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JULY...
Swimming Pool 7.4 How are you doing? Heard of the French movie
Swimming Pool with Charlotte Rampling and Ludivigne Sagnier?
Opened yesterday, may see it tonight. Director Francios Ozon of 8
Women and Under the Sand.
Swimming Pool: Charlotte Rampling stars as a mystery writer
seeking inspiration for a new novel. While staying at her publisher's
house in France, she meets his daughter (Ludivine Sagnier) and her life
is turned upside down. Directed by Francois Ozon. Rated R. 107 minutes.
Opened Wednesday at the Clay. A clever and unhurried mystery: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/02/DD264438.DTL&type=movies
(Carla Meyer). Official site: http://www.francois-ozon.com/anglais/ozon.audiovideo14.html.
Allow me to recommend a film.
A British mystery author (Charlotte Rampling) visits her publisher's
(Charles Dance) home in the South of France, where her interaction with
his unusual daughter (Ludivine Sagnier) sets off some touchy dynamics
in Francois Ozon's Swimming Pool.
The great Charlotte Rampling was born on February 5, 1945 in Sturmer,
England. Her films include: a nice cameo with Robert Redford in Spy
Game (2001), Under the Sand (2001), Aberdeen (2000),
Signs & Wonders (2000), Miss Havisham in Great Expectations
(1999) for TV, Aunt Maude in The Wings of the Dove (1997),
D.O.A. (1988), Angel Heart (1987), The Verdict (1982)
with Paul Newman, James Mason and Jack Warden, Woody Allen's Stardust
Memories (1980), Orca (1977), Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
with Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, sex and Nazis with Dirk Bogarde
in The Night Porter (1974), sex and science fiction with Sean
Connery in Zardoz (1974), The Damned (1969) with Dirk
Bogarde, Lynn Redgrave's bitchy roommate in Georgy Girl (1966)
with James Mason, and her first film, The Knack... and How to Get
It (1965).
Ludivine Sagnier was born July 3, 1979 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Yvelines,
France. She played the youngest daughter in 8 Women (2002), and
also appeared in My Wife Is an Actress, Water Drops On Burning Rocks
(2000), Anna's Trip (1999), The Children of the Century,
Rembrandt (1999), Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), among other
films.
Charles Dance was born October 10, 1946 in Redditch, Worcestershire,
England. His films include: Gosford Park (2001), Hilary and
Jackie (1998), Michael Collins (1996), China Moon
(1994), Last Action Hero (1993), Alien3 (1992), White
Mischief (1987), The Golden Child (1986), Plenty
(1985), and the James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only (1981).
Director FranÁois Ozon was born on November 15, 1967 in Paris, France.
His other films include: 8 Women (2002) with Ludivine Sagnier,
Under the Sand (2001) with Charlotte Rampling, Water Drops
On Burning Rocks (2000) with Ludivine Sagnier, Criminal Lovers
(1999), Sitcom (1998), See the Sea (1998), La
Petite mort (1995) and the upcoming 5x2 (2004).
Swimming Pool (2003). Genre: Mystery. Tagline: Dive into this
summer's sexiest mystery. Plot Outline: A British mystery author (Rampling)
visits her publisher's (Dance) home in the South of France, where her
interaction with his unusual daughter (Sagnier) sets off some touchy dynamics.
Co-starring Marc Fayolle as Marcel, the keeper; Jean-Marie Lamour as Franck,
the bartender; Mireille MossÈ as Marcel's daughter. Directed by FranÁois
Ozon. Written by EmmanuËle Bernheim & FranÁois Ozon. Produced by Olivier
Delbosc & Marc Missonnier. Original Music by Philippe Rombi. Cinematography
by Yorick Le Saux. Runtime: France:102 min. Rated R: for sexual content,
nudity, language, some violence and brief, mild drug use.
Some "spoilers" ahead.
Swimming Pool was good. A little like Mulholland Drive
in that there's a lot of questions... complicated... talk after you see
it, see it with someone.
My friend PC and I discussing the Pool via email:
PC: I saw Swimming Pool at Lafayette Park last night and quite
enjoyed. Recommended it on KFRC this morning ("If you ever watched that
show Murder She Wrote and thought, this would be better with
a lot more nudity, check out Swimming Pool").
On Swimming Pool. Did you think that: Ted: Definitely not "b" -- That the publisher had 2 daughters, one French
and one British, who for some reason were both named Julie?
PC: I considered that when Rampling watches Julie (Brit) through the
window, that the publisher could have had two similar looking daughters.
But I think sexpot Julie is mostly a fantasy. This morning I was talking
with a woman who thinks he had 2 daughters, one French and one Brit, so
that's one interpretation. What was your take? Is the murder/French sexpot
pure fiction, the story that she published to screw the publisher (the
metaphorical burned transcript)? Why does French Julie have the scar?
Ted: Exactly! Who is Julie's mother? Is Charlotte Rampling her mother?
Was everything that happened up at the cabin fantasized? Was Ludivigne
Sagnier a real person? Was she some kind of scam artist trying to stay
up there for free? What about the midget woman saying that the mother
had died and that it was an accident all freaky like?
I thought you already saw and didn't like 8 Women? Have you
not seen Under the Sand?
PC: I have not seen 8 Women, just noticed the mixed revvies.
Yours was Top of top 10, I recall. I never saw Under The Sand,
but was thinking about what I had heard of that film as I was watching
Swimming Pool, trying to figure out where the director may try
to play little tricks. Did you see See the Sea?
What is your take on the end of SP???? And, does Rampling fantasize
that she is Julie's mommy/mum? Did you like it when she flashed her breast
and later her breasts and beaver at the groundskeeper?
The Good the Bad and the Ugly opened
Friday, July 4, 2003 at the Castro for a week...
From the Castro:
From the wailing wah-wah guitar in the opening theme to the wide-screen
three-way cemetery shootout at the end, Sergio Leone's The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly is the culinary masterpiece of spaghetti westerns.
As if that weren't treat enough, this is the definitive English language
version with seven scenes (almost 20 minutes) restored. Six of the scenes
were originally in the Italian version and then cut for the American release.
One scene has never been seen in any version! There was never any English
language soundtrack for these sections and to complete the restoration,
Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach went into the studio recently and recorded
the dialogue, with voice-over actor Simon Prescott doing the late Lee
van Cleef's lines. The music and effects tracks were then remixed with
the voices into a new 5.1 Dolby Digital Stereo soundtrack. Clint Eastwood
(Good), Lee Van Cleef (Bad), and Eli Wallach (very, very Ugly) duke it
out over $200,000 in gold while the Civil War rages around them. Directed
by Sergio Leone. Cinematography by Tonini Delli Colli. Score by Ennio
Morricone. 1966, 180 minutes.
The G, the B and the U-glee is great, but not as great as Leone's
Once Upon a Time in the West, which he made two years later.
The hero in that was played by Charles Bronson (Eastwood had to turn down
the part for some reason I can't recall), Henry Fonda plays against type
-- and gives his greatest performance ever -- as a nasty villain, Italian
bombshell Claudia Cardinale (The Pink Panther, The Professionals)
is the girl and Jason Robards is the friend -- it's much more fleshed
out than that but it is based upon that barebones structured early western
with the good guy, the bad guy, the good guy's girl/damsel in distress
and the good guy's pal. Once Upon a Time in the West also features
Jack Elam, Woody Strode, Lionel Stander, Gabrielle Ferzetti, Paolo Stoppa,
Frank Wolff, Keenan Wynn. The tagline for the film was: There were three
men in her life. One to take her... one to love her... and one to kill
her.
Al Mulock, who plays one of the three gunmen in the opening sequence
(Knuckles), committed suicide on the set. He jumped from a hotel, on location
in Guadix, Spain. One of the film's screenwriters Mickey Knox and production
manager Claudio Mancini were in a hotel room when they saw his body pass
their window. Mancini put Mulock in his car to drive him to the hospital.
Knox claimed in an interview that before that, director Sergio Leone said
to Mancini "get the costume, we need the costume." Mulock was wearing
the costume he wore in the movie when he jumped.
Jet Lag **. Lumiere, with Jane, $9. Tickets
sold to me by Glenn. 7.7.3.
My film-going friend, P.C., asked me: "you must have been seriously bummed
on Jet Lag, was it that bad?"
Ted: "It was two stars. Nice production values, set design, cinematography,
music, and it got a little better as it went along, but the script just
wasn't that good. It was silly, and not that funny. I liked a couple of
parts. Jean Reno looked thin."
From a series of emails between my brother
and me:
From: Steve. From: Ted I saw The Pirates of the Caribbean with my brother at the Rheem
on 7.9.3. Peter sold me a ticket to the 12:30 show at 12:19pm. Adult matinee
price of $5.
Pirates worked mainly because Rush and especially Depp had so
much fun with their performances.
Ted: "The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen **1/2"
P.C.: "Ebert said League of goes straight to the worst 10 list.
Ted: "I saw the show. I think Ebert and especially Roeper took League
of too seriously. I was expecting it to be mediocre-weak, which was
what the reviews seemed to be like, so maybe I liked it a little more
based on that... ? Connery was good, and it wasn't boring. Roeper likes
to rip movies.
Terminator 3 7.14. I really liked
T2; better than the first, in fact. Despite the presence of Claire Danes,
this Terminator film is very inconsequential. Not bad so much as useless
and unnecessary.
I Capture the Castle 7.21. Light
fantasy romance for girls a la Jane Austen type stuff. Not bad. Some good
performances. For another take on I Capture the Castle: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2003/07/11/castle/print.html."
Being There 7.24 at the Red Vic with
Jane. Seen this a few times; Jane hadn't seen it, which is why we went.
Great movie. Red Vic is a dirty theatre. Bad seats. A guy with serious
BO came at sat pretty near us, we had to get up and move. So did some
other people. Being There was directed by Hal Ashby and starred
Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, Richard Dysart, Melvyn Douglas,
Richard Basehart and David Clennon.
Saw The Birds Monday, 7.28. Great.
Saw Dirty Pretty Things Tuesday,
7.29. Quite good, fresh.
Saw Seabiscuit Thursday, 7.31. Fine.
Touching, well made, nice performances (especially by real-life jockey
Gary Stevens and from relative newcomer, Liz Banks, who has the leading
female part), no surprises.
Here's an article on Liz Banks I scanned from the magazine, Nylon.
Here's the photo, and
here's the article. From
the September 2003 issue.
Seabiscuit news:
To see 39 Steps Friday. Great (I've seen it already).
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