Jean-Paul Belmondo

The Dreamers (Original Uncut NC-17 Version)

Average customer rating:

perfect quality and cheap, too
Adequate productions, etc.
Great Movie!
House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris
It is unique!

The Dreamers (Original Uncut NC-17 Version)
Starring: Michael Pitt (II) , Eva Green , Louis Garrel , Anna Chancellor , and Robin Renucci
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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9 songs - Unrated Full Uncut Version
Intimacy (Unrated, Widescreen Edition)
Swimming Pool (Unrated Version)
Romance
Havoc (Unrated Version)

ASIN: B00023P4I8
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Amazon.com

A love letter to movies (and the French new wave of the 1960s in particular), Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers starts with a 1968 riot outside of a Parisian movie palace then burrows into an insular love triangle. Matthew (Michael Pitt, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), an expatriate American student, bonds with a twin brother and sister, Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel), over their mutual love of film--they not only quote lines of dialogue, they act out small bits and challenge each other to name the cinematic source. Matthew suspects the twins of incest, but that doesn't stop him from falling into his own intimacies with Isabelle. As the threesome becomes threatened, Paris succumbs to student riots. The Dreamers aspires to be kinky, but the results are more decorative than decadent; nonetheless, the movie's lively energy recalls the careless and vital exuberance of Godard and Truffaut. --Bret Fetzer

Description

From Academy Award®-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, 1987), comes an erotic tale of three young film lovers brought together by their passion for movies -- and each other. When Isabelle and Theo (Eva Green, Louis Garrel) invite Matthew (Michael Pitt) to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and anything is possible. Featuring an engaging, seductive cast, The Dreamers is a ?spellbinding, provocative feast!" (Ebert & Roeper)

Customer Reviews:

perfect quality and cheap, too.......2007-05-13

For $5, a great film at an even better price...

Adequate productions, etc........2007-05-07

This was an ok flick...........always good to see up and coming artists and these were fine......Eva Green should definitely do more of these types........very sexy.....sequel might do better.........

Great Movie!.......2007-05-07

If you haven't seen it you should, if you have then you're already here to buy it.

Some of the finest modern film making, subtle, sensual, insightful.

Not a fan of the last 4 minutes though.. other than that better than great till that point.

House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris.......2007-04-26

When Bernardo Bertolucci makes a new film, I want to see it. I know it will be visually beautiful, deep and meaningful. Even when he is not completely successful - his films are difficult to forget. It applies to "The Dreamers" (2003)

In this film, Bertolucci returns to Paris of 1968. His First Tango is as shocking as Last one - it received NC-17 rating for very open scenes of nudity, masturbation, sex, and the hints to incest. But it is not just about sex - it is about film itself. It was the time when Pauline Kael said, "Bertolucci and Brando have altered the face of an art form". It was the time when a crowd in Chicago would line up under umbrellas on the sidewalk, waiting in the rain to get into the next screening of Godard's "Weekend." It was the time when movie makers became the Artists. It was the time when closing down of the famous Cinematheque Francais in Paris by the government started the student culture riots which became the part of youthful rebellion all over the Western World.

Young American, Mathew, a devoted movie buff (Michael Pitt who by the opinion of several reviewers looks like cross between Leo DiCaprio and Macaulay Culkin. I found him looking more like young Roger Ebert would've. ) becomes friends with two French students and fellow movie lovers, twins Isabella (Eva Green, in a star making debut) and Theo (Louis Garrel) and accepts their invitation to stay with them at their apartment while their intellectual parents are away for vacation.

All three are big fans of movies - they not only talk about movies, they live their favorite scenes. "The Dreamers" is Bertolucci's love letter to cinema, and his irony toward people taking it so seriously that the real world is ignored.

When Matthew moves in with the twins, the result closely resembles "Last Tango in Paris". Much of the film's second half occurs in that apartment, as insular as Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider's more than thirty years ago. Flirting becomes passion becomes dark and dangerous games to see how far someone will go. The difference is that the kids of "The Dreamers" are not as complicated and interesting as Paul or Jeanne (especially Paul, one of the greatest performances by genius Brando).

With this wistful ode to sex, cinema, and the heated atmosphere of the '60s, Bertolucci has proved that he is still on the top of his game. I will be happily waiting for his next film.

