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 Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:10 am Post subject: _All Men are Mortal_ |
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Quite a strange film, based on a Simone de Beauvoir novel I haven't
read. It has a very interesting premise: a post-war French actress
(Irene Jacob) becomes involved and obsessed with a man (Stephen
Rea) who cannot die. The haughty but insecure actress, always
impersonating others (she plays the self-doubting Hamlet on stage),
thinks that being loved and remembered by an immortal will justify
and secure her existence. The immortal is mostly haunted by
all the loves, losses, wars, ruins, and sorrows that recur forever
and ever. The film has a lightness to it; it has vibrant colors and
a hideous song ("Paris, Paris") that is strangely light-hearted,
considering the subject matter. The main interest of the film
resides in the cast. The sad eyed Stephen Rea, fresh off _The
Crying Game_, mostly gets to look iconic. But Irene Jacob
is extremely good here, cast against type as a serious diva
with existential crisis. Half the film's budget is used for Irene
Jacob's clothes. She changes from one stunning outfit to the
next literally every scene. (The post-WWII fashion really
flatters her.) I don't remember her being this glamorous in films
other than _Red_. Her pageantry here arguably bears a worthy
comparison with _In the Mood for Love_'s Maggie Cheung! The
rest of the film seems to be shot cheaply, especially the laughable
flashbacks to the Rea's medieval days. But this film shows what
Jacob can do, the range she can command, when given the
right material. Not a cinematic masterpiece (well I saw it in
pan-and-scan format), but a must-see for fans of Jacob. |
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