Customer Reviews

Justine [VHS]

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Somebody can reply me why there isn't a dvd print of this fabulous piece of retrocinema? Do it now,masters of the film rights!

George Cukor's impossibly ambitious version of Lawrence Durrell's superb "Alexandria Quartet" (of which "Justine" is only the first volume) is quite mediocre, lavish but empty, but compelling in a strange way. It is garish kitsch but just when you want to totally discount it, the performances pull you in. It is colorful, well-cast and generally well acted: Ana Karina is actually quite wonderful as the belly dancer Melissa; Dirk Bogarde (Pursewarden) , Philipe Noiret (Pombal), and John Vernon (Nessim) are equally good. Look for those fine actors Michael Dunn and Abraham Sofaer in tiny roles. Filmed in Tunisia, Cukor took over from the feckless Joseph Strick who destroyed Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer" only the year before.

Distilling Durrell's complex novel was an impossible task, as Cukor's attempt shows. The renowned Hollywoood director inherited the project from Joseph Strick. Not quite the unmitigated disaster some critics claim it to be. Anouk Aimee is beautiful to look at, but it is the triad of Dirk Bogarde, Philippe Noiret and Anna Karina which stands out. Karina is especially touching as the doomed bellydancer Melissa--a performance overlooked by Oscar voters in 1968!

ok it was an almost impossible task to reduce the brilliant quartet to the screen, but this was just so disappointing. more than anything, it felt, well, cold and claustrophobic. END