It is unique!.......2007-04-24

How great is the story to describe the life of teenagers in France during late '60, which makes this movie becomes unique when compared with other movies regarding teenagers. Furthermore, Eva Green was so beautiful with her natural body when she was 23. It is not a real erotic movie but with unforgettable sexual scenes.

Average customer rating:

Breaking of the new wave
Breathless
"It's silly, but I love you. I wanted to see you, to see if I'd want to see you.",
It's a great story.
He called you a little b*tch

Breathless
Starring: Richard Balducci , Jean-Paul Belmondo , Daniel Boulanger , Philippe de Broca , and Van Doude
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Jules and Jim - Criterion Collection
The 400 Blows - Criterion Collection
Blow Up
Masculin Feminin - Criterion Collection
8 1/2 - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00005NC66
Release Date: 2001-11-20

Amazon.com essential video

The movie that heralded the French New Wave movement, this lean and exciting 1959 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard (A Woman Is a Woman, Weekend) broke new ground not only in its unorthodox use of editing and hand-held photography, but in its unflinching and nonjudgmental portrayal of amoral youth. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg play two young lovers on the run from the law after Belmondo kills a cop and steals a car. Soon they are on an odyssey through the streets of Paris searching for some money he is owed so that he and his American girlfriend can escape to Italy. As a chase picture it features some startling photography on the streets of Paris, but as a romance it defies expectations, existing as part tragedy and part Bonnie and Clyde crime movie. The result is a wholly original film experience. Inspiring not only a remake starring Richard Gere but numerous films and television series, Breathless is an essential part of motion picture history. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews:

Breaking of the new wave.......2007-05-29

Breathless - in it's lean, pared down, gritty realism - is a seminal movie. Michel Poiccard (Jean Paul Belmondo) is a disaffected youth, a sort of French James Dean, who steals a car, shoots a policeman, then goes on the run. Whilst trying to track down money he is owed so he can escape to Italy, he pursues his affair with the beautiful, bird like Patricia by breaking into her hotel room. In a memorable, drawn out scene, the two lovers flirt and fight amongst the pillows, discussing the deeply philosophical and the trite and trivial. The dialogue sequence in this scene is a superb piece of cinematic realism. The detail of Breathless - Michel's white shirt and Bogart style cigarette and hat combo, Patricia's striped dresses, he city of Paris, a sharp jazz score, the doomed forebodings of noir - raise this film up to its position as Flicks magazine puts it: the yardstick of celluloid cool.

Breathless.......2007-04-16

"Breathless" is an incredibly innovative, entertaining, and romantic film that marked the directorial debut of Jean-Luc Godard one of the greatest of all filmmakers.

The movie stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as Michel, a car thief who is being hunted by the police for the murder of an officer. He shacks up with his pregnant American girlfriend Patricia (Jean Seberg) and the two begin to save money for a trip to Italy, to get away from it all.

Michel is one of the most charming criminals I've ever seen onscreen. The character idolizes Humphrey Bogart and wears a Fedora throughout the film; He also has a cigarette in his mouth in every single scene. Seberg is both beautiful and talented, the acting is just fantastic. This is the film that innovated "jump cuts." But that's not the only reason the movie is still remembered today. It's also because the film feels incredibly modern, it hasn't seemed to age a bit. It's not Godard's best film, but it belongs in his top 5 best. It's a fantastic movie that belongs on the "must-see" list of any cinephile.
GRADE: A

"It's silly, but I love you. I wanted to see you, to see if I'd want to see you.",.......2007-04-09

I finally did it. I finished watching "À bout de souffle" aka "Breathless". I kept putting it off because I usually have problem when everybody tells me that such and such film is the epitome of its era or it breaks all the rules, starts the revolution, and reinvents the cinema. Well, "À bout de souffle" does not put you under the pressure, it takes you for a ride, and you follow for 90 minutes its incredibly young characters, common crook (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his American free-spirited girlfriend (Jean Seberg) on their journey on the streets of 1960-th Paris along with Raoul Coutard's legendary camera. I am not going to tell here how great the camera work was, how fantastic the music score and the views of Paris were - the fans of the film know that already. They also know about the beginning of French New Wave, and how it influenced the future cinema. I just want to say that the movie was made over forty years ago - the smoking was cool back then, and Belmondo made smoking look very sexy. Belmondo fascinates me in this film. I've seen him in a lot of later movies - he's always been good (I recommend Le Magnifique, 1973 and Le Professionnel,1981 ) - but in À bout de souffle he is not just good - he is embodiment of cool, his face changes its expression every moment, you can not take your eyes off him. Is it me or he does remind the very young Mick Jagger - not commonly handsome but irresistible and sexy? He and young (she was 21 at the time) Jean Seaborg made one of the best screen couples ever. My favorite scenes:

