Customer Reviews

And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen [VHS]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Claude Lelouche has once again teamed with Michel Legrand to continue his examination of the vagaries of love in AND NOW LADIES & GENTLEMEN. There is a Gallic magic about Lelouche's view of love that is irresistible and this rather long film journey is no exception. Jeremy Irons is a thief who creates sophisticated heists of jewels by adopting disguises. He is jaunty, loves the beautiful things in life, and decides to spend his won money to sail a yacht on a long-dreamed journey. While at sea he has his first blackout which we later learn is due to a brain tumor. He is taken ashore in Morocco where he encounters a lounge singer (Patricia Kaas) who likewise is subject to blackouts and has strayed to Morocco after the end of an affair with a trumpet player. Together they plan a pilgrimage to a site of healing, but Irons' character is followed by the police for his jewel heists and is captured, is unable to remember his thefts, and finally is diagnosed as having a brain tumor. Postop he reconciles with his singer and makes amends for his life of crime.

As with all of Lelouche's films there are episodes that blur dreamlife with reality and in this film he uses this technique to perfection. Much of what really happens is left to the individual's perception. The settings for this escapade are truly splendid - Morocco has never looked so dreamy, so dramatic, so sun-drenched and inviting. The real joy of this film are the performances of Irons and Kaas and the added pleasure of seeing old (!) faces from the past such as Claudia Cardinale - no longer the beauty she once was! Patricia Kaas is a very fine singer and her renditions of old standards take on new substance in her sensitive interpretations. The only flaw in this film is that it is filmed in both English and French and the dubbing barely matches the subtitles. That is very distracting. But forgive that and you have a film that will let you take flight - lightly as with an elegant French aperitif!

One of the most cinematically beautiful films you will see this or any year. It is a treat for serious cinephiles; but is probably too subtle and slow for most mainstream tastes. Jeremy Irons is wonderful, as usual, and Patricia Kass is hauntingly beautiful and compelling. The story is thought provoking at times, slightly quirky, and implausible with moments of subtle humor; but it is all thoroughly enjoyable to watch. The script too is mostly perspicacious with a few memorable lines such as, "Life is a deep sleep. And love is the dream." The film is mostly in French with some English. The subtitles are easy to read on the widescreen DVD format.

I'm sorry this film disappeared from the theatres so quickly. I wanted to see it again and take my friends. The story is a new twist on the old theme of the erudite jewel thief. The balanced mixture of French and English languages was stimulating and pleasing for me. I felt the love story was just the right blend of disappointment and satisfaction. The location shooting in France and Morocco entertaining. Jeremy Irons' acting was superb. The story and dialogue over all was multi-layered and mysterious - an experience worth repeating.

Pay no attention to the title of this film because the more I think about it the only purpose it has is to put this at or towards the top of any alphabetical listing of the films of director Claude Lelouch ("A Man and a Woman") or star Jeremy Irons. So without regard for the film's title we are introduced to Valentin Valentin (Irons), a jewel thief who comes up with creative but simple ways of robbing jewelry stores. But then Valentin's life starts to come apart. His relationship with his lover, Françoise (Alessandra Martines), has gone sour, he is suddenly feeling guilty about every crime he has ever committed, and to top things off he is suddenly experiencing blackouts. Meanwhile, in another part of Europe a French chanteuse, Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas, a real-life French chanteuse whose songs provide a counterpoint to the story so pay attention to the lyrics each and every time she sings), also has just ended her romantic relationship and is also suffering from unexplained blackouts, usually while singing.

Jane travels to Morocco because assuming the worse from the blackouts she decides to seek healing instead of going to a brain surgeon. Valentin also ends up in Morocco, literally by accident, but their common ailment has cause to bring them together under the misery loves company rubric. He is staying at the same hotel where she is singing, and when Madame Falconetti (Claudia Cardiale) reports the theft of her jewelry, Valentin becomes the obvious suspect. To make things interesting, when he says he had a blackout and does not know if he did the robbery or not, he could be telling the truth. Then again...

