Marquise of O

Starring:Edith Clever, Ruth Drexel, Bernhard Frey, Bruno Ganz, Hesso Huber, Eduard Linkers, Peter LÃ¼hr, Theo de Maal, Manuela Mayer, Petra Meier, Heidi Mueller, Marion Mueller, Franz Pikola, Volker Prechtel, Richard Rogner, Otto Sander, Erich Schachinger, Edda Seippel, Thomas Straus
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Roger Ebert tagged Sugar Hill as one of the best of 1994. Leon Ichaso's film is not an action flick; no, this stylish drama wants to be a small gangster epic. Call it Roemello's Way: a thoughtful drug lord (Wesley Snipes) wants to get out of his business but takes forever to do so. A Shakespearean tragedy slowly--far too slowly--evolves. While it has a definite street-smart sense, no new ground is covered. Snipes is worth watching, though, and Clarence Williams III (seen far too seldom on screen) is terrific as his doomed father. --Doug Thomas

Description

A life of crime has earned Roemello Skuggs and his brother, Raynathan money, power and respect. Now Roemello, weary of the destructive world, wants to start a new life with a sophisticated woman from a respectable family. But Raynathan needs his help in a bloody war, as the mob tries to mob in on their territory. The harder roemello tries to walk away, the more he's pulled back into the only world he's ever known and the more determined he becomes to bury the past.

Customer Reviews:

Sugar Hill.......2007-03-26

The product is outstanding. Flawless quality, however the packing needed some help. The DVD case was broken upon receipt and I can not use the case.

Harlem a jungle inside a city!.......2006-11-14

Harlem is the sinister landscape where every man has to survive according his basic insticts. There's no time for redemption, there's no way out for your elusive dreams, in many ways this film is very close in spirit to Carlito's way where any man can be able to escape from his past.

This movie is a potent Noir, but viewed from the opposite side of the street. If Spike Lee captured all our attention about the strong tension among Italian and niggers Empire about the distribution and sell of angel's dust and other candies, the film gets out from the simple anecdote and returns over and over about the fatality that hovers all this family, mother and father have been destroyed and two brothers build an Empire from the ashes of the fatal addictions.

Superbly narrated, marvelously acted with fluid camera work and firm direction.

Highly recommended.

A little morbid, but..........2005-07-28

I don't like sad movies, but I have to say that this movie is really good. The characters have depth and the storyline is intriguing.

Wright steals the show.......2005-06-10

This is a very stylish movie that for what ever reason was swept under the radar. The real prize in this movie is Micheal Wright. This brother can act and its a damn shame that he doesnt have that generic Blair Underwood look because he should be getting better roles. If you don't believe me when I say he's got that DeNiro type range I suggest you check out the special features because I couldn't believe it was the same guy. He's way more educated than the roles I've seen him in like this and Oz. Reminds me of the movie Hollywood shuffle. Check the talent beacause its a real shame.

Great, gripping story.......2004-10-27

After watching "New Jack City", "Sugar Hill" is definitely a similar, but milder, pared down version of the former, still with the stark realities of street life and the drug trade being the common denominator. While in New Jack, Wesley Snipes character "Nino" is a cold,bloodthirsty,womanizing, and heartless druglord. Snipes' role as Carmello in SH is much more conservative in terms of his mannerisims, attire, and he is compassionate, humane, and sympathetic, but still not forgetting that he is first and foremost a drug kingpin who needs to take care of business. Ironically, Carmello must care for his ailing father, whose life is in shambles as a result of abusing the same product that made his own son rich, and eventually succumbs. I would even go on a limb to say Nino from NJC could be regarded as being re-incarnated in another life in this film as another character(Carmello). Carmello eventually tires of his life as a dealer, and realizes that there is more to life than the jet set lifestyle, wealth and material things.

Eventually,Carmello is given another chance at redemption, but must live the rest of his life with a crippling injury that was inflicted by his own brother, who eventually dies as well. Carmello starts over far from the concrete jungles of NYC with a new wife and child. The remarkable Clarence Williams, Ernie Hudson, Vondie Curtis-Hall, the lovely Theresa Randle, Abe Vigoda and other actors add to the depth of this film. Even after 10 years, this movie still hits home.

