WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

[charliechaplinfan]

I didn't know Joanna Shimkus was Mrs Sidney Poitier and her daughter, so beautiful, well she would be having those 2 as parents. Theresa I am so glad you asked her for her autograph, she retired from acting and most of the public's memorys are shamefully short, I bet she remembers you. They both sound like a lovely couple, I hate flying, I'd hate to be surrounded by folk as I tried to disembark but I would like to think I'd have the good grace to be like this couple. All I know about Joanna Shimkus is when she got out of the water in that bikini I was very envious of her curves.

I don't know the other film Wendy but it would have been be very high calibre to compete with The Last Adventure.

Christine, I was quite amazed when I looked on the imdb as Lino Ventura's age, nearly 50 when he made this movie, that shocked me, he held the screen and was as attractive as Delon, not many can say that. I want to go La Rochelle next time we holiday in France.

[JackFavell]

It was actually the opposite, pretty low caliber.

[Robert Regan]

Thank you, Theresa, for sharing your story with our friends. You may not have thought about it for a while, but it is something I have never forgotten, as it illustrates one of the reasons we love you. Of course, you admire and salute the Sidney Poitiers of the world, but you also remember the Joanna Shimkuses who also have added their gifts to the movies that mean so much to us. And, by the way, I also remember the Goombay Punch!

Wendy, I want to say a few more words about Fanny and Alexander. Not that I wish to convince you that my view is any more authentic than yours, but just to express some of the feelings that I have had recently while revisiting both the theatrical and the tv versions. Now, the former is already pretty long at over three hours, and the latter would seem to be intolerable at over five hours, as I have been complaining about the length of most movies for some years now. However, I find that I like the longer version even better. Perhaps it helps that its division into five Akts encourages us to see it in installments. The first part which is almost entirely the Christmas celebration that I love so much is about an hour and a half long, and in the edited version that section is about a half hour shorter. What else did he cut? Well, several scenes set in the theatre that seem to be telling us what the film is about and some scenes of magic which also seems to be a main theme. The much darker scenes that follow were much more bearable to me when placed in a broader context, then adding to the joy of the ending when everyone is again sitting around a celebratory table. In an fine essay on the film the novelist Rick Moody cites such writers as Thomas Mann, Heinrich von Kleist, Franz Kafka, and August Strindberg. But the writer that I kept thinking about throughout the film is Charles Dickens. This is the only Bergman film that has the scope and dozens of characters that are such a part of the great Victorian novels, as well as the intense dramatic scenes of many great plays of the modern theatre. By incorporating the best of literature and theatre, Bergman created a synthesis that is pure cinema. I am reducing the number of DVDs in my house, but this is one, the only Bergman, that I will surely keep.

[JackFavell]

I can totally see the Dickens comparison, Robert. I also understand all of your points. I'm very glad you wrote about the ending, because knowing that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel helps. I will try to go back and watch it someday, I was far more sensitive about my movies back when it came out. Though watching The Virgin Spring recently was just about as harrowing....

[charliechaplinfan]

I like The Virgin Spring, although that's probably not the right word to use, I haven't yet seen Fanny and Alexander. When watching Bergman I always prefer his contemprorary movies rather than his period pieces but he's always interesting.

[JackFavell]

I can't deal with the scary bad things that happen in his movies, they are too vivid for me. Of course, the only two films of his I've seen are Fanny and Alexander and The Virgin Spring... I will try to watch Wild Strawberries, it seems like the one I would like most.

[Mr. Arkadin]

If you want to watch some Bergman, but find him upsetting, I'd start with Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) and work my way forward. Scenes from a Marriage (1973) might be another one that has layers of light and dark, where I feel the positive aspects outweigh the despair. Wild Strawberries, which you mentioned, is also a good one.

[JackFavell]

Thanks Joel, so much! I'm afraid I started with the two most disturbing pieces. I am usually not too squeamish, but for some reason his violence is very upsetting to me.

[Mr. Arkadin]

The Passion of Anna (1970) is my personal fave, but I wouldn't recommend it to you at this time:

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... f=1&t=3396

Another thread that might help:

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... =22&t=4382

[JackFavell]

Thanks again! I think I'll try Wild Strawberries first, and Smiles of a Summer Night (or is it Summer's?). After that, we'll see.

[feaito]

Last night I saw a wonderful French film titled "The Intouchables/Untouchables" (2011) with François Cluzet and Omar Sy. Great performances, engrossing, absorbing, credible, based upon fact. A movie like this (it deals with very rich disabled Parisian man who hires a poor young guy from Senegal as his all-day assistant) could have fallen easily into being mawkish or maudlin...and it doesn't. One of the best, uplifting films I have seen lately. RECOMMENDED.

[charliechaplinfan]

I love Scenes From a Marriage, I think it's my joint favourite with Winter Light. Autumn Sonata with Ingrid Bergman is up there on the top wrung too.

[JackFavell]

I may try those as well, I remember when Scenes from a Marriage came out, and Autumn Sonata as well. I don't know Winter Light at all.

[charliechaplinfan]

I saw the long version of Scenes From a Marriage and really liked it. I think it's an example of more is better, as it seems to be for Fanny and Alexander.