6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All i have to say..., June 18, 2008
By San Fran chornical
DvD review
It's a subtle, heartfelt film of a kind we don't make in this country. The release is especially welcome in that it adds another Sandrine Bonnaire title into circulation. She plays a married sales executive who meets a group of wedding entertainers while on a business trip. Circumstances keep preventing them from separating, and so, during the course of a day, she and an actor (Jacques Gamblin) find themselves becoming increasing drawn to each other. The emotional dynamics are subtle and complicated. The film is about romance, but elements of class come into play as well. There's a small but telling moment, unlike anything you'd see in a Hollywood film, in which the woman, after calling for the evening train schedule, corrects herself and asks for the morning schedule. In doing so, she's the one who decides to spend the night with the man, just as she - despite her easygoing cheer and his masculine sullenness - is truly in control all along. "Mademoiselle" is only 85 minutes long, but it's a full meal that tells a complete, emotionally rich story, in which love is the ultimate education. The film was never released in the United States and was never shown at a film festival. At least we can see it this way.
here is the link for more info:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/25/PKV0104MFU.DTL&hw=mick+lasalle&sn=013&sc=274
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hard Film to Describe, but Simply Wonderful!, December 8, 2007
This review is from: Mademoiselle (DVD)
I saw this film on an Air France jet coming back to the US in 2000. I had never heard of Sandrine Bonnaire or Jacques Gamblin before this film, but now I have tried to see every Sandrine Bonnaire film I can find. I actually bought a region free DVD player (they do have them, they are legal) so I could watch this film back in 2001 when released.
Sandrine is a superb actress and to my eye, absolutely exquisite. She looks soulfully out of her car (Sandrine fans know what that looks like) as she sees a lighthouse and remembers meeting and spending time with an impromptu theater group that did certain made to order skits at her company's party and meeting. Jacques Gamblin plays the object of her interest and she, for a while, performs a skit or two with the others at a high priced wedding, etc. (The young hostess of the hotel where the group stays is hysterical).
The theme of the film is that Sandrine keeps missing a train, plane, coach bus, etc., that would take her back to Toulouse and her family, so she ends up spending two days and one night with Gamblin, dragging around this lighthouse that she was given as a present. The music, their manners, the film itself just sets a calm, warm mood - good memories of just being yourself with a new flame and being relaxed - this is whats hard to describe. The acting and interplay between the two of them cannot be described. There are no films made in the USA that evoke these feelings. Mademoiselle probably cost peanuts to make but for a film that has no violence, no sex scenes, very little cursing, and no special effects - it packs a big punch.
This is an adult film because of the type of emotions the film evokes, not because of any content at all. If you put some 14 year olds in front of it they would be out asleep in 10 minutes.
Watch this film with a bottle of wine after having a good day in the sun with your significant other and just let this film wash over you.
You just may end up getting more of Sandrine's films - she also plays opposite Gamblin in another film.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
