcake shot. Ozon and actor Malik Zidi show us the minute workings of Franz's mind and emotions, in this intensely private moment. Even in the astonishing final scenes, when the film reaches its ironic (and typically Fassbinder) climax, Ozon has his actors emphasize the flesh-and-blood humanity of the people whose lives they are not only inhabiting but revealing. I am in no way denigrating Fassbinder; but this is a major, albeit subtle, difference between the two filmmakers.

The picture's most delightful moment - which Fassbinder would never have filmed - is the wild dance number in the fourth (of four) acts, using an infectious 70s Euro-pop anthem, "Dance the Samba With Me." Ozon keeps Fassbinder's head-on visual style - the quartet arranged in a (ahem!) straight row - but the energy is purely his own. Not only does the dance give a burst of adrenaline, as it hurls the film towards its climax, it also reveals character. We vividly see one reason for Leopold's phenomenal sex appeal: His swiveling hips might have turned even Elvis's head. This scene also shows that Ozon is part of the modern French cinematic tradition, recalling the whackily unforgettable madison danced by Godard's titular Band of Outsiders (1964).

Comparisons aside, Ozon has created an exceptional film in his own right: Funny, caustic, stylish, disturbing, and memorable. He has brought a strikingly fresh vision to this wittily pessimistic play of ideas (about love, power, and gender roles) and tangled emotions. And although Fassbinder might have been surprised by the changes (like grafting one of his most personal later films, In a Year of 13 Moons, onto the final act of one of his earliest plays), you can imagine him reveling in Ozon's accomplished visual style (both allusive and original), his command of narrative rhythm, the richness of the performances, and even those wonderfully unique moments - like the samba - which just might have set Rainer Werner's own toes a-tapping.

François Ozon Six Disc Gift Box Collection ( See the Sea / Sitcom / Criminal Lovers / Water Drops on Burning Rocks / Under the Sand / Short Films of François Ozon ) [Import - All Region] (Dvd 1994-2000)
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François Ozon Six Disc Gift Box Collection ( See the Sea / Sitcom / Criminal Lovers / Water Drops on Burning Rocks / Under the Sand / Short Films of François Ozon ) [Import - All Region] (Dvd 1994-2000)
Starring: Charlotte Ramping
Director: François Ozon
Manufacturer: Alto Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Product Features:

Extraordinarily handsome and colorful gift box

Manufacturered in Korea with the U.S.A. and Canada in mind

See individual listings for specific product details.

ASIN: B000LY2APS

Product Description

SEE THE SEA: Sasha, a young British woman, is living with her baby daughter at Ile d'Yeu, a peaceful beach community. A stranger, Tatiana, passing through, pitches a tent in Sasha's yard. The two women build an odd rapport, and tension builds as events unfold. SITCOM: The adventures of an upper-class suburban family abruptly confronted with the younger brother's discovery of his homosexuality; the elder sister's suicide attempt and sado-masochist tendencies; and the intrusion of a very free-spirited maid and her husband... And it all started with the arrival in the family of an innocent looking rat... CRIMINAL LOVERS: A pair of lethal lovers-on-the-run with the fairy tale of "Hansel and Gretel", twisting together a story of psychosexual tension that is guaranteed to titillate. WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS: Germany in the 70s. Léopold, a 50 year old businessman, meets Franz, who is 20. He invites him back to his place. A love affair begins. One day, something of little importance leads to a difference of opinion. And from this moment on, there's no such thing as "we" anymore. UNDER THE SAND: Marie, a professor of English literature in a Paris university, has been happily married to Jean for 25 years, although they have no children. During their summer vacations in the southwest of France, Jean leaves Marie sunbathing on the beach and goes to swim in the sea. When Marie turns back, she cannot find Jean. Has he left her? commited suicide? drowned? With no clue and no body to mourn over, Marie acts as her husband was still alive. SHORT FILMS OF FRANCOIS OZON: Francois Ozon was born in 1967 in Paris. With his master's degree in Cinema (Paris I), he enters the French famous school of cinema La FEMIS in the director section in 1990. Since then, he has been shooting many movies in super-8, video, 16mm and 35mm. Many of his short movies have been in competition in various international festivals.

Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

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Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]
Director: François Ozon
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000JDAFXA

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: French (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN (1.66:1), SYNOPSIS: French bad boy director Francois Ozon follows up on his controversial first two films Sitcom (1998) and Criminal Lovers (1999) with this adaptation of a play that legendary German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder wrote when he was 19 years old. Retaining the play's four-act structure, the first act opens with middle-aged Leopold (Bernard Giraudeau) escorting young Franz (Malick Zidi) back to his apartment. Franz, who was on his way to visit his fiancée Anna, allows himself to be picked up by the older man. After some small talk, Leopold orders Franz to undress and wait for him in the bedroom. The second act takes up six months later. Franz has moved into Leopold's apartment soon after their first encounter. Interested in the arts and poetry, he increasingly finds himself at odds with his older, moody, demanding lover. Still, the relationship manages to endure. In act three, ex-fiancée Anna (Ludivine Sagnier) shows up at the apartment while Leopold is away. Their previous passion is quickly rekindled, and Anna soon marvels at the sundry techniques her lover has learned since she last saw him. When Leopold unexpectedly returns with Vera (Anna Thompson), his transsexual ex-lover, in tow, the stage is set for a complex dance of shifting power dynamics. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu,

Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Asian Version) Unrated

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Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Asian Version) Unrated
Director: Francois Ozon
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Product Features:

Nudity & Sexual Situations
Uncut Version with French Audio
English & Optional Chinese Subtitles
Interactive Menu
All Region DVD

ASIN: B000JD3GVS

Product Description

Taking place in the 1970's, The relationship between a fifty-year old man Leopold(Bernard Giraudeau) and a twenty-year old Franz(Malik Zidi) is not so perfect. And becomes more complicated when Franz's ex-girlfriend(Ludivine Sagnier) and Leopold's ex-wife(Anna Levine) come back into their lives. This examination of love, obsession, and aggression ends up leading to a tragic end for one them...

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