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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Based on two short stories by Henry James, The Green Room has a few Gothic overtones that are quickly supplanted by director François Truffaut's occasional predilection toward personal scrutiny as a filmmaker. Truffaut himself (as he did in The Wild Child) stars in the central role of a 1920s provincial journalist whose virtual solitude as a widower and father of a deaf-mute child exacerbates his unrelieved grief over the death of his wife and the loss of many friends during World War I. His reinvention of a dilapidated chapel into something more than a memorial for the dead--a container, rather, of his own manifest memories of their vital, abbreviated lives--becomes an obsession that takes its physical and spiritual toll. It is also, in Truffaut's often self-reflective way, a metaphor for the act of making movies: haunted places of people, memories, and ideas that exist forever as light and shadow on screen. One of the most curious of Truffaut's films, this 1978 feature doesn't entirely work in part because the demands on Truffaut as an actor exceed his abilities, and in part because it is an opaque mix of his running self-critique and the more accessible emotions of his earlier memory films such as Jules and Jim and Two English Girls. --Tom Keogh
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
What a Disappointment,
By bella (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Green Room (aka Vanishing Fiancée) (DVD)
I was overjoyed to see Truffaut's "The Green Room" finally released on DVD, even if it is via a disc-on-demand service. Bizarrely, MGM is committing profit suicide by releasing it under one of its obscure alternate Euro titles instead of the more familiar one under which most of us know it.
The disappointments begin with the source, which is a PAL transfer with all the attendant problems that creates. Color is washed out, everybody's voice is pitched too high and the film only runs 90 minutes, not the 95 stated on the box. It's not letterboxed, either, as Amazon claimes; it's full screen. How about the quality of the transfer? Terrible! The disc freezes up at numerous spots and the picture breaks up frequently. Looking at the recorded side of the disc, it appears striped rather than displaying the smooth, consistent color of a healthy disc. Amazon needs to check their DVD recorders! I'm hanging on to my old VHS copy.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's A Blue World,
By
This review is from: The Green Room [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"The Green Room" tells the story of a lonely man who has lost his wife 11 years ago. She died shortly after they were married, and the man cann't let go of her. One room in his house is sort of like a "shrine" to her. He keeps pictures of her, and talks to her, has candles lit. He feels it would be wrong for him to forget her and move on with his own life. This is a very "dark" movie. It basically is a story of obsessed love. Along the lines of Hitchcock's Vertigo. Given such a story one may think this has hints of Bergman. The dark atmosphere, could lead into a bleak story, perfect for Bergman, but, no, the film was directed by Francois Trufaut. So maybe it's not so odd to think of Hitchcock as well watch this. I think is Truffaut's "darkest" film a complete 180 from his usual "light" films like "Love on the Run", "Stolen Kisses" & "Day For Night".I enjoyed "The Green Room" quite a bit. I think Truffaut was rather brave to take on such a project and he even stars in the film, and I think does a good job. There's one scene in particular that stands out, and shows that Truffaut was a good actor. He is sitting down starring at picture of his wife. At first we think perhaps he's crazy. He devotes so much time to the dead! Why? But, then something happens. The camera gets a shot of his face. There's such sadness on his face that all of a sudden we feel such empathy for him. We see he's not crazy, but, was truly in love with this woman. Life means nothing now that she's gone. "The Green Wall" has some twist and turns, and may make it hard for some people to watch this film. Escpecially those who aren't use to seeing this type of film by Truffaut. And I certainly wouldn't suggest this be the movie you start your Truffaut collection with. After you've seen your share of Truffaut's film, then buold your way up to this one. I personally have seen almost all of his films. I don't want to give away too much of the movie, and think it's better if people are surprised by what they see, and reading about it. The movie though does have nice cinematography by Nestor Almendros, who worked quite often with Truffaut and Eric Rohmer. Plus the acting by Nathalie Baye (Cecilia Mandel) is enjoyable as well. She and Truffaut have good chemistry between them at moments. If you want to see something different, I think this film should work nicely. Bottom-line: Major departure from Truffaut's usual work, but, it works. Has some wonderful moments, and has a strange but effective message. One of Truffaut's best films.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Green Room,
By
This review is from: The Green Room [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I say five stars because Francios Truffaut is truly a cinematic master. As for the The Green Room it is his most profound and provocative movie. It gets to the essence of comtemporary feelings concerning, life, death, marriage, religion, committment, traditions, politics, etc etc etc. There is no end on reflections on various human conditions. It is really great art. The scenes are brooding. Dark. Sad. Natalie Baye plays Cecilia the protagist of Julien Davenne, quite sensitively as a solution to Julien's Perplexities of living. She tries to form a relationship just to overcome her own demise. One catches a glimplse that they will become true and life long friends; to be lovers Julien must work himself out but... that's too much to tell. As i said this film is quite interesting and I recommend it highly for people who like to go deep in character analysis. Au revior
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