Therese (1986) (Ws Sub)

Starring:Catherine Mouchet, HÃ©lÃ¨ne Alexandridis, Aurore Prieto, ClÃ©mence Massart-Weit, Sylvie Habault, Nathalie Bernart, Mona Heftre, Beatrice De Vigan, Jean PÃ©lÃ©gri, Pierre Baillot, Pierre Maintigneux, Jean Pieuchot, Guy Faucon, Armand Meppiel, JoÃ«l LefranÃ§ois, Edmond Levy (II), Michel Rivelin, Georges Aranyossy, NoÃ«lle Chantre, Anna Bernelat
Director: Alain Cavalier
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Some movies can only be described as delicious. In Babette's Feast, a woman flees the French civil war and lands in a small seacoast village in Denmark, where she comes to work for two spinsters, devout daughters of a puritan minister. After many years, Babette unexpectedly wins a lottery, and decides to create a real French dinner--which leads the sisters to fear for their souls. Joining them for the meal will be a Danish general who, as a young soldier, courted one of the sisters, but she turned him away because of her religion. The village elders all resolve not to enjoy the meal, but can their moral fiber resist the sensual pleasure of Babette's cooking? Babette's Feast deservedly won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This lovely movie is impeccably simple, yet its slender narrative contains a wealth of humor, melancholy, and hope. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Artistic, sensual and sacred passions unite in Babette's Feast. Written and directed by Gabriel Axel, from a short story by Out of Africa's Isak Dinesen, this Oscar(r)-winning*film offers "an irresistible mixture of dry wit and robust humanity" (Newsweek). Onthe desolate coast of Denmark live Martina and Philippa, the beautiful daughters of a devout clergyman who preaches salvation through self-denial. Both girls sacrifice youthful passion to faith and duty, and even many years after their father's death, they keep his austere teachings alive among thetownspeople. But with the arrival of Babette, a mysterious refugee from France's civil war, life for the sisters and their tiny hamlet begins to change. Soon, Babette has convinced them to try something truly outrageousa gourmet French meal! Her feast, of course, scandalizes the local elders. Just who is this strangely talented Babette, who has terrified this pious town with the prospect of losing their souls for enjoying too much earthly pleasure? *1987: Foreign Language Film

Customer Reviews:

savor it..........2007-06-22

for anyone desiring to see what the difference between a Hollywood film and a foreign film is, this is the one to watch. Babette's Feast is a scrumptious delight. A simple story about a mysterious French woman who comes to the coast of Denmark and works for 14 years as a cook to two pious Danish sisters. The story slowly unravels like a great masterpiece and when the French cook wins a lottery all the pieces come together to reveal a gorgeous mosaic of humanity. Full of simplicity, humor, and insight to the human condition. Simple, funny, gorgeous and delightfully delicious.

full and overflowing.......2007-06-14

The same gentle irony that Karen Blixen brought to the interplay of faith and human experience in OUT OF AFRICA is to be observed in full flower in this delightfully quirky film adaptation of her short story called BABETTE'S FEAST. Blixen found the French fathers in Kenya a bit rigid and self-interested, yet she expressed this with kindness and patience. She does the same here with her Lutheran Danes.

The romantic exuberance of the French servant-woman Babette as she brings to the island village that is her refuge the sensuality of a lavish feast does not reduce the disciplined and selfless orthodoxy of the Lutheran sect to ridicule. Rather, there is room for a certain conversion in *both* directions, a cross-pollenation that Blixen and her cinematic interpreters allow themselves to relish.

Blixen left us a great story. It has been made into a memorable film that belongs on the 'keeper' shelf of viewers who love a story.

BABETTE'S FEAST is a full plate for the heart.

A Feast for Your Eyes, and Your Heart........2007-06-14

This movie is a masterpiece. Babette's Feast shows the story of love for: God, food, family, friends, and growth. It's literally a feast for your eyes, and your heart. Bravo!

I first watched this movie with the subtitles. I loved it so much, I had to watch it again in dubbed English.

Babetts Feast is WONDERFUL!.......2007-05-14

I do believe this is the most touching film's to come from Scandnavia in many years....Beautiful in it's simplicity and story line...Although it is sub-titled the impact of the story was perfectly conveyed by the actors and was heart warming....It has become special to me and my family as I am Swedish-American and very proud of my heritage. thankyou

Babette's Feast.......2007-05-05

The feast is the total antithesis of what the first part of the movie isn't. The feast is phenomenal - I've played it over and over. I think it helps to love food and cooking though. That movie got me to try and like - Turtle soup!

Average customer rating:

A Bitter Sweet
Right On! Government Sucks! Oh Wait, Poo?
This movie does have a point.
definitely oddball but worth it
A favourite

Sweet Movie (Criterion Collection)
Starring: Carole Laure , Pierre Clémenti , Anna Prucnal , Sami Frey , and Jane Mallett
Director: Dusan Makavejev
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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WR: Mysteries of the Organism (Criterion Collection)
If... (Criterion Collection)
La Jetee/Sans Soleil (Criterion Collection)
The Two of Us (Criterion Collection)
Vengeance Is Mine - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B000OPPAEM
Release Date: 2007-06-19

Description

Pushing his themes of sexual liberation to their boiling point, Yugoslavian art-house provocateur Dusan Makavejev followed his international sensation WR: Mysteries of the Organism with this full-throated shriek in the face of bourgeois complacency and movie watching. Sweet Movie tackles the limits of personal and political freedom with kaleidoscopic feverishness, shuttling viewers from a gynecological beauty pageant to a grotesque food orgy with scatological, taboo-shattering glee. With its lewd abandon and sketch-comedy perversity, Sweet Movie became both a cult staple and an exemplar of the envelope pushing of 1970s cinema.

