The Marriage Circle

Starring:Florence Vidor, Monte Blue, Marie Prevost, Creighton Hale, Adolphe Menjou, Harry Myers, Dale Fuller, Esther Ralston
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

It's a girl. The first words spoken in Jafar Panahi's The Circle should be celebratory, but instead the mood of the scene is mournful. The relatives will be furious. Director Jafar Panahi leaves the innocence of his delightful The White Balloon behind in this harrowing, passionate portrait of the plight women endured in Iran before the easing of strict Muslim law. His vision of women scrambling through streets and dodging cops like fugitives in a police state is more of a nightmarish fable than a realist drama, but no less affecting for it. Panahi drifts through the stories of a handful of women recently released from prison (their crimes are left ominously vague) with an easy grace and an angry sense of injustice that brings us full circle: back to prison, where a cell door shuts with a deafening clang that reverberates through the credits and beyond. --Sean Axmaker

Description

A woman gives birth to a baby girl. Little does she know, but she and her daughter are already unwanted. Three women are released from prison and their need for money leads them to take desperate measures. An unmarried woman seeking an abortion is rejected from her father's house by the violent threats of her brothers. Their crimes are vague, their guilt or innocence unimportant. Their paths cross, the suspense of their intrigues heightens. Their plights are often too tragically similar. Their world is one of constant surveillance, bureaucracy and age-old inequalities. But this stifling world cannot extinguish the spirit, strength and courage of the circle of women.

Customer Reviews:

The Iranian quotidian reality!.......2007-04-13

The circle is a struggling movie; the inner codes that feed the script turn around the lives of three women, oppressed by the masculine universe in a society that overlook with overwhelming indifference, those minor disgraces that may mean nothing for you and me, who live on the other side of the world, but what reflects the aberrant distortion and the abusive repression around the feminine world. Jafar Panahi reminds so much to Mira Nair, the talened Indian filmmaker, in what has to do with this nervous directorial style; cinema veritè with the camera moving untiringly, to make us authentic trip' s partner of these unlucky women.

A bold and acidic film that securely will disturb you due we regard unthinkable these things may happen in this Century, but that are part of a way of thinking, feeling and living of certain societies around the world.

Circular plot (probable spoiler review).......2006-06-04

This movie is a congregation of tales, where each tale is like the bead of a necklace, independent in itself and strung to the next bead through a thread, and whence one has traversed the various tales or beads, one finds oneself where one started - thus living out the title of this move

I saw this movie immediately after seeing my first Iranian flick, Hamoun. Thus I came with all expectations, and found myself briefly disappointed, which is not to say that this is a poor movie. Rather, the entire aspect of this movie seems to work towards its title. The characters are well created & are all women, having said that - the director I felt, was overkeen to ensure the cyclic theme's emergence and has in some parts of the movie, not done complete justice to the characters she has created. Thus when the movie hurtles to its closure, one sees the circle emerge and feels a sense of abruptness as the movie ends.

For those interested in checking it out, remember that this is a slow slow movie with little conversation, and well defined characters.

Outstanding movie-A real eye opener.......2005-06-06

As an Iranian woman I can really understand the movie. However I am not sure that many non-Iranians will be able to understand this movie. This is a true story of situation of some women in Iran. Of course this can not be generalized and majority of Iranian women don't live like this. However this movie clearly shows the situation of thousands and thousands of young women in the streets of Tehran.

The Circle is not one story but a series of fictional vignettes. The opening scene is of a mother at a window (the hospital delivery room) who is being told her daughter has given birth to a girl. She refuses to accept that her grandchild is a girl because she is afraid that his son-in-law divorces her daughter for giving birth to a girl. Then, suddenly, the camera has moved into the streets and into the story of three women just out of prison. The director drifts from one protagonist to the next. We follow one woman escaping to somewhere on a bus, then without warning, we are following her friend's wanderings, then the story becomes that of a women she meets in the street, and so it goes. The final scene also shows a window (the cell door) where the guard is calling for the same woman that had given birth in the very first scene. The movie clearly shows how women are trapped into a hopeless cycle due to an Islamic totalitarian regime in Iran.

This is a movie that makes you think for hours and days.