Average customer rating:

Somewhat strange, but extremely original...
German Movie: Can Rape turn into a great Romance?
Gorgeous cinematography!
"I regret to see your passion has robbed you of your senses"
true to the Kleist--in spirit and text

Marquise of O
Starring: Edith Clever , Ruth Drexel , Bernhard Frey , Bruno Ganz , and Hesso Huber
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004U0FM
Release Date: 2000-09-05

Amazon.com

After Eric Rohmer completed his "Six Moral Tales," and before launching into the "Comedies and Proverbs," he tackled two projects very different from anything else in his career. In the first of these, The Marquise of O, based on the novel by Heinrich von Kleist, Rohmer leaves the young intellectuals of Paris for Italy during the Napoleonic wars. During the Russian invasion, the beautiful young marquise (Edith Clever) is saved from certain assault by a handsome and dashing count (Bruno Ganz). She spends the night guarded by her chivalrous savior, who returns months later to rather insistently court her. Only when he leaves does she discover that she is, unaccountably, pregnant. Rohmer's style is both more lush (shot in rich colors by Néstor Almendros) and less intimate than his previous romantic comedies, directed in painterly compositions at a removed distance. Unlike the self-obsessed young adults of his modern films, the count and the marquise act out of moral duty and social responsibility, and their actions reverberate through family and community. Yet this is still a Rohmer film, filled with carefully tooled dialogue (spoken in German) and informed by irony. The story of innocence and corruption, and the shades that lie within even the best of men, ends on a note of delicate forgiveness and understanding. Rohmer followed this with an even more unexpected stylistic experiment, the beautiful and beguiling Perceval. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Somewhat strange, but extremely original..........2006-09-08

"Marquise of O" is a film directed by Eric Rohmer (Jean Marie Maurice Schérer), and based on a story written by Heinrich von Kleist a long time ago. That story was somewhat strange, but extremely original. The same can be said about this movie.

The main character is the beautiful marquise of O (Edith Clever), a young French woman that lives with her parents and her two daughters, leading a virtous life after the death of her husband. During the late nineteenth century Franco-Prussian war, the marquise is saved from rape by a handsome Russian count (Bruno Ganz). Overwrought by the incident, the marquise is given a potion to sleep. The following day she wants to thank the count, but is informed that he has left with the Russian troops.

The marquise of O goes on with her life, until two extremely unusual things happen. First, the count returns to her life, wanting to marry her immediately. Secondly, the marquise discovers that she is pregnant, and is immediately banished from her parents' house. But how did that happen, if the marquise swears that she has remained chaste after the death of her husband?

All in all, I can say that this movie is interesting, capable of entertaining but also of making you reflect on temptation, standards of propriety, and what is right and wrong. Moreover, the cinematography is so good that the spectator starts to believe that he is indeed watching something that happened a long time ago. Even though this is far from being my favourite Rohmer film, it is more than good enough to recommend, and that is the reason why I give it 3.5 stars.

Belen Alcat

German Movie: Can Rape turn into a great Romance?.......2006-08-25

First thing - although this is a DVD - there is no control to turn off the English subtitles. I like to do that with "Run Lola Run" or "Goodbye Lenin" - it forces me to improve my German.

I bought this movie because all the German films I own are more recent with modern German spoken, including lots of profanity - not that I'm complaining about those movies - but thought it might be good to have a film with "Hoch Deutsch", you know, to improve myself.

The event that this movie is centered around is disturbing. A young woman - a widow with 2 children, who lives with her parents and brother - is at first saved from a violent sexual attack by a group of men, but then later raped by her savior while she's asleep/unconscious. She doesn't realize that she is raped, until she becomes pregnant. Her family does not believe her innocence to the event, and throws her out, refusing to speak to her.

The man who saved her, then raped her, does come back to the family and tries to marry her on the spot. At that time he doesn't realize that she is pregnant. He seems to care for her and wishes he hadn't raped her.

I won't give away the ending, but it is odd to think that someone who is honorable could have a moment where they take advantage of and hurt another human being, to this level. And I guess the question is, once they do that, can anything healthy every come out of the situation?

All of the actors are great in the movie. The actress who plays the widow is captivating. I also like to see the family interact around these odd events.