Customer Reviews:

A Bitter Sweet.......2007-07-01

There are movies that are devised from formulas developed to serve (and be served by) the Demographic ..... and then there are those rare films that create their own audience. Unfortunately, when Makavejev first unleashed his Sweet Movie in 1974, most interested parties of influence saw fit to have it banned, and the filmmaker himself was exiled (along with some cast members) from his native Yugoslavia for nearly 15 years.

Multi-mega kudos to Criterion for rescuing this now very alive and relevant explosion of a movie from near-obscurity. Beautifully restored, looking and sounding better than I remembered it, and including in this edition interviews and more in-depth facts about the making and history of this one-of-a-kind movie, watching it again restored in this viewer an appreciation of artists who put themselves way out on a line to give life to a vision, one that can become more relevant over time, despite overall condemnation at its initial release. As stated in the accompanying literature, there are countries where the movie is banned for any sort of distribution, to this day.

The dual story line, about two Women of Earth (Miss Monde 1984 and Captain Anna Planeta), is interwoven in a montage-like format that lashes out at Capitalism and Communism, spits in the eye of all manner of creative or sensual oppression, and does so in a take-no-prisoners satirical fantasy sense that helps lighten up the otherwise dark and intense subject matter. As Makavejev explains in an interview, had he tried to do any of it seriously, it would have hampered his film's acceptance all the more so, for it was fully his intent to make contact with his audience in an entertaining, circus-style (although somewhat abstract) manner. Anna Planeta commandeers a sort of ghost ship, Survival (sporting a huge carving of Karl Marx's noggin on front), through the canals of Amsterdam; she is a phantom, a political prostitute, and a reluctant predator, attracting victims with sex, candy and propaganda. She is joined by a nameless sailor who wears a cap from the Battleship Potemkin (another phantom?), and despite her warnings that her sweetened cargo is rife with corpses, he is swept up in the happy delirium of the Survival's relentless voyage to ...? Meanwhile, Miss Canada is inspected by a notable gynecologist on The Crazy Daisy Show, wins the title of Miss World 1984 along with an arranged marriage to a Texas milk tycoon who wants to buy Niagara Falls. The wedding night doesn't go so well, and next thing she knows she is knocked out, packed into a suitcase and shipped off to Paris ..... at which point things get weird on a Candide level. Much of the movie's final third, involving a near-explicit sex dance for young boys and some truly disturbing performance art (which was entirely improvised by Otto Muehl's Viennese Therapy Commune) involving eating, excreting, self-mutilating and acting like babies is certain to elicit squirms, and a private first viewing is highly recommended. Although, if you really wanted to mess with people at a party, play this film and follow it with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

As mentioned earlier, the included extras deepen the experience of the film, as well as introduce a welcome sense of normalcy after viewing. One outstanding addition is star Anna (Planeta) Prucal's interview about the effect the film had on her life (she was one of those who was exiled), and a stunning performance of a song from the film that will induce tears. Her blissfully unbound performance as Captain Anna carries Sweet Movie with a courage that is near unmatchable in cinema. No less courageous is the beautiful Carole Laure, whose surreal odyssey in the parallel reality we share in a nearly unspeaking performance, and whose undulations in a vat of chocolate syrup will linger long in the viewer's memory.

A hard film to recommend, but great for one of those Dare-Yourself-To-Sit-Through-It evenings, Sweet Movie's return down the canal is certain to open up a whole new generation of discussion with its resurrection into the digital archives. The title itself is its own expletive; but like any significant work, its "meaning" is wholly about the effect of its experience.

Right On! Government Sucks! Oh Wait, Poo?.......2007-06-20

Dusan Makavejev's 1974 film Sweet Movie is an indictment toward all forms of authority and convention. It does not obviously or even wittingly perhaps come from an honest political standard itself, but it instead exists to attack all that rules us. It skewers capitalism, communism, and absolutely everything in between. Perhaps it is a call specifically for some sort of Anarcho-Primitivism? Perhaps Sweet Movie is simply a celebration of life in its own sick and twisted way?

Sweet Movie follows two different stories and both feature a female protagonist. The first follows a contestant of the 1984 Miss Monde pageant. She wins and her prize is her marriage to some big corporate dude. She is shocked by how he degrades her in their first meeting and she runs away. Her rejection is met with displeasure by his cronies and she ends up getting pretty severely humiliated and then stuffed into a suitcase and shipped off to France. After that she gets stuck to some Latin guy and enters a commune and some pretty wacky things happen. This story operates as a criticism toward capitalism and consumerism at the beginning and the conclusion, while it seems to attack communism in the middle. The second story follows a young woman who is leading a boat down a river. The boat is full of candy and has a statue of Karl Marx on it. She seduces all who encounter her with sex, candy and propaganda. Then she kills them. Obviously it is a direct attack on communism.

There are some pretty shocking things in Sweet Movie but that shouldn't be a surprise when taking into account the time period and some of the subversive and surreal counterculture names involved in the film (e.g. Otto Muehl, Roland Topor and George Melly). The film captures a cultural movement in some respects and the significance is there but overall Sweet Movie was too obscure to have an impact. Only now does it resonate but for very different reasons. It stands out for its visual shock alone.

There is a very strong emphasis on bodily functions in Sweet Movie, more so than anything I've ever seen or even want to see again for that matter. I can't pinpoint why but it's more than likely Dusan Makavejev's attempt to compel us to revolt against all of our societal institutions by directly desensitizing us to his perspective that we are all just gassy and disgusting animals. Spend a few days resisting your normal cognitive functions or spend some time with dementia patients and you'll get a good smell of what Makavejev is trying to get at here...I think? I'm not sure I agree with him in those sorts of details, but in spirit I like where he is going with Sweet Movie. We all could use a good smack away from the restraints of everyday society.

