Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lacks focus in places, but interesting nonetheless,
This review is from: Scene of the Crime [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The title is a bit misleading since Le lieu du crime is not a noir thriller or a mystery. It is a relationships movie with psychological undertones. Director Andre Techine is especially drawn to the exploration of family affairs featuring naturalistic depictions of human sexuality. For example see My Favorite Season (1993), also starring Catherine Deneuve, in which the central tension, maintained for decades, is that of a brother's unrequited desire for his older sister. Techine is very good at exploring taboo situations without leaving us with a sense of the perverse, and he is able to hint at a deeper, non-expressed sexuality behind ordinary life.Here Catherine Deneuve stars as Lili Ravenel, who has a 13-year-old son, Thomas (Nicolas Giraudi), who is not doing well at school, a father who no longer cares about people at all, including members of his own family, and a mother who is emotionally close and distant by turns. Lili is estranged from her husband, a man she no longer loves, if ever she did. She is a woman of a certain age who finds diversion in managing a night club. Thus we have the familiar psychology of the bored middle class woman who, we know, will be drawn irresistibly to the excitement of an outsider. Directors who find themselves in the enviable position of directing the beautiful, cool and stately Deneuve seem themselves irresistibly drawn to showing her in compromised situations. I'm thinking of Belle de Jour (1967) and Mississippi Mermaid (1969), directed respectively by Luis Bunuel and Francois Truffaut. In the former Deneuve is a day-tripping prostitute and in the latter she is a criminal on the run. For some odd reason there is something deeply moving about seeing Deneuve give into her baser nature. (I think.) Anyway, here she does indeed give herself to the rough young man who has killed his companion, and she does so without a hint of regret or lingering doubt. Incidentally in Techine's My Favorite Season, mentioned above, there is a scene in which a young intern has his way with Deneuve using much the same approach that Wadeck Stanczack, who plays Martin, an escaped con, employs here. That Lili's sexuality is aroused by his crude demand is the psychology that Techine wants to concentrate on; but because one of the weaknesses of his movie is a lack of focus, the impact of her desire is not as strongly felt as it might be. For a most striking and stunning exploration of this theme see Vittoria De Sica's unforgettable The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971). Another weakness of this movie is some unconvincing action and dialogue in places. The opening scene in which Thomas is threatened by Martin who demands money to help him escape is a case in point. Martin's threats seem mild and ineffective. One wonders why Thomas is compelled to return. I also wonder about the boy's response to seeing his mother in bed with Martin. His first reaction is to say, "He will kill you!" and then later he asks his father, "Is that love?", which doesn't seem like something a 13-year-old would say. A six-year-old, maybe. Also a puzzle is why Claire Nebout, who is interesting as Alice, the girl involved with the two escapees, stops her car in the rain to pick up Thomas only to throw him out a few minutes later. Why did she stop at all? As the scene was shot he seemed to be in the middle of the road, so she couldn't avoid him, but considering that it was dark and it was raining, I don't think that would happen. At any rate, the purpose of the scene is to show that Thomas, like his mother, is starved for excitement, begging Alice to take him with her. My favorite Techine movie is Rendez-Vous (1985) starring a very young and vital Juilette Binoche, who is clearly adored by the director. It is, like this movie, uneven in places, but Binoche is incredibly sexy and captivating. If you are a Binoche fan, see it. You will experience a side of her not shown in her American movies. By the way, when this was filmed Deneuve was about 43-years-old and had already appeared in at least 67 films. She is the kind of woman who grows more beautiful as she grows older. I found her much more attractive here than when I first saw her in the celebrated The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), released when she was 21.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Happy families - Techine style,
By A Customer
This review is from: Scene of the Crime [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This film is located within the familar Techine territory of the dysfunctional family. Lili's (Deneuve) son is clearly disturbed by his parents' separation. In middle age, Lili has realised too late in life that she should not have followed her mother's advice and settled for a safe existence with a man who could provide a comfortable life for her. Her father exists in a world of his own. Her mother longs for her to conform. An escaped convict enters into this unhappy existence and releases long surpressed passions in Deneuve, which has major consequences for her and her son. For once, Lili is true to herself but this comes at a price. As a study in the inability to express our emotions and the obstacles we put in the path of love, this film is without equal.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deneuve has called this one of her favorite of her pictures,
By
This review is from: Scene of the Crime [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Catherine Deneuve is never more animated then she is when she is directed by Techine. The icon drops and you get a believable human being. In this case a good intentioned, independent, stubborn, highly flawed human being who falls in love with a young man in trouble and has responsibilities that she both wants and on occasions avoids. The story involves a single mother who falls for an escaped convict who murdered his accomplice in order to save the woman's son. Add to this her husband, who uses their custody issue to get what he wants from her and the very intense girlfriend of the two escaped men and you have an excellent mix of characters. The movie is not perfect, but it did hold my attention. The ending was not what I expected,
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