Gorgeous cinematography!.......2004-06-03

Eric Rohmer's 1976 take on Heinrich Von Kleist's story "The Marquise of O" is a movie right up my alley. While I'm not necessarily a fanatic about foreign films, I do love watching period piece pictures. Rohmer's picture may well be the best period film I have ever seen, and that includes Kubrick's masterful "Barry Lyndon." What surprised me even more after watching this film was finding out it is one of the few period pieces Rohmer has made in his long career. I read up on the man in the process, discovering that most of his other films are considerably different from this one. Rohmer is actually French, born Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer in Lorraine, France in 1920. After a short career as a novelist and film critic, he moved into the world of filmmaking in 1955. Critics associate Rohmer with the French New Wave school of filmmaking, placing him squarely alongside more recognizable names like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. The director ran into a few snags in his early career, toiling in obscurity for quite awhile as he continued to write about film until his first hit in 1969, "Ma nuit chez Maud." Rohmer's pictures deal with "arty" themes, moral quandaries such as infidelity and clashing value systems. Some of his French stuff sounds quite above my head, so I'm glad I saw this German language piece based on a story I am at least familiar with.

"The Marquise of O," set during the Napoleonic turmoils of nineteenth century Europe, focuses on the misfortunes of lovely young lady known as the Marquise (Edith Clever). Her father is a colonel who must surrender the town he is defending to the Russians. One of these Russian soldiers, a noble officer referred to as the Count (Bruno Ganz), saves the Marquise from a band of rapacious Slavic soldiers. Later, when he takes the barely conscious woman to her family's house, he revisits her in the middle of the night in a scene with deeply suspicious overtones. Fast forward a bit, when the Count comes to visit the Marquise and her parents. He proposes a marriage between himself and the young lady, much to the shock of everyone involved. The Marquise tries to put him off for a bit, but the Count is undeterred. He presses for a commitment, which apparently is a big no-no in the early nineteenth century as evidenced by the increasing sourness of the father and mother, but eventually settles in to wait. A complication arises when the Count learns he must head back to Russia to fill a post, an assignment he incredibly considers disobeying in order to stay near the Marquise. Her parents are appalled-what sort of man would spurn a direct order from the leader of his country? It soon becomes obvious why the Count tried to put off his trip.

The Marquise begins to feel unwell. As time progresses, she fears she may be pregnant, something the implications of which will be disastrous for her and her family. She's not married and doesn't have any overt suitors other than the Count, so aside from a miraculous virgin birth, someone's been up to no good. When her parents find out about what happened, the unfolding hysterics are quite something to watch. Nineteenth century Europe is a place and time when an unwed mother might as well commit suicide rather than birth a child. The pregnancy places the family's honor in grave jeopardy, which the Colonel will not allow. He disowns his child, banishing her from the house to a distant country estate. The Marquise's mother is torn, at first expressing outrage at her daughter's state and then softening later. A risky plan to reconcile the family involves placing an advertisement in the local newspaper seeking the father of the child. Even I groaned aloud at such an audacious endeavor. The locals do too, finding great amusement in the fact that a highborn woman doesn't know who fathered her child. And who did? We have a good idea, but must wait for it to play out at the end of the film.

I loved this film. The movie is all about how a strict sense of honor, fused with repressive ideas about how a woman should conduct herself, play out in a small family. While we may laugh over how concerned the characters are about the situation, and Rohmer certainly laughs as well, that doesn't make for a less interesting film experience. If "The Marquise of O" were nothing more than a quaint little picture about moral conundrums two hundred years ago, it would not merit attention. What sets the film apart is the sumptuous cinematography and compelling atmosphere. I don't know a whit about painted art, but it is obvious Rohmer set out to create a world resembling a painting. I shouldn't say ONE static painting, as the movie looks like one huge moving painting. The colors, atmosphere, and background are simply amazing to look at. Each frame of the film looks as though Rohmer carefully pulled it off a canvas. It's not as obvious as "Barry Lyndon," where Kubrick had his actors strike poses, but "The Marquise of O" looks like it should be hanging in the Louvre.

I suspect Rohmer's movie is the sort of project true thespians pray for everyday of their careers. No one takes a backseat to effects as even the war scenes are small and centered on the characters. What you do get instead are lengthy scenes of dialogue and tons of close-ups. If you dislike talky pictures, you'll need to skip "The Marquise of O." If you love conflict and moral predicaments, acting and meaningful dialogue, Rohmer's film should serve you well.

"I regret to see your passion has robbed you of your senses".......2003-10-13

"The Marquise of O" is one of Eric Rohmer's historical films. This story takes place during the Franco-Prussian War. One night as the Russians attack, the Marquise, a young widow with two children, is assaulted by a band of Russian soldiers. Fortunately, she is rescued by a young Russian Count. Several months later, it becomes apparent that the Marquise is pregnant, and no one believes her protests that she hasn't touched a man since her husband died.