Keep in mind; it is virtually impossible to get anything out of Sweet Movie if you take it too literally. It is designed to surprise the viewer and club them over the head with shock. The problem with that is Sweet Movie was so shocking for its time that it was hardly even seen. People were not ready then, but maybe the world has grown sicker since. Criterion may have picked a more accessible release date for Sweet Movie than Makavejev did. Asking ourselves the questions that this film might produce may be more important now than ever.

This movie does have a point........2003-09-26

To all those who said that this movie has not point I am sorry but you are wrong. The purpose of this movie is to basically give us a wake up call. The sugar represents how everything is sugar coated. All of the evil things that are done such as the children was sugar coated as if to make it less evil. Also the actual footage of the babies and the dead bodies, anyone know the significance here? It is real, this is not horrible things done by actors to make a movie. This is REAL LIFE but yet that does not phase us. Rather what freaks us out is people puking IN A MOVIE. The director reminds us at the end that this is a fictional movie because the children come alive, but the train in the background....any idea where that goes? It is a train to Aushwitz (dont think that is spelt right). The sailor that is picked up is the last suviving sailor from the ship that started the russian revolution(look at his hat). The rich man or Capitolistic america pisses and tarnishes all that is pure and innocent(his wife) in this world. There are so many connections to the real world. SO what he is saying is that actual footage of the true evil that has happened in this world should be more offensive to us then any finctional movie should be.

definitely oddball but worth it.......2002-09-13

An Icelandic reviewer remarked on the Norwegian censorship of this film. One of the interesting factoids about this bizarre film is that it had many versions - different countries edited it according to their (in)sensibilities. More interestingly, the director thought this very amusing rather than insulting.

Another reviewer remarked that he took a first date to this film which I find hilarious. Rather than demanding to leave however, I might have married him.

In any case, take it as you might any hallucinogen - expect both the expected and unexpected.

A favourite.......2002-03-23

I saw Sweet Movie in 1978, and twice at Reykjavík Film Festival 2000. In 1978 I was twenty and it went on screen in Laugarvatn High School as a part of Reykjavík Art Festival. The newspapers were full of noisy protest that the sweet movie was ugly and horrible. As youngsters we liked it in particular due to the uproar. We found the exchange of bodily excrements very funny. Next to me sat the school's prettiest girl. She found the chocolate bath at the end of the film beautiful, a different reaction from what Sidneysider describes below (Robert of Ashfield). She died of a terrible illness five years later, the same year Sidneysider saw his 10 minutes of Sweet Movie. In 1978 it was kind of fashionable to be open minded, and being old fashioned and prudish was very out. In 2000 Sweet Movie had got on well, though it was almost impossible to find a copy. It is a bit of a slide show of different ideas. I don't care about symbolism, it is just very beautiful. But it touches on various subjects. It even touches on sexual abuse. NOTA BENE: I should like to promote Sweet Movie as a music experience. Some of the music is quite strange, some indeed interesting, and all of it very pleasant. And the film is full of it. So, listen to the music. - I seldom watch films, but this one is a favourite, to be ranked with Orson Welles' The Trial, Kurosawa'a Dersu Uzala, and Tarkovski's Stalker. A grotesque world, but somewhat enviable ....

Average customer rating:

Barbarella
Expired Cheese
"Your mission Barbarella: find Durand-Durand."
Barbarella is the unchallenged Queen of the Galaxy
Candy Floss

Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy
Starring: Jane Fonda , John Phillip Law , Anita Pallenberg , Milo O'Shea , and Marcel Marceau
Director: Roger Vadim
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00000IREA
Release Date: 1999-06-22

Amazon.com essential video

Jane Fonda's memorable, zero-gravity striptease during the opening credits of this 1968 Roger Vadim movie is the closest the film comes to a liberated marriage of wit and sex. Based on a French comic strip, the story concerns the adventures of a 41st-century woman, who pretty much gets it on with whomever asks. The sci-fi sets were pretty interesting at the time, though they look rather anachronistic now. Appreciated today mostly as a camp classic, the movie is actually more trying than anything else. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Barbarella.......2007-05-28

A fantastic sci-fi sexual experience! Totally cosmic and Jane Fonda is a very hot woman!!
Worth it!

Expired Cheese.......2007-05-25

I think "Barbarella" is best appreciated at a midnight showing with people shouting rude things at the screen. The flick is undermined by the lunkheaded direction of Roger Vadim. Did anybody explain to this guy that he was making camp? Also on display is some of the most garish art direction ever. Austin Powers would vomit. I did dig the shag carpeting in Barb's spaceship, though. What redeems this enterprise is the acting, not least Jane Fonda in the title role. Jane, consummate actress that she is, did understand the tongue-in-cheek aspects of the film. Jane's striptease over the opening credits is something to write home about. Good contributions are also given by David Hemings, Milo O'Shea, Anita Pallenberg, and Ugo Tognazzi. Venture into this flick for it's curiousity value and nothing else.

"Your mission Barbarella: find Durand-Durand.".......2007-04-09

Jane Fonda stars in a title role of this famous cult sci-fi sex comedy as a space beauty in the variety of skimpy outfits. She looks great - all male (and female) creatures on a strange planet SoGo (Sodom and Gomorra?) drooled over her.

