Customer Reviews

The Last Days of Chez Nous [VHS]

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

 

 

This is classic Gillian Armstrong giving us a snapshot of inner-urban life in a Sydney home one long humid summer.

JP (played brilliantly by Bruno Ganz who was so memorable in Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire") is a Frenchman far from home. With his marriage to Beth (a woman whose vitality seems to have been snuffed out by marriage) already under stress, it takes only the arrival of Beth's wild and vibrant sister Vicki to send everything spinning out of control.

Vicki is Beth mirror image - but she is a reflection of what Beth once was. Beth longs to be wild and alive once more but that can never be. JP sees in Vicki what attracted him to Beth - and alone and longing for something that he can't find Down Under, JP drifts apart from Beth as she does from him.

But Beth has another problem - unresolved issues with her father (played by Bill Hunter who seems to be everywhere in Australian movies). Her father has all the personality of a prune, and won't admit his oldest child is now a grown woman with a mind of her own.

Beth, played in a deeply stressed manner by beautiful NZ actress Lisa Harrow, finds is being tossed about from the roles of mother, daughter and wife all at once - and she's the one that is left to suffer.

Truly a brilliant film, with a young Miranda Otto in the role of Beth's all-observing but resilient daughter, this is a touching film that captures much of the tension of our lives that will often cannot identify.

This is classic Gillian Armstrong giving us a snapshot of inner-urban life in a Sydney home one long humid summer.

JP (played brilliantly by Bruno Ganz who was so memorable in Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire") is a Frenchman far from home. With his marriage to Beth (a woman whose vitality seems to have been snuffed out by marriage) already under stress, it takes only the arrival of Beth's wild and vibrant sister Vicki to send everything spinning out of control.

Vicki is Beth mirror image - but she is a reflection of what Beth once was. Beth longs to be wild and alive once more but that can never be. JP sees in Vicki what attracted him to Beth - and alone and longing for something that he can't find Down Under, JP drifts apart from Beth as she does from him.

But Beth has another problem - unresolved issues with her father (played by Bill Hunter who seems to be everywhere in Australian movies). Her father has all the personality of a prune, and won't admit his oldest child is now a grown woman with a mind of her own.

Beth, played in a deeply stressed manner by beautiful NZ actress Lisa Harrow, finds is being tossed about from the roles of mother, daughter and wife all at once - and she's the one that is left to suffer.

Truly a brilliant film, with a young Miranda Otto in the role of Beth's all-observing but resilient daughter, this is a touching film that captures much of the tension of our lives that will often cannot identify.

Full of wonderfully acted, beautifully observed moments in the life of an
unconventional family, this was called, by one critic, `an Australian `Hannah
and her Sisters'. And to an extent that's not a bad description.

But this film is messier, less complete in it's vision and less bold in its
style. None-the-less, it's still entertaining, moving, and very worth seeing.

Bruno Ganz's half French, half German accent is a bit distracting (he's terrific otherwise),
and, for me, the ending felt rushed, as if things had to get to a conclusion.

It's a film I'd actually wished had gone on longer, or had been willing to leave things less
resolved. Once you start with the messiness of life, you lose something with a last
minute switch to the neatness of movies.

Yet another of the ever growing list of good films that are inexplicably unavailable
on region 1 DVD.

This is a gem from aussie film maker Gillian Armstrong - no Hollywood glam here; an honest portrayal of Aussie sisters and their family life. One of Bruno Ganz' earlier films. great to hear Everlovin' Man by the Loved Ones. Not sure if US audience would relate to this.

CHEZ NOUS-French for "Our House"....and a most unpleasant house it is in Gillian Armstrongs's 1992 Down Under film THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS.This is 90 minutes of complete disconnect of both people and consciences and Armstrong directs it accordingly.
Beth (Lisa Harrow) is a writer who lives in suburban Sydney,Australia with her French husband Jean-Pierre (Bruno Ganz).He has married her in order to ultimately obtain citizenship; but it would seem that their marriage is on shaky foundation.Beth's younger sister Vicki (Kerry Fox) returns home and is pregnant.She aborts the child and falls into an affair with Jean-Pierre while Beth goes on a road tour with her Dad (Bill Hunter) with whom she has never had connection.Beth returns home to be confronted by this affair.All the while, Beth's daughter (Miranda Otto) and boyfriend are playing "Jelly's Last Jam" on the piano.GOT IT? GOOD!...now you don't have to watch it!
This is the fourth Gillian Armstrong film I have seen, and every one of them tells plot points but never divulges character feelings and motivations.The films flit from point to point with no connective material.You scratch your head and say, "What?" Armstrong is only mildly more successful in later years with OSCAR AND LUCINDA and CHARLOTTE GRAY, thanks to fellow Aussie Cate Blanchett whose presence lightens Armstrong's terribly unconventional sensibility.As a director,Armstrong is at the bottom of the Down Under!

I didn't think this terrifically good, although the acting was superb. Mostly a character study about two sisters and the husband of the eldest.