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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
one of the best french films I`ve seen in a long time, December 21, 2004
When reading some of the other reviews,I noticed a simmilar thread throughout,from the good and the bad, but basicly they all said it was hard to comprehend, but not to me. One thing that needs to be understood is that french movies do not follow the same format as American ones and if you can understand that, then watching any french movie will be alot more enjoyable. This movie shows a real slice of humanity being that the deceased was bisexual. There is a couple with a child, a marriage on the rocks, drug addiction, homosexuality,even a love triangle,as-well as a recent sexchange candidate.There are some older folks, one being the twin brother and a couple of teenagers.Someone said they thought there was a lesbian scene. There isn`t it`s just two friends, one being a natural women finding out another friend had a sex change and when asked to feel her boobs it was out of curiosoty. Most men don`t get a sex change to be with women it`s that simple.What ties all these people together is the funeral,all the relatives and friends embark on a train trip to another city where the deceased wished to be buried with one of them carrying the coffin in his station wagon along-side the train. rather humorous I thought. Each person had their own set of memories and mostly a love/hate relationship with that person, and it seems that no one was sure who he realy loved or hated.I think one thing that helped to tell the story is the soundtrack.It was great in my opinion, although I do agree with the subtitles being washed out at times, but I understand french so I wasn`t as bothered about it.If you have never realy known a gay man or couple then the love scene on the train would be shocking to you, however I thought it showed a desperaration between these charachters within their grief even though it was graphic compared with American standards, but it could have easily been heterosexual to me because I looked beyond the genders.I thought it was well done and touching and showed how people sometimes form an attraction under an emotional event such as a death.. I think the film is great.I think the acting is superb considering the complexity of all them,it`s sort of like a rich dessert that lingers long after the last bite. This movie is not for the timid or close-minded, but on second thoughts I think it`s a good look at who people are and that we did `nt all come from the same cotton field.If you are looking for a different movie for a change of pace this is it , like that rich dessert it leaves you wanting more.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Uncomfortable, tough but ultimately extremely satisfying, October 22, 2002
THOSE WHO LOVE ME CAN TAKE THE TRAIN to the burial of an enigmatic French artist by the name of Jean Baptiste. In this frenzied examination of contemporary living creatures who all board a claustrophobic train on its way to Limoges, France, director Patrice Chereau dissects the psyches of the most disparate group of family and friends ever gathered to pay last rites. A married couple in the midst of dissolution, a gay couple who discover a shared paramour whose health status threatens their lives, a transexual current amour of the dead man, a long time male nurse of the deceased, and others whose identities remain slightly out of focus - all of these characters have personal baggage they bring to this memorial "reunion" and it is the interplay of thier interrelated attachments to the deceased that alters their lives. There are problems with the film - the subtitles are difficult to read, the soundtrack often covers the dialogue, the pace is a bit disarming - but in all it is very much like the way Chereau approaches opera (the vocal sound tract is in English, the dialogue in French with only sporadic English, the grand emotional music is from Gustav Mahler). He asks us to step back and experience the interior lives of the people around us. Perhaps this film is an acquired taste, but give it some time and investment of thought and you'll be richly rewarded.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, July 27, 2005
Chereau's characters brim with individuality and sincerity. While seldom seeing more than the surface of a first impression, as happens in life, each character is defined exquisitely and in depth within a moment of their first appearance. This sounds contradictory, but an examination of real life and our interactions would probably reveal this to be true.We are invited to observe an interacting group of self absorbed individuals whose relationships intertwine like a symphonic work, full of glorious sparkling moments of humanity and somber reflective emotions, sexual intrigue, confrontations that do not exceed the realms of possibility and sympathetic individuals. This is a film which I am sure will reveal more and more understanding with repeated viewings.
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