"Barbarella" (1968) directed by then Fonda's husband, Roger Vadim may be the silliest, the cheesiest, the campiest movie ever made but it is certainly one of the most entertaining comedies I've seen and is Fun with the capital "F". It is also very "pretty - pretty".

So, what do we have here? In the year 40.000, Barbarella "the Queen of the Galaxy" is sent by the President of Earth in search of the disappeared scientist named Durand Durand (finally I learned how the band got its name.) While looking for him, her space ship crashes on the planet Sogo where she encounters Pygar the Blind Angel (yes the man with the wings), Professor Ping - kind scientist (the celebrated and the finest mime artist Marcel Marceau in the rare speaking role), Dildano (David Hemmings of "Blowup") - the revolutionary who plots to overthrow the evil empire, Marcan - the barbarian who introduces Barbarella to an old fashioned love making (the advanced one is achieved by taking a pill and holding hands - welcome to the brave new world!) and The Great Tyrant - dangerous and very attractive ruler of Sogo (Anita Pallenberg, the object of Mick's, Brian's and Keith's desire and Mrs. Keith Richard at the time) who calls Barbarella "pretty-pretty" and invites her to come and play.

Fonda is quite good as a naive Barbarella and sometimes there is such an ironic and intelligent smile on her face that it should not surprise you what a fine actress she would eventually become.

Barbarella is the unchallenged Queen of the Galaxy.......2007-03-18

After watching Jane Fonda as "Barbarella" I have nothing negative to say about her.

Candy Floss.......2007-01-22

With a script by Terry Southern, author of Candy, this is the ultimate floss on the icing, and a totally memorable movie masterpiece. A brilliant plot, unforgettable dialogue ("de-crucify the angel, or I'll melt your face"), incredible special effects, stunning performances by all concerned. Subtle, deep and multi-layered. Maverick mad scientist invents a WMD and plans to rule the galaxy! Defeated by innocence, incompetence, sweetness and excessive sex! Not forgetting a flashy fashion quick-change every few minutes. What outfits! Very influential, and one of the milestone highlights of movie history, the full recognition of its unique merits lies in the distant future; but some of us, with remarkable prescience, can actually see that far ahead. All those sad, dull dumbos, who think it is just silly and camp, bad and boring, will be positronically erased and forgotten as the years, the centuries, the millennia and the stars roll by. Who needs to wait for the 41st millenium with this dvd in their collection?

Average customer rating:

ignore the snide amazon praise
Pleasure to watch
A compelling and moving film, not to be forgotten
A Magnificent Movie
Unforgettable

The Best of Youth
Starring: Luigi Lo Cascio , Alessio Boni , Adriana Asti , Sonia Bergamasco , and Fabrizio Gifuni
Director: Marco Tullio Giordana
Manufacturer: Miramax
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ASIN: B000C1VB8M
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Amazon.com

368 minutes of Italian TV miniseries--yes, that is indeed six hours' worth--comes unspooling in The Best of Youth, a stirring and beautiful experience. The film needs its running time to immerse us in the world of the Carati family from 1966 to near the present day. Two brothers are the primary focus: Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio), a responsible medical student, and Matteo (Alessio Boni), a troubled soldier. After a youthful road trip, their paths diverge, but each is carried along by the changing, sometimes violent, political weather of Italy in the 1970s and '80s. Life issues surge and ebb, with the increasing sense that Matteo is a lost soul, beyond even the help of the luminous woman (unforgettable Maya Sansa) who comes into his life.

Truth be told, The Best of Youth has some of the limitations of made-for-TV fare, from the simplicity of its themes to its cheap-looking makeup. (Those beards are not convincing.) But by the time you've spent a couple of hours with these characters, you're deeply invested in their joys and sorrows. At that point the measured pace begins to feel like the rhythm of life, and the people onscreen a mirror of ourselves. It's probably true that the cultural references and specific historic events will have more resonance for Italians than other viewers, but everything translates. Director Marco Tullo Giordana maintains the tone by allowing details to accumulate, and the location shooting, including a stint at the cinematically rich island of Stromboli, is consistently rich (his sampling of the music from Jules and Jim feels like a shortcut somehow, but who could argue that the music isn't perfectly in key with the melancholy mood?). The final act delivers an emotional coup de grace that has been thoroughly earned. And you'll feel like you earned it, too, having spent six hours with this moving film. --Robert Horton

Description

In the award-winning epic tradition of THE GODFATHER and COLD MOUNTAIN, THE BEST OF YOUTH has wowed critics and earned honors at numerous film festivals worldwide. As Italy explodes in an era of social unrest, a single ill-fated incident sends the lives of equally idealistic brothers Nicola and Matteo Carati careening in opposite directions. Divided by politics but bonded by blood, the next 40 years will find the brothers' divergent paths intersecting through some of the most tumultuous events in recent history! A stunning cinematic achievement, you don't want to miss this incredible motion picture!

Customer Reviews:

ignore the snide amazon praise.......2007-06-21

This is a remarkable piece of cinematic work, as many others have attested. I've seen it three times ... very moving. And the beards look fine to me.

Pleasure to watch.......2007-06-13

great cast, wonderful way to show a few points in Italian history

A compelling and moving film, not to be forgotten.......2007-06-08

My son, who graduated from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU last May, and still lives in NYC gave me this film last Christmas...he knows how much I love indie and foreign films and knew I would enjoy it. As I don't want to be a "spoiler" I can only say I truly enjoyed the film. It especially was meaningful as my husband and I had spent three weeks in Italy last September and seeing all the Italian scenes brought us back to our wonderful stay. We had visited all of the cities and areas in the film, plus other cities not involved. It's a sensitive, educational, moving film which spans over a period of forty years. The story of Nicola and Matteo is a terrific tale, the history of Italian politics was an eye-opener and I was endeared to all of the characters but one, not to be revealed here. I highly endorse this film for anyone who wants to take the time to become totally immersed in a wonderful story.