When good intentions collapse.......2004-01-25

This is an importnat and timely film, perhaps even more so now as Iran perepares for another crucial election in which moderate clerics will have to struggle against the conservative establishment, which refuses to note the calls for reform form the people. This film offers a valuable examinations of the current social and political situation in Iran. There was widespread hope that under President Khatami, Iran could have taken a more liberal course shedding by the wayside the conservative positions adopted by previous governments of the Islamic Republic. This has also been reflected in the emerging and highly acclaimed film industry, which despite its success, has tended to shun political themes. However, some signs of change are ther for those who observe carefully. In the case of Jafar Panahi's "The Circle" the political allusions are evident from the title, which serves as a metaphor for the narrative and for what Khatami's politics have so far meant to Iranians who had hoped for change, in other words their hopes have been invain.

rasitha.......2004-01-02

A time waster! If you are completely oblivious to the lack of women's rights in the Middle East, then you may find this an interesting documentary.
However, for anyone with prior appreciation of the grave situation, expecting to find an interesting story within the constraints of female society will be immensely disappointed. This film falls well short.

Average customer rating:

One of Lubitsch's most entertaining films
Charming sophisticated comedy
Movie Review
Good edition of a interesting movie
Another Kind of Silent Comedy

The Marriage Circle
Starring: Florence Vidor , Monte Blue , Marie Prevost , Creighton Hale , and Adolphe Menjou
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Farce | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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

Ernst Lubitsch's Eternal Love
That Uncertain Feeling
Trouble in Paradise - Criterion Collection
Lubitsch in Berlin: The Oyster Princess/I Don't Want to Be a Man
Phantom

ASIN: B00004W19K
Release Date: 2000-09-26

Description

Ernst Lubitsch's first American comedy masterpiece, the film that kept him in the States. Reeling from the difficulties encountered on his first American film, "Rosita," Lubitsch was ready to return to his native Germany until Warner Brothers, looking for an identity other than Rin Tin Tin, offered the director a chance to make his own unique films. In "The Marriage Circle," Lubitsch's influential silent comedy effortlessly follows the love and lust, flirtations and phoniness among several upper-crust citizens of Vienna. In Lubitsch's deft hands, "The Marriage Circle" continues the tradition of manners comedy and shows the "touch" the director was famous for. Lubitsch knew that in an atmosphere of hushed whispers and discretion, a kiss can carry quite an erotic charge. To see "The Marriage Circle" in this glistening print derived from the original negative, with an appropriately lilting score by the Mont Alto Orchestra, is to fall in love with the movies--and Ernst Lubitsch--all over again.

Customer Reviews:

One of Lubitsch's most entertaining films.......2007-03-22

This is the second American film directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and after a very successful career in Germany, he continued his high standard of filmmaking in the USA where "The Marriage Circle" was a huge success. Unlike his German contemporaries such as Fritz Lang and Murnau, Lubitsch always demonstrated a special skill in comedies, as can be seen in the `Lubitsch in Berlin' series by Kino Video. But he also knew how to simply entertain, and perhaps "The Marriage Circle" is one of the best examples of this. `Circle' is the right word because this is not about a love triangle - not even a square, but at least five people are involved, and Lubitsch focuses all the attention on these few characters, highlighting all kinds of details to draw the audience into this small circle of people and their feelings. While the plot and events are basically serious and taken from real life, Lubitsch manages to present the whole story with a tongue-in-cheek humour and smooth, sophisticated style that cannot fail to be greatly entertaining. The fun starts in the opening scenes with Adolphe Menjou as a husband who is made to feel he is only in the way, while his wife seems to feel unloved and promptly begins to aggressively flirt with the next man she meets, namely Dr Braun. This leads to problems between the doctor and his wife, and then the doctor's partner becomes involved, and all players are at their best, particularly Monte Blue as Dr Braun, and Marie Prevost as the persuasive and manipulative wife who starts the merry-go-round of disharmony and infidelities. A superb light classical musical score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra makes this film even more enjoyable, and an insert with a very good short essay about the film and Lubitsch also greatly contributes to the quality of this DVD. Perhaps a paragraph in the insert notes sums it up in describing the artistic skill for which Lubitsch became highly regarded, namely "...if people lack the vocabulary to appreciate the beauty of this particular rarefied language (that of the silent film), it's their loss. They'll never know the exhilaration of an impeccable artist." No doubt Lubitsch was such an artist, and perhaps "The Marriage Circle" more than any of his other films, is testament to that fact.