Michel drives the stolen car in the beginning of the film, and he starts to talk to us, the audience. The day is nice, the sun is shining, and the life is beautiful...

Michel and Patricia drive in the convertible. The wind plays with her short hair. We only see the back of her head and her neck. Michel tells her that he loves the girl with a beautiful neck, wrists, knees, but she is a chicken...

Patricia comes to the hotel to find Michel in her bed. They start talking about nothing and about very serious things. They smoke, she tries to find a good place for her new poster, and he wants to sleep with her. In the end of the scene, his face, he looks at her - there is love in that look...

There is more - I am sure everyone who saw it has his/her favorite scenes.

It's a great story........2007-01-23

I haven't read them all, but it seems to me that most of the reviews here are about film technique. In addition to being ground-breaking from a director's standpoint, it's a great story. I've seen the Richard Gere version, and frankly, all I remember about it is the MTV music video for the theme song. The original gave me a completely different perception of the story, and the ending surprised me. I thought Jean-Paul Belmondo did a fantastic job with a complex character. There's a press conference scene that I thought was important to the story, as well. I wish I spoke French, because I think there are nuances in the dialogue not captured in the subtitles, but nevertheless, I think this is an enjoyable film in addition to all the cinematic masterpiece accolades.

He called you a little b*tch.......2007-01-13

Although moist of the films that I watch derive from Japan, China, or South Korea, I have decided in recent months that I want to expand the number of movies that I watch from Western countries. While I still have a hard time stomaching a number of American films, I have been watching a few French films that I have enjoyed. I found Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï to be quite outstanding and I enjoyed Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl. Also, being that my nearby independent DVD rental place carries many of his films, I have rented a few of Godard's films. The first one I watched was Band of Outsiders which I found to be quite enjoyable, but the next two films, Tout va bien and Contempt left me quite cold, the former because I found it to be pretentious schlock and the latter because simply I was not in the mood to watch the film. I did enjoy Masculin féminin: 15 faits précis though although, at first, I thought it was a bit pretentious as well. Another film that I watched was Godard's debut feature length film À bout de soufflé or Breathless.

Now, I am far from an expert when it comes to French film, but I understood that Breathless was the film that set off the French New Wave of cinema and that it and Godard also had a major impact on Japanese New Wave directors such as Oshima Nagisa and Imamura Shohei. If this is truly the case or not is not important, what is important though is that this film has had such an impact on not just French film, but it supposedly revolutionized filmmaking in general. However, while watching the film the first time, all I could think was "what is the big deal?"

Breathless tells the story of Michel Poiccard, a young car thief who lives day by day engaging in petty crimes and trying to sleep with as many women as possible. One day Poiccard is spotted speeding by a cop on a motorcycle. Being that he is in a stolen car at the time, Poiccard shoots the policeman and hurries off to Paris. Broke, Poiccard tries to get money from his girlfriends who include the twenty-year old American Patricia Franchini who works as a journalist. Poiccard desires Patricia to hurry off to Rome with him, but without money this is nothing more than a pipedream. With the police hot on his trail, how much time does Poiccard have and does Patricia truly want to go with him and, although she is supposedly pregnant with his child, does she truly love him?

Supposedly one of the key points of Godard's style of filming was the importance handheld cameras played in that they were used on location and removed the making of the film from the studio so it lost some of the overly slick look of films made in the studio. Also Godard's use of jump shots is to be noted as well as the film's slick jazz soundtrack. Does all of this equal an enjoyable film? I think it leads to a passable one with some good moments and a film that opened doors for the New Wave of film sweeping France.