A Magnificent Movie.......2007-05-13

Don't let the six-hour length of this film deter you from purchasing it."The Best of Youth" is a spectacularly moving film. It covers the evolution of a family within the framework of a period of Italian history. It has humor, pathos, sadness, and a humanity that will leave you breathless at the end.

Unforgettable.......2007-04-19

I have not written a review for Amazon in at least three years, but having seen The Best of Youth (La meglio gioventu') I find myself wanting to write a review again. I have taken on an almost messianic role in sharing the beauty that is this film. I've rented it at the video store and lent it to family, colleagues and friends. I've watched it alone, and then was compelled to watch it again with my wife. I still struggle to understand why this film is so beautiful, moving and engaging. I can only say that it is all those things and more. I have no doubt that the haunting soundtrack, and the notes of Astor Piazzolla's 'Oblivion' in particular, contibute to the film's impact; in fact the use of music in this film (as is the case in most Italian cinematic productions) is very well done. I thought that the film affected me in a particular way because I was born in the very same period that the film begins, and so I have witnessed most of the film's historical background events, right down to a drive in an green Alfa Romeo Giulia ti (makes an appearance in the film), which was the first car I remember being my father driving. However, I have heard and witnessed people having no such direct experiences, not speaking Italian for that matter, being just as moved as I was by this film. It must be the exceptional and intelligent dialogue. Brilliant insights that apply to everyone, without being pedantic or critical. It is the photography (in spite of TV budget meakeup, but really, who cares when the rest is so good?, the scenery, and perhaps the personal humanity of the actors themesleves, Luigi lo Cascio 'in primis' who can be so funny at the most unexpected moments. In fact, I feel sorry for non-Italian speakers who miss the comic - but well timed and executed - intonations of various Italian accents by Lo Cascio's character, Nicola Carati. He also gets the most memorable lines. two of the best occur when a sarcastic Nicola criticizes Giulia's emerging political fanaticism and then in a quiet chat with his daughter, when he tells her that it is important to be generous when life is treating you well. I'm writing thsi review, and I should be working, so I have not dealt with the subject to the extent I wanted; however, I hope that I conveyed my enthusiasm for this film, a film that has affected me like no other. teh one regret is that after seeing this film, nothing else will move you as much and most films even good ones will leave you longing for the mix of emotions that only 'The Best of Youth' can offer. It is that good.

Average customer rating:

Insider view of the growth of a saint
Simplicity is the key to God's inner life.
Therese DVD
A Great Disappointment
Movie of a Soul

Therese
Starring: Lindsay Younce
Manufacturer: Xenon
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ASIN: B000BDGVT0
Release Date: 2006-02-14

Description

THÉRÈSE tells the story of a young girl who fell in love with Jesus Christ and demonstrated a path of spirituality through the actions of unconditional love, human compassion, and her "Little Way" to the modern world. This inspiring true story is told through simple narrative which invites the audience to contemplate and apply such spirituality in their own modern lives, regardless of one's own faith or religious background.

Customer Reviews:

Insider view of the growth of a saint.......2007-06-09

In this true story we are introduced to a family in which all the daughters can't wait to become Carmelite nuns. We don't often hear of such families these days. One of the nuns is an unbearably precious, loving, dutiful child, who is taught to keep a diary. The child becomes very sick with tuberculosis and dies of it. And everyone who knew her is transformed by knowing her.
After the events of the film, the diary becomes a best seller, and the girl is canonized in 1925. I cannot imagine a better way to put this story on film than the way this company and cast have done it. For viewers who have no clue as to the way of life in a Carmelite convent, this will be an eye-opener as well.

Simplicity is the key to God's inner life........2007-05-30

The film Therese with director Leonardo DeFilippis' commentaries more than met my expectations.

Having read all of Therese's works I was prepared for a more somber look at Therese's life but was pleasantly surprised to have her life depicted as a normal girl, brought up in a very affluent lifestyle.

Many of our modern day saints have been raised from poverty to sainthood. Therese on the other hand was given everything a young girl would need and wanted. And yet, something, someone was still missing in her soul.

The journey of a soul is Therese's journey as well as our own and this film gives us a glimpse of the struggles and ectasies that one will encounter once a person begins to search for more outside oneself.

The film Therese does the journey justice and toward the end of this young girl's life all is not abandoned as Therese struggles to see God's love working in her soul. She defies death by announcing the great love of God beyond her pain.

Other books for the journey for your consideration with my reviews:

Who Told You That You Were Naked: Freedom From Judgement, Guilt and Fear of PunishmentAcceptance of self leads to love of self, God & others.

Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (Library of Spiritual Classics, Volume 2) Jesus is the way and the truth.

Radical Optimism: Rooting Ourselves in Reality A deep and luminous vision.

Pursuit of God Gaze into the heart of God

Living in the Presence of God: The Everyday Spirituality of Brother Lawrence (30 Days With a Great Spiritual Teacher) Be close to the heart of God.

The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena Catherine's dialogues with God the Father.

God, Dreams, and Revelation; A Christian Interpretation of Dreams Dreams are gifts from God.

No Man Is an Island Without solitude there can be no communion.

Through Seasons of the Heart Please be patient; God is not finished with me yet.

God Calling Lo, I am with you always.

Grace in Every Season: Through the Year With Catherine De Hueck Doherty A daily dose of Catherine's spirituality,

Sadhana Listen with your heart.

