Sophie Marceau

My Nights are More Beautiful Than your Days
$29.98
The case photos and blurb of plot synopsis seem to indicate that this film is going to be a sad downer. The doctor tells computer language expert Jacques Dutronc that his brain is rapidly perishing. Then Jacques meets beautiful Sophie Marceau, in the clutches of a group of oddballs who use her in a club act where she is hypnotized and then addresses very intimate insights to various club patrons. As Jacques and Sophie fall in love, she realizes he is deteriorating. And brief flashbacks reveal their traumatic childhoods. (That's enough plot to engage you, I hope.)

Yet the movie is a comedy! Jacques with his off the track verbiage, his antic behavior. Sophie contending with him and her hangers-on. The "Stephen King" hotel clerk and bellhop.

And the images on screen are so brilliant! Wonderful colorful cinematography, with ingenious Zulawski capturing just what he wants, hang the expense. Though used sparingly, the music is beautifully emotional. And Sophie's high fashion dresses are as outrageous as Brazilian parrots.

Oh, she's so pretty. And Dutronc, slight of frame, long faced, rather worn with age, eyes bluer than ever, obviously feels his role fits him to a T.

This movie just has to flow over you. Let it! Twenty-four hours later, I am still elated.

FOOTNOTE: This film is based on a prize-winning novel (not available in English) from the mid 80's by the then trendy author Raphaelle Billetdoux. After her father's death, she dropped out for 10 years, then re-emerged in the niche of homeopathy premised on the poisonous serpent in each of us that prompts bad behavior and real illness. I bet Zulawski is intrigued.

Telling Lies: A Novel
$15.00
At first I thought this book was too whimsical and self-indulgent to even begin, let alone finish, but an odd thing happened: as I kept reading, I found a rhythm to it that I really enjoyed. Perhaps it is because I have always admired Sophie Marceau's work and beauty, but before I knew it, I was totally entranced. It was like a lyrical daydream. There were even several paragraphs that really stood out as superb, original writing. With my intellectual hat on, I was a critic, but as soon as I took it off, I really became absorbed in this novelette.

Belphegor: Phantom of the Louvre
$14.98
In numerous other reviews, both professional and otherwise, I've read about this movie not really being "scary" as some think it should be. The fact is, like it or not, that this movie is not meant to be scary in any serious way. It reminds me of another in the vein of the more recent Mummy films Hollywood has pumped out--those with more than the usual amount of CGI effects and more humorous than scary. Even the dialogue and other situations rather quickly give this movie an intentional and rather comedic tone, as well. Very often opportunities to heighten potential scare are purposely undercut by a humorous situation occuring simultaneoulsy. (i.e. the bedroom scene with the inspector and the curator coinciding with the appearance of the phantom elsewhere in the museum). Yes, too many people, I think, critique this movie on what they want it to be, rather than what it is and what it is meant to be. If you take it for what it is, it's really a pretty entertaining and well-acted movie, with a sizeable amount of effective humor, and, oh yes, a mummy/phantom, as well.

Speaking of acting, that is one of the things which keeps this movie together, depsite whatever else. The acting by all main characters (specifically the beautiful Sophie Marceau) is top-notch and better than what one typically sees in such films. The excellent soundtrack also keeps the movie from being less than it would be otherwise. The soundtrack is very Egyptian, with a hint of foreboding doom about it. That keeps the viewer from getting too convinced that the phantom is less than dangerous. It also keeps reminding the viewer, very subtley and subconsciously, that the movie really is a horror movie after all.

Others have criticized the phantom in this movie for moving too much like a human and not like a phantom. Some have said that such movement for a phantom is "ridiculous" and a sign of a low budget. Well, let's not forget that this is a human being used by a phantom to accomplish its mission on earth. So, on the basis of that fact alone (the rules which the movie creates for itself), let's not expect more than we should--or more than is realistic under the circumstances. To the contrary, I would actually consider it "ridiculous" to have a human, as it is, moving like a phantom.

All in all, I enjoyed this movie quite well. I don't necessarily recommend it to anyone, only because I know that some will still be compelled to judge it on the basis of how "scary" it is. Again, if you do that, then you're certainly asking for disappointment. On the other hand, if you you watch it with an ability to see and enjoy the humor, then I think you'll be pleased.

Firelight (Le lien secret)- Sophie Marceau (Import - All Regions)
$11.84
THIS IS AN AWESOME MOVIE. THE STORY LINE IS GREAT AND THE ACTING IS AWESOME.