Average customer rating:

Lousy Movie
Will Goldfinger burn Paris?
Hollywood missed the point
Burned by boredom.
Conscience and Concsientiousness

Is Paris Burning?
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo , Charles Boyer , Leslie Caron , Jean-Pierre Cassel , and George Chakiris
Director: René Clément
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Train
Operation Amsterdam
The Counterfeit Traitor
The Man Who Never Was
The Bridge at Remagen

ASIN: B00008Z44M
Release Date: 2003-06-10

Amazon.com

This big-budget, star-studded epic 1966 French film features well-known actors from both Europe and America in the story of the final battles over the liberation of Paris at the end of the Second World War. Is Paris Burning? tells the story from all perspectives, from the Nazis to the French resistance, allowing for star turns and cameos from an illustrious group of actors, including Jean-Paul Belmondo (Breathless), Kirk Douglas (Spartacus), Orson Welles (The Third Man), Leslie Caron, Glenn Ford, Charles Boyer, Anthony Perkins, and many others. As the members of the resistance fight for control of the city, the Nazis order the commander in Paris (Gert Fröbe) to burn the city if the resistance gains the upper hand. Written for the screen by author Gore Vidal and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, director René Clément's film hearkens back to the star-filled epics of America's heyday while retaining a modern French sensibility. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews:

Lousy Movie.......2007-05-28

I must not have researched this movie enough before buying the DVD. I was immediately surprised by two things: (1) it's in black & white (the colored cover is deceiving) and (2) it is a French film that is mainly spoken in French although dubbed in English. The big problem with the movie, however, is that it just doesn't flow right. It bounces around too much and is not focused enough. It's just not very interesting, although it recovers some toward the end when the allies entered Paris. My 2-star rating is based on the interesting ending (it was 1-star up until then). I must say that the black & white nature of the film allowed the film-makers to blend in historical footage of Paris during that time period. Much of the ending, for instance, was historical footage of the victorious walk down the Champs-Elysees. It's a long movie, and the wait for the moving end wasn't worth it. I'll probably not watch this again.

Will Goldfinger burn Paris?.......2007-02-20

I fail to understand why a film company would go through the process of cleaning up a negative for DVD and not bother trying to source the original soundtrack for the same DVD. There must exist, somewhere, the original language soundtrack to "Is Paris Burning?" as least in some form. Even an original mono soundtrack included as a bonus would have done the trick.

As it stands, what we get looks like the version that was done a few years ago for the NTSC video release.

The film itself looks clean and clear and it's a nice enough anamorphic transfer. The dubbed soundtrack, for what it's worth is clear, but nothing spectacular. But after all it is a 1966 film. The major problem technically, is that it quickly becomes very irritating seeing all these actors performances reduced to a level of stupidity because their words don't match their mouth movements. Dubbing has never sat right on foreign films and this is no exception. It was and always will be a bad solution for idiots who cannot / will not read subtitles. It's never a good alternative. At least the Region 1 DVD has a French soundtrack. But then EVERYONE will speak French. The Region 2 version I watched didn't. Bizarrely, only Spanish and Italian were included!

The story itself concerns the German attempts to prepare to hold Paris in the face of overwhelming odds. As well as the advancing Allied armies, the Germans also have to deal with the various resistance groups that are building up in the City itself. The films portrayal of the Nationalist and Communist groups however is confused and disjointed. It looks like a deliberate attempt though to make it look like the resistance groups were essentially fighting for the same things...which historically was not correct. I also suspect the producers wished to tone down the Communist element, who were the new "bad guys" in the 1960's, so that the film would do better box office in the States. There are hints are the inter-group rivalry, but the viewer is left unclear why they exist. Either way, it is far more defined in the book that the film is based on.

Most of the performances are good and it's a joy to spot so many faces on the screen. Gert Frobe (ahem...Goldfinger) deserves special mention as General von Choltitz, the Paris Garrison commander. He has the dubious decision of choosing to carry out the Fuhrer's order to "destroy Paris" or to leave the City intact. Historically, of course, it would have been an absolute impossibility for the German's to destroy the city given the parameters involved, but the choice to obey or disobey still remained.

There are a number of cameos too from US stars, such as Anthony Perkins and Glenn Ford, but this really is a film about the French during the end of the Paris occupation.