When the film begins, we are supposed to believe we are watching a scene from the Franco-Prussian War. The war really boils down to a few puffs of smoke and some of the plaster coming off of the ceiling. Rohmer just doesn't portray these sorts of BIG scenes well--I suspect budget--or the lack thereof--may be at the bottom of this. Anyway, the BIG scenes just don't work. They don't seem authentic at all. Then when the Count saves the Marquise from a fate that is apparently worse than death, it is a bit corny. But those are the bad bits. Get over that, and watch the rest of this film.

The very best things about this film are the philosophical questions raised by the dilemma of the pregnant Marquise and her pesky, persistent suitor--the Count. How does one accept a knight in shining armour who has fallen from his pedestal? Are the actions of the Count motivated by guilt? How does one align the fate of the Marquise's would-be-attackers with the behaviour of the Count? Is forgiveness possible? Also, the class attitudes were quite fascinating. When the Marquise discovers and accepts her pregnancy, the lower classes exhibit a sort of sly, knowing joy in her dilemma. Both the Dr and the midwife have seem these sorts of situations many times before, and they are all too familiar with the denials the frantic Marquise makes to her unbelieving family. The sudden, unwelcome familiarity--of both the Dr and the midwife--evident in their tone shifts when speaking to the Marquise--indicates that she is about to experience a decline in society.

I really enjoyed all the characters in the film very much. The Marquise's father was splendid--especially when he raised his pistol. The Marquise's mother swoons, hardens, and gets mushy at times, but then she decides to take the more practical approach and get to the bottom of the scandal--even if this necessitates some deception on her part. I found it amusing that the Count's persistence when courting the Marquise flummoxed everyone as his behaviour was beyond the socially accepted norms.

Eric Rohmer films are noted for their dialogue and the philosophical debates the characters have with one another as they wrestle with relevant issues. These debates are missing from this film--indeed Rohmer's historical films--are to me--not his best work. Nonetheless, that said, I did enjoy the film immensely--displacedhuman.

true to the Kleist--in spirit and text.......2002-06-03

Kleist's writing interests me because of the frailties and strengths of his characters. Is it possible to save a woman from rape, rape her yourself, seek to hide what you've done and to make ammends, and in the end still be something like a decent person? Maybe. Do good people do bad things? Yes. Is not a certain willingness to forgive weakness necessary between humans? Certainly.
Rohmer captures the feeling Kleist's story beautifully. He is careful to show the strengths of the women, they aren't passive and dominated within a patriarchal society--important in a film wherein the leading man commits rape, and the leading woman eventually forgives him.

Average customer rating:

If you like double feature movies

Rising Sun / Sugar Hill
Starring: Wesley Snipes , Khandi Alexander , DeVaughn Nixon , Marquise Wilson , and O.L. Duke
Director: Leon Ichaso , and Philip Kaufman
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000KGGIXW
Release Date: 2006-12-05

Amazon.com

Rising Sun: Author Michael Crichton and director Philip Kaufman had a falling-out over the script for this film, based on Crichton's best-selling novel (which was controversial for its take on the Japanese invasion of American business in the early '90s). Kaufman ultimately won, doing an above-average job creating a murder mystery based on the culture clash between Los Angeles cops and Japanese multinational business interests. When a prostitute is murdered at the opening of a new L.A. headquarters for a Japanese company, detective Wesley Snipes is forced to call upon retired cop (and Japanophile) Sean Connery to help solve the murder. But he runs into obstruction from the Japanese, as well as a high-tech cover-up, while having to deal with anti-Japanese sentiments from people on his own team. Intriguing if overlong. --Marshall Fine

Sugar Hill: Roger Ebert tagged Sugar Hill as one of the best of 1994. Leon Ichaso's film is not an action flick; no, this stylish drama wants to be a small gangster epic. Call it Roemello's Way: a thoughtful drug lord (Wesley Snipes) wants to get out of his business but takes forever to do so. A Shakespearean tragedy slowly--far too slowly--evolves. While it has a definite street-smart sense, no new ground is covered. Snipes is worth watching, though, and Clarence Williams III (seen far too seldom on screen) is terrific as his doomed father. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews:

If you like double feature movies.......2007-02-18

The movies are fine! I am a big snipes fan so it saves getting two movies for about the price of one! I can't complain! If you don't mind getting double feature movies another good deal.

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