Therese DVD.......2007-05-29

This is an excellent rendition of the life of St. Therese. It helps you realize that sainthood is possible for the ordinary person.

A Great Disappointment.......2007-03-11

I have always loved St. Theresa, the Little Flower. Like the other reviewer, I looked forward to seeing this movie. I am a Traditional Catholic and thought that finally here was a great movie that would portray her life in a realistic and sacred manner.

I was so shocked as scene after disappointing scene unfolded. The music was beautiful but became monotonous after a while, as it never changed ambiance. The costumes deserve great credit but the acting in most part, especially the scenes inside the monastery, were clumsy and childishly scripted. The acting was stilted and forced. It seems that no attempt was made to really understand Carmelite comportment and behaviour. The scenes of scorn from the nuns, the ungainly gestures and the ludicrous 'dance' into the refectory were totally uncharacteristic of instinctive religious behaviour. The nuns also appeared to 'stride' around, as can be seen in the garden scene. There is not one single scene of St. Thesea attending Mass, or any beautiful shots inside a church, or Cathedral, etc. These things are all very important.

An over exaggeration has been applied to the concept of French family affections. The eight year old ill Therese was played by a grown girl, which looked rediculous, especially with full length shots of her writhing around in her sick bed in a very unladylike manner!

Stay on the safe side and buy the older movies on St. Theresa!

Movie of a Soul.......2007-02-27

`The'r'ese' embellishes well its subject matter. Beloved by many, the saint is framed in a film that captures beauty fitting for "The Little Flower". There are many heartwarming moments throughout to nourish the soul. Containing some elements of her autobiography, `A Story of a Soul,' but narrating less than the previous film from 1986, this `Therese' reinacts key scenes of her life more fully. Wisely, the treatment is only occasionally langorous, and is mostly well edited. To accommodate a modern audience, they seldom dwell on any one scene too long. The acting won't win prizes in the history of Catholic cinema, but with a few wooden moments, they wisely try not to over dramatize her story, even when exceptional developments come to ordinary lives. There are even some surprising special effects in places that work well, especially without a blockbuster budget. Nevertheless, with the drama accentuated by Sr. Marie Therese Sokol`s, OCD, beautiful score, they are playing for an old-fashioned movie appeal. Directed by Leonardo Defilippis, whose performance as her father, Martin, is the best in the show, and the screenplay written by his wife, Patti, 'The'r'ese is an admirable effort. The comraderie between the sisters is captured well enough, and progressively, the dramatic tension grows somewhat. There are some cutesy scenes as well that almost reminded me of films like `The Trouble with Angels,' but it is hard to imagine a film about The'r'ese that could do without it.

Overall, `The'r'ese' is a good film about a Catholic saint that should be considered for mainstream consumption. Whereas 1986's `The'r'ese' makes a good one-woman impersonation, like a stand-up narrative, this `The'r'ese' at least has the drama that was begging to be made.

Average customer rating:

my all-time favorite story of childhood -
beautiful film about childhood memories.......
you guys are awsome
Idyll of Boyhood
Lavish, Beautiful, and Sentimental

My Father's Glory
Starring: Philippe Caubère , Nathalie Roussel , Didier Pain , Thérèse Liotard , and Julien Ciamaca
Director: Yves Robert
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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My Mother's Castle
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ASIN: B00006I04J
Release Date: 2002-11-05

Amazon.com

Among the bounteous literary and cinematic legacy of Marcel Pagnol, poet laureate of Provence, is a two-volume memoir, My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle. The enormous success of Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring (Claude Berri's 1986 remakes of two Pagnol films from the '50s) encouraged Yves Robert to shoot another Pagnol diptych. Like Garlaban, the great bluff overhanging Pagnol's childhood home, the result is "less than a mountain, much more than a hill." The first part, My Father's Glory, spans Marcel's early years from infancy to preteen. The film keeps faith with its juvenile subject, leaping from one quirky detail of landscape, character, or biography to the next--whatever has caught the child's fancy and lingered in the adult narrator's memory. This makes for episodic storytelling, but it's an appropriate way to reflect childhood experience, and it doesn't prevent Robert from developing loving portraits of Pagnol's nearest and dearest, or paying luminous tribute to the Provençal countryside Pagnol loved. You can almost feel the sunshine, smell the wild thyme. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

Based on the best-selling memoirs of French novelist/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, this captivating recollection of a young boy's life in turn-of-the-century South of France is an intelligent, emotionallyrealistic account of a more idyllic time. A glorious celebration of family, this is one of the most beguiling films since charm went out of fashion (Time)! Among the intoxicating hills of rustic Bastide Neuve, young Marcel and his family experience an unforgettable summer holiday. Marcel,mystified by nature, eagerly turns to his father, Joseph, for an education on the ways of the wild.But Joseph comes up short in Marcel's eyes when cantankerous Uncle Julesan experienced woodsmanproves to be far more knowledgeable. To redeem himself, Joseph challenges Jules to a hunting matchto prove once and for all that he is not only the patriarch but a father who deserves respect.