This is a story for grown ups, mainly because Irons bring a certain gravity to the proceedings because of his age. The fact that his criminal career rests on his brain and that is what is betraying him lends a irony to the tale as well. Then there is a question of whether or not anything we are seeing represents the blackout themselves. The two best parts of this 2002 film are the bank robberies and the songs, even if the former involve people not recognizing Irons in disguise and the later are sung in French (with substitles), and they tend to make the rest of this slowly developing film seem even slower in comparison.

Be forewarned that "And Now...Ladies & Gentlemen" is one of those films that you are probably going to need to watch twice to make sense of it all. That is not because it is confusing per se, but rather that the ending is open to interpretation depending on how you read the various layers that Lelouch reveals during the final real. For me the journey was more interesting than the destination since I am not sure how much projecting I was doing on what was happening at the end. Still, this is a change of pace film and if you are looking for something different you could do a lot worse. Also, there is ample evidence that this film really resonates with some viewers, which would be great if you are one of those people.

We first saw this film in a movie theatre and we were so captivated by it that we ordered the DVD. Granted, Jeremy Irons was my impetus for going to the movie but what a treat to discover Patricia Kaas. Her voice is unbelievably beautiful plus she is a gorgeous chanteuse.

The scenery, especially in Morocco, is beautiful. The minor roles are extremely well cast from a lascivious bartender to a wealthy ladies man. A well written and witty script adds to the enjoyment.

Granted, the ending does seem a mite contrived but what a pleasure it was to get there.

This movie is beautiful and exciting. The songs of Patricia Kaas (I went out and sent for two of her discs as soon as I got home from the theatre)as well as her acting is superb. Jeremy Irons is also excellent. The movie goes back and forth in time but just as I began to consider it was confusing, everything fell into a dynamic place. I only wish this film were in more than limited release. The locales of the film: Morocco and places in Europe were breathtaking. THE MOVIE IS POETRY.

In the past Claude Lelouch (A Man and A Woman) has been known to go overboard with lush, swoony, gauze-light love scenes with the appropriate music uuuhhing and ahhing in the background. But now Lelouch has gotten a little more realistic about Love and Romance in And Now Ladies and Gentlemen starring Jeremy Irons and Patricia Kaas. Michel Legrand is around once more to write a simple yet beautiful score incorporating classic love songs, some of which Kaas performs in the film.
ANLAG is all about le longuer: people who have had it with reality and are looking for something or someone to take them out and away from the drudgeries of their lives; though I would imagine that Irons role as a jewel thief has too much action and not enough drudgery in his.
Director Lelouch must walk a very fine line here between romance and parody for this type of film to work and he manages to keep the production on the right side of that line. Irons and especially Kaas come off very well and as is necessary in this type of film, we care for them deeply.

A beautifully shot piece of cinematrical poetry. An authentic fairy tale. Haven't seen something like that in quite a while. No Hollywood romance could ever come close. Sail away...

And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen begins with the following epigraph: "Life is a deep sleep, and love is the dream." With that characterization as his point of departure, Claude Lelouch (who produced, wrote and directed this quiet masterpiece) provides an utterly sophisticated two hour cinematic meditation on all of the subtle ways reality, memory, and dreamlife intersect to create the verisimilitude of the present and a fantasy of what is to come. The narrative for this visually breathtaking excursion into metaphysics and the psychology of love centers on Jeremy Irons as Valentin Valentin (he was born on Valentine's Day), a whimsically inventive jewel thief who relies on disguise and deception to ply his trade. But a large and growing tumor of the brain is playing its own set of tricks on the master illusionist. In a parallel universe Valentin's destiny is tracked by that of a Parisian chanteuse, Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas), who also may be afflicted with a brain mass that is affecting her ability to discern what is real from what is imagined. The two cross paths in Fez at the halfway point of the film as each in their own way runs aground upon the hallucinatory shores of the primitive, light-blasted landscape which is Morocco. And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen is European cinema at its most disarming. Evocative and convincing, the film propels you on a journey you would rather not see come to an end.

A wonderfully put together film by a wonderfully put together director...amazing color, rich texture and beautiful dialogue. Every moment furthers the story, and you never want it to end. It's inspiring to see Irons act again in such a beautiful movie. The french texture, and foundation of romance is intriguing and provacative.