As a whole it isn't a bad film, but isn't really a good film either. I felt somewhat empty at the end and disappointed too with some un-necessary bog standard "evil German" representations. In the main though, the German's are presented as human. The French are presented as nothing but heroic and noble, which is to be expected, I suppose, but I would have liked to have seen more of the inter- group rivalry that took place in reality. The "good guy/bad guy" polemic just doesn't cut it for a cynical post-Vietnam/Iraq audience anymore.

I can't really recommend "Is Paris Burning" in this format to be honest, but if you don't mind dubbing, sometimes confusing plot structure and a near 3 hour running time, then you may enjoy it. A version with the original French, German and English soundtrack would have been a winner, but the producers missed the boat on that one.

Bottom line is rent instead of buy.

Hollywood missed the point.......2007-01-10

Hollywood took this incredible novel of courage and cunning and turned it into a war epic filled with famous stars who appear for a minute or two only. In the waning days of World War II, Hitler ordered the total destruction of Paris. His general in command of Paris did as little as possible to carry out this order, even advised the allies that they would be welcomed with token resistance. Direct orders to the Luftwaffe to bomb Paris were ignored as well. There was an incredible spontaneous disregard of the Fuhrer's plans to destroy Paris. And when the Allies refused to march to Paris, the French Army left for Paris against orders in the dead of night, forcing Patton to race after them. Apparently, this fantastic story was too dull for Gore Vidal and a young Francis Ford Coppola, who opted instead to write a two dimensional war story about how the Americans and British bailed out the French resistance. Read the book!

Burned by boredom........2006-12-07

This is an amazingly flat piece of propaganda, perhaps government-sponsored, to depict the events in the most flattering way for the French. As usual, a Jewish question is totally omitted while depicting the horrors of Nazi occupation of Paris, as the issue has never existed. I doubt one can speak truth about the war time in France ignoring this part of history. And then, as the movie proceeds, it feels more and more as a farce. The star-studded cast, acting poorly, only contributes to the overall grotesque impression on this film, which begings to feel as a play at puppet theater or a parody, and the music that is clearly plagiarized from Shostakovich Symphony #5 Leningrad makes the final point - if Shostakovich music is truthful, serious and profound, this one is caricature, vaudeville-like and stupid.
I feel it is somewhat an insult to the true events and to those French resistance movement fighters who fought and sacrificed their lives for the liberation of their country.

Conscience and Concsientiousness.......2006-11-18

Based on the factual book of the same name, this film mixes acting with actual footage of the liberation of Paris.

A host of stars, among them Orson Wells, J P Belmondo and Gert Froebe, protrays the liberation of Paris based on the individual accounts of those involved in the forefront of all activity. Among them the story of General von Choltitz, his adjutant Count von Arnim, and of the Swedish consul, whose personal interventions ultimately saved the city and its inhabitants from the utter madness of destruction.

Shot in black and white, it makes fascinating viewing of aspects of life in those final hours of the liberation of Paris. Impressing is too that the German side is not portrayed with the customary 'evil' slant, but in a factual manner. This gives the film an edge over so many others.

Average customer rating:

two women
Horrible film version
Powerful movie, Horrible DVD
A harrowing epic of wartime travail...
Due Donne (Two Women)

Two Women
Starring: Sophia Loren , Jean-Paul Belmondo , Eleonora Brown , Carlo Ninchi , and Andrea Checchi
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow (Remastered Edition)
It Started in Naples
Open City
Divorce Italian Style - Criterion Collection
Bicycle Thieves (Criterion Collection)

ASIN: B000007SFB
Release Date: 1998-06-30

Amazon.com essential video

Sophia Loren won a much-deserved Academy Award for her performance in this 1960 classic by neo-realist filmmaker Vittorio de Sica. A last-minute substitute for Anna Magnani, Loren reached deep within her own memories of wartime experiences for her portrait of a widow struggling to survive in battle-scarred Italy along with a teenage daughter (Eleonora Brown). The film begins with both women sharing romantic feelings toward a young man (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a story line disrupted by the ravages of World War II and the horrifying rape of both mother and daughter in a church by Allied Moroccan soldiers. The aftermath of this atrocity finds both characters dealing with even more, varying shades of grief, as the war seems to sap all that they had treasured and leaves them with only the bare bones of their emotional and physical survival. De Sica's capacity to render tragedy both with the starkest of strokes and the most delicate of emotions has never been more impressive than in this film, and Loren's shatteringly honest portrayal is a watershed in movie history. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

two women.......2007-06-17

This is a great movie but the quality of the print made it impossible to watch. I have not seen a movie in such horrible condition. Amazon should really try to watch it then discontinue selling it...