Customer Reviews:

my all-time favorite story of childhood -.......2007-04-23

this isn't sappy or childish in any way - and it is profoundly affecting in how it shows life as it should be, and very easily Could Be. for those of us who did not have a precious and protected childhood, this is a chance to see what that might be like. this was very renewing for me to watch, at a time where life had lost its sweetness for me. i can't imagine anyone who would not love the time spent seeing this movie, again and again. this would make a great baby gift or holiday present for a young family -

beautiful film about childhood memories..............2007-02-10

My Father's Glory is, quite simply, a marvelous story about the simple (and profound) memories of childhood. This film is an adaptation of the memoirs of great, Provence-based writer Marcel Pagnol. Marcel (Julien Ciamaca)has two wonderful and loving parents, school teacher Joseph (Philippe Caubere) and seamstress Augustine (Nathalie Roussel). Marcel's early recollections of childhood are, both, heartwarming and tender. He remembers taking many walks with his Tante (Aunt) Rose (Therese Liotard) in the park, where Rose has a chance encounter with her future husband, Marcel's Uncle Jules (Didier Pan). He also remembers the arrival of his younger brother, Paul (Victorien Delamare), his companion and friend in many of life's adventures. This story also recounts the family's summer trip to the country (this ties into the significance of the title, but I won't ruin it for you).

At this day and age, where filmmaking runs rampant with cynicism and darkness, My Father's Glory is a refreshing alternative. This is a joy to watch.....it makes you feel happy to be alive.

you guys are awsome.......2006-04-11

THIS IS THE BEST SITE TO FIND THE MOVIES I REALLY WANT AND LIKE YOU GUYS HAVE HELPED ME OUT WITH HAVING THE STUFF I OREDRED AND ARE GENERLLY GOOD ABOUT GETTING THE STUFF FAIRLY QUICK. AND I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING HOME FOR UPS OR FEDEX KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. AND I'LL CONTINUE USEING AND TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT YOU FOLKS. BEST REGARDS SEAN S.

Idyll of Boyhood.......2003-11-26

This film is one of the most honest and beautiful accounts of family life and boyhood in the Auvergne and in Marseilles. The warmth of the Langudoc shimmers through the colours of the film as also through the lives of this happy family drenched in the browning sunlight in the last few years of the nineteenth and the first few of the twentieth century. This warmth is reflected also in the son Marcel's friendship with the young peasant boy, Lili, who modestly asks if he may keep the sailor suit which fits him. In a sense, this is a 'lower professional' childhood rather than the aristocratic one of the Tadzio in 'Death in Venice'. It is completed by a continuation film, equally wonderful, called 'Le Chateau de ma Mere' - and this, too is a must. The two together make for a wonderful winter evening and make you realise just what dross we are generally offered on the television.

Lavish, Beautiful, and Sentimental.......2003-07-07

My Father's Glory is the first of two films dealing with the novelist/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol's childhood. The film really does not have a plot. Marcel's parents Joseph, a beloved school teacher, and his mother Augustine, a dressmaker meet, fall in love, and get married. Soon afterward Marcel is born, as is his brother and sister. Marcel's family, along with his Uncle Jules and Aunt Rose, vacation in the South of France, and his father wins a hunting contest. On the surface there is not much to hold the film together. Yet the plot of the film is not what makes it so worthwhile. The film's chief strength is the way that each character is developed. We can see that Joseph is a good and descent man, a masterful teacher, and most especially a devoted father and husband. Young Marcel idolizes his father, and wants all others to realize the father's great qualities. The father is not perfect, and Marcel has questions about his doubt of all things religious. Marcel admires his mother as well, who is a nurturing and caring soul. The other major characters are both richly developed and varied.

The setting of the film is sumptuous. The small French town where Marcel and his family hail from seems realistic and the viewer can feel as if he/she has stepped back in time. The music adds to the film and perfectly blends with the scenes and characters.

Amazon.com

The second part of Yves Robert's filming of Marcel Pagnol's childhood memoirs completes the narrative so casually begun in My Father's Glory--and fulfills a radiant journey we hadn't even realized we'd embarked on. Marcel is approaching his teens and acquiring a more coherent sense of the world. Accordingly, My Mother's Castle boasts a more concentrated style and unspools its story over (mostly) the space of one year, as opposed to a dozen. Whereas in the first film Robert had worked entirely with little-known players who simply became Marcel's family, here he calls upon screen veterans Jean Rochefort, Jean Carmet, and Georges Wilson to flesh out sharply ironical figures who loom challengingly on the young man's horizon. Consistent with Pagnol's emphasis on Provençal locations, the focal event of the film becomes the weekly walk the Marseilles-based family makes from the trolley station to their remote country cottage--a quintessentially mundane ritual that comes to be fraught with wonder, delight, and terror. It all leads to a payoff that opens the meaning of the title only as the film is reaching its transcendent conclusion. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

Loved it.......2007-05-24

A very unusual story full of warmth and humor and character growth and beautiful images of the Provence countryside. The sudden sadness of the ending is softened by the best performance ever by an actor shot only from the back. Very innovative, very touching, hauntingly lovely.

Time magazine described as "rapture" - which it very much is -.......2007-04-23

lovely, touching, charming - portraying the (realistically) idyllic and simple childhood we all wish we had - in a beautiful, beautiful setting. the luxury is in the ordinary and the everyday - a slow way of living and being together with others, gathered around a table. this film is uplifting and healing and comforting to watch. "It's A Wonderful Life" - a wonderful life that is within the reach of all of us. it IS preferable to see this AFTER seeing My Father's Glory. Every young family would love to watch this together -

A movie that should be in everyone's library........2007-02-12

I never tire of seeing this movie. This is a movie that I see again and again
every few years. I always see it back to back with My Father's Glory.

Frankly, the best thing about the French are their classic FAMILY movies.

My Mother's Castle: a review.......2005-10-18

For anyone who knows the intoxicating atmosphere of Provence in France, but does not have the privilege of living there, this film is a delightful escape to that brilliant landscape set at the end of a gentler and more decorous age, already tainted by the horrors of the twentieth century. A must-see if,like me, you wish to escape the horrors of twenty-first century cinema.