Charming sophisticated comedy.......2007-03-08

This is a delightful example of the type of witty sophisticated charming lightweight comedy which Ernst Lubitsch was famous for directing. The comedy derives from subtle touches and plot twists, not from a more physical sort of humor. Set in high-society Vienna, it opens with the story of Prof. Josef Stock (Adolphe Menjou) and his wife Mizzi (Marie Prevost). Mizzi seems bored in their marriage, and frequently quarrels with her husband, but Josef won't give her an easy way out by divorcing her just like that. He hires a private investigator to gather evidence of any infidelity so that he'll have grounds for divorce and be able to get the judge in his favor. Meanwhile, Mizzi's best friend Charlotte Braun (Florence Vidor) is in town with her new husband, Dr. Franz Braun (Monte Blue). The Brauns are a very happily wed couple, unlike the Stocks, but the moment Mizzi meets him, she sets her sights on Franz. Though he tries to make it quite clear that the attraction is not mutual, she won't stop pursuing him. Charlotte herself is guilty of a wandering eye; her love interest on the side is Dr. Gustav Müller (Creighton Hale), Franz's partner in their medical practice. Eventually Charlotte comes to suspect her husband of infidelity, but with another woman, since her love and trust for Mizzi are so great that she couldn't even consider that her best friend would be trying to break up her marriage. The basic plot sounds simple enough, but it's how it's all played out that makes it interesting. Far from being some clichéd romantic comedy with a predictable plot and ending, this one has so many witty clever unpredictable twists and turns, with some great acting (a far cry from the "overacting" many uninitiated people often accuse silent actors of), gorgeous photography (and a beautiful sepia-toned print), an ending the viewer probably wasn't expecting (in keeping with how unpredictable, sophisticated, and original the story is), and a lovely soundtrack by the always great Mont Alto Orchestra.

Movie Review.......2007-01-15

I have this one, also, and it is a GREAT PICTURE. Gloria Swanson is terrific in what only can be described as one of a kind motion picture.

I like William Holden, also. Great actor.

Good edition of a interesting movie.......2005-10-22

Ernst Lubitsch is considered the master of the American comedy of the Golden Age of Hollywood. With his famous "Lubitsch Touch" he became one of the few directors of that era recognized by the audiences. His movies contained witty and sophisticated humour but suitable for popular tastes, about sex and marriage. "The Marriage Circle" was his second film in Hollywood and was so successful at that time, that Lubitsch himself remaked it in 1932 as a musical comedy under the title of "One Hour with You". Seen today, the movie is a good example of how the career of Lubitsch in Hollywood was shapened from the very begining, but the story demands more atractive actors to play the roles. Unfortunately, Florence Vidor, Monte Blue and Adolphe Menjou are too wooden as actors and boring as personalities. Marie Prevost and Creighton Hale save the show playing their parts.

It is important to remark the contribution in the soundtrack for the Image edition of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. As always, their musicians did a beautiful work, recreating the music for the movie with a compilation of compositions of the period. Please we want more silent movies with your music Mont Alto Orchestra!!!

Another Kind of Silent Comedy.......2001-08-15

The most famous examples of silent comedy are the brilliant films of Chaplin and Keaton, but this type of comedy was not the only type of comedy there was. The Marriage Circle shows another way of being funny, the sophisticated, witty, comedy of manners. It may not be as dazzling and inventive as the work of Chaplin or full of the daredevil stunts of Keaton, but Lubitschýs style, in its own way, is equally amusing. Moreover it is this style of comedy which was developed into the sound era. The Marriage Circle can be seen as a sort of prototype for films like The Philadelphia Story.

The story concerns two couples, Adolphe Menjou and Marie Prevost who loathe each other and Monte Blue and Florence Vidor who are living a life of married bliss. Prevost sets out to find love with Blue, who tries desperately to resist her, while Menjou sets out to obtain evidence of infidelity which he can use to obtain a divorce. This all leads to numerous complications and misunderstandings. The plot is relatively conventional, but it does not descend into farce. These are characters grounded in real life, albeit the life of high-society Vienna. The many laugh-out-loud moments are derived from the situations the characters find themselves in. The humour comes from the skill of the actors in portraying their characters. There is some really wonderful acting in this film. These actors can convey their thoughts with a subtle change of expression or posture.

Customer Reviews:

One of Lubitsch's most entertaining films.......2007-03-22

Charming sophisticated comedy.......2007-03-08

Movie Review.......2007-01-15

I have this one, also, and it is a GREAT PICTURE. Gloria Swanson is terrific in what only can be described as one of a kind motion picture.

I like William Holden, also. Great actor.

Good edition of a interesting movie.......2005-10-22

Another Kind of Silent Comedy.......2001-08-15

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