Customer Reviews

The Game Is Over [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I couldn't get into this movie at first. It is the kind of film you must watch with no distractions to catch the subleties and nuances that are its strength. Otherwise, it feels very slow moving, verging on dull. But if you stick with it, you acclimate to the pace and this tale of adultery, betrayal and revenge manages a nice balance of stylization and realism. It manages to ask a very basic question about the universal dillemma: monogamy in marriage and it's pitfalls. Or strengths, depending on how you interpret its message.

Like all good European films, "Game" leaves the message in the viewer's imgination and doesn't polarize its characters into good guys, bad guys, good deeds and evil ones. Ultimately everyone in this film --as in life-- has a private agenda that can be viewed two ways.

It's a shame that this DVD of one of Jane Fonda's sexiest films has been struck from a badly deteriorated master. The print is grainy and distorted, lacking clarity in focus. Also, compare this print to the earlier VHS version and you will discover that there are key shots missing from this French language version.If this film can't be restored to the rich textures I recall from the original, then consider THE GAME IS OVER one lost film. The product available for purchase here is completely worthless, making its high price of $39.00 ludicrous. It ought to be yanked off the market.

I had forgotten how lame this Roger Vadim effort was. It's only redeeming value in its original form (for those of us who enjoyed it) was a generous amount of young Jane Fonda nudity. Unfortunately, this heavily edited version retains little of that, and not much else worthwhile.

If you look at this movie, you will see the amazing and very clear projection of what happens when in a relationship one partner views the other as a "thing", a "posession", an "object" rather than providing care and love. We can learn from this movie decades later in that in relationships we all need a real connection, an internal love that in which the two characters found (Renee and Maxime). They connected, since they were both viewed as "objects" by the one who controlled them and viewed them this way. Both attempted to escape the control they were under and in doing so wound up being blackmailed by the controller. What a great movie to show how power and control and the fear of losing it, will stop at nothing to destroy anothers kindred spirit. Although the ending was not a typical "happily ever after" ending, it dipicts real life, and real people who manipulate others to keep themselves on top.

This is a French film. It was produced and directed by French, stars mostly French and is, of course, in French. The English subtitles are optional. Being French, it naturally has a cavalier and "French" attitude towards many things. Fidelity, commitment, honesty, marriage and such are purely optional. Lechery and revenge are not. That is the crux of the story.

Jane Fonda plays the young wife of a middle aged French industrialist. She is bored with her marriage and, truth to tell, her husband has little going for him beyond wealth. He also has a virile young son who has the hots for Jane. Naturally, they have to wind up in the sack together and even come to love each other. Eventually Poppa finds out and plots vengeance against both of them. The results are not pretty.

It should be apparent that I did not particularly like the film. I did not but it was well done in terms of cinematography, acting and other production values. It also brought back some memories as to the styles and fashions of the late 60s and 70s. Jane is also quite decorative. Even so, I did not enjoy it. Others, who like this kind of thing, may well think its great.