The Epitomy of Beauty.......2005-10-16

This movie was wonderful! Although I recommend getting the first movie, Le Gloir de mon pere, it is still great by itself. The overall work, scenery, acting, everything was wonderful! The storyline was fantastic although a bit tragic.

Average customer rating:

Loking Yummy
Yummy!
Oldy but Goody
Lee Marvin was the ultimate in professional torpedoes...
How to tell if Lee Marvin had been drinking.

Prime Cut
Starring: Lee Marvin , Gene Hackman , Angel Tompkins , Gregory Walcott , and Sissy Spacek
Director: Michael Ritchie
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0008KLVA0
Release Date: 2005-06-14

Amazon.com

Prime Cut is a strangely likeable if decidedly oddball thriller from 1972. A happy collision of gangster genre grit (validated by Lee Marvin's granite-faced lead performance) with a strain of shameless (though shrewd) exploitation not unfamiliar to screenwriter Robert Dillon (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), plus the kinetic, semi-documentary wit of director Michael Ritchie (The Candidate) makes Prime Cut both a straightforward noir and a satire of itself. Marvin plays Nick, an aging enforcer for the Chicago mob, sent to Kansas City to deal with a ruthless cattle baron (Gene Hackman) who owes a half-million to Windy City racketeers. Hackman's character (inexplicably named Mary Ann), dismissive of old-guard crime chieftains, has set up his own heartland empire guarded by a weird contingent of blond, lookalike young men with rifles. Not only does he render the bodies of his enemies into sausage meat, Mary Ann is making a fortune trafficking in naked, enslaved young women. One of the latter, played by Sissy Spacek (in her film debut), falls under the protection of Nick, who sets about taking Mary Ann down. Ritchie's highly energized, absurdist scenes (e.g., a gunfight in an endless field of sunflowers) are nicely counterpointed by Marvin's smooth anti-heroics and the self-conscious cheesiness of the sex slave angle. --Tom Keogh

Description

In PRIME CUT, a Chicago mob enforcer (Marvin) is sent to Kansas City to settle a debt with a man called Mary Ann (Hackman) who sells women as sex slaves

Customer Reviews:

Loking Yummy.......2007-04-28

This movie is well worth watching if for no other reason than the first 2 scenes with Sissy Spacek, the first in the barn, laying on the straw, in which she displays all of her feminine beauty, including her beautifully shaped breasts along with her beaver. Second scene includes her emerging from her hotel bed, fully nude, as she then tries on a new dress that Marvin hes bought for her. She is then seen being escorted by Marvin to the hotel retaurant attired in a see through dress, no bra, again revealing those perfect boobs. Two rather silly things about the latter two scenes. Sissy is naked in bed and Marvin is casually looking at her, apparently interested only in the cigar he is smoking. The only way it makes sense is if it's the morning after and he has just spent most of the night balling her. The scene in the restaurant is ridiculous, he has rescued this helpless little gal from white slavery and now he is parading her among the people in the hotel with her wearing a see though dress.

Yummy!.......2007-02-13

SO many of the best films came out of the 70's and this is certainly one of them. Mobsters, sex slave trade, and most of all good ole' country cuisine make Prime Cut a real winner. The photography is beatiful, the direction very cunning, and the performances terrific. A real oddity in some ways, but a great twisted ride for those willing to take the chance on on older film.

Oldy but Goody.......2007-01-16

This a classic with great acting and some light nudity that was well before its time. Worth a watch or two just so you can brag about having seen it. Gene Hackman, Lee Marvin (at the top of their games) and a very young Sissy Spasick- need more be said?

The Bobster

Lee Marvin was the ultimate in professional torpedoes..........2007-01-11

In the Fifties, in "Violent Saturday," he made a little name as the killer who kept using a nose spray while terrorizing Sylvia Sidney and a bank... When Don Siegel made the second version of Hemingway's "The Killers," he was the cool, hard gunman who knew he was being paid to do the job and would definitely do it, come hell or high water...

His "Prime Cut," is a study in professionalism... Before that came "Point Blank," in which again he was the unstoppable force... But watch him in "Prime Cut." Notice the care with which he handles the tools of his trade, the cavalry rifle which takes to pieces and is lovingly kept in a neat executive-style case...

He is a "hit man," a torpedo who can be hired by the new breed of businessman-gangster... Pressured into a job against his will, he is sent to Kansas City to enforce his employer's demands for payment from another gangster-type... From then on, a trail of murder, malice and killing makes the screen run red... If the baddies all come to sticky ends - so does at least one innocent person, whom Marvin involves - as in the case of the truck-driver whose vehicle he hijacks...

"Prime Cut" is a tremendously exciting film, if one disregards its moral values... At the end Marvin, the paid killer who keeps the weapons of his trade in velvet-lined cases, has destroyed all the other villains... yet walks off into the sunset without a hint of retribution...

How to tell if Lee Marvin had been drinking........2006-10-04

I bought this movie and loved it for the sheer wierdness of seeing three academy award winning actors in a movie about meat grinding humans and drugged runaways sold as sex slaves. I noticed if Lee doesn't have much to say in a scene his upper lip hangs down on his face. You can see it for the first time in "The Killers" where he intentionally got totally drunk before his dying hitman character kills Ron Reagan. As his career progresses, his scenes where his character isn't doing much you can see the hanging upper lip. You can also see it The Professionals. In the opening scenes of this movie where the mob boss is laying down the mission to Lee it can be seen again.

Average customer rating:

Great movie!
Not always believable, derivative, but fun to watch
Weak, Implausible Plot But Brilliant Directing
beware of nannies humming "Poor Wandering One"...
Huge fan of Rebecca DeMornay