ph: Harley Weir
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Grace of Monaco (2014)
The story of former Hollywood star Grace Kelly's crisis of marriage and identity, during a political dispute between Monaco's Prince Rainier III and France's Charles De Gaulle, and a looming French invasion of Monaco in the early 1960s.
A quite pedestrian depiction of an episode of Monegasque history and Grace Kelly's part in it; Nicole Kidman's fits into the title role effortlessly.
First Lines: Iain M. Banks - Excession
A little more than one hundred days into the fortieth year of her confinement, Dajeil Gelian was visited in her lonely tower overlooking the sea by an avatar of the great ship that was her home.
Friday, March 29, 2019
Marius et Jeannette (1997)
Marius is the keeper of an abandoned cement works staying high above the quarter of l'Estaque in Marseilles. Jeannette is bringing up her two children alone with her poor checkout operator ...
Likable, but a bit in-your-face romance in a proletarian milieu with some very good set pieces; the wonderful cast makes it worth the watch.
Halliwell*: "A soft-centred romance about a couple experiencing hard times; the craft of its director and the performances of the cast compensate for its old-fashioned tone."