Horrible film version.......2007-01-22

although this movie could be considered one of Loren's best, this dvd version made it impossible to view. a horrible version - don't buy it - you can barely see the movie in focus.

Powerful movie, Horrible DVD.......2007-01-11

I wanted to echo the other reviewers who have criticized this particular transfer of the film to DVD. It is abysmally done and definitely distracts from the enjoyment of the movie. Find this film in a different DVD release if at all possible. It is a powerful film that deserves better treatment.

A harrowing epic of wartime travail..........2006-12-23

Rosetta (Eleanora Brown) is in love with Michele, a student known as The Professor (Jean-Paul Belmondo)... but Michele is attracted by Cesira (Sophia Loren) mother of Rosetta...

As the Allies were near, and the bombardment more intense, running and frightened German Soldiers compelled Michelle by the force of arms to show them the road in order to escape through the mountains...

Cesira decides to return to Rome with Rosetta...

On their way, completely tired and distressed, they took shelter in a bombed-out church... There, they looked for some protection... They didn't know what was expecting them inside the walls of the holly church, in the shadow, in the darkness...

From a sex symbol to a talented actress, Sophia gave the tragic performance of her life--a mother in despair... Her solemn, profound, significant face, her tears and hatred, reflected the horror of War... Her formidable dramatic performance won her an Oscar in 1962... She also won her critical Awards in Cannes, England and New York...

"La Ciociara" (Two Women) is a tribute to a great filmmaker... Sica's description of the portrait of the misfortune widow and her daughter in 1943 wartime Italy is certainly effective and powerful...

Due Donne (Two Women).......2006-09-21

I would just like to point out that this is a great movie that must be watched if you're interested in great performances, powerful drama and masterful story-telling of the way war affects everything. It takes place in Italy during the Second World War and focuses on the two central characters, Cesira - widowed Roman shopkeeper(Sophia Loren) and her beautiful daughter Rosetta; the "Two Women". They become forced to leave their normal life and flee to Cesira's native hometown of Ciociara in the south of Rome, thus starting a tale of endurance and struggle. The film was directed by the superb Vittorio De Sica who did a marvelous job being faithful to the book it was based upon (by Alberto Moravio) and was released in 1961. Come Oscar time the following year, the category for Best Actress was an unusually competitive one, including a nomination for Loren for this movie, Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly for 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', Natalie Wood for 'Splendor in the Grass', Piper Laurie for 'The Hustler' and Geraldine Page for 'Summer and Smoke'. She was the first actor to be nominated for an Academy Award for a foreign-language performance (Italian), and she also won!
This is a great film, but it's not a great idea to watch this DVD because the transfer is terrible as you might have read in other reviews; the sound isn't great and the picture quality could have been better. But what annoys me most is that when I bought it decisively - because of the price - I didn't notice that the languange was dubbed-in English; I would have preffered to watch it in Italian with English subtitles, because that way it wouldn't alter the actual performances of the whole movie. If you haven't seen it before, I'd suggest that you buy a better copy rather than this one - it's worth the extra money to own the original 5-star movie rather than this 'copy-material' DVD (with a stupid, amateurish comment at the end of the movie by some DVD-transfer-production-man!). Don't let the price of this product fool you; buy the original!! Watch it in Italian, like it was intended to be viewed by the director who very well knew what you was doing.

A Woman is a Woman - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

terrible musical screenplay
One of Godard's most fun
What a Woman Wants...
Angela est tres mignon!
"She was not...

A Woman is a Woman - Criterion Collection
Starring: Jean-Claude Brialy , Anna Karina , Jean-Paul Belmondo , Nicole Paquin , and Catherine Demongeot
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Manufacturer: Criterion
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Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Masculin Feminin - Criterion Collection
Band of Outsiders - Criterion Collection
Breathless
Weekend
Alphaville - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B0001ZIYDO
Release Date: 2004-06-22

Amazon.com essential video

One of the landmark early films of the French New Wave, director Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless) weaves a tale of desperation and deceit. Anna Karina (Vivre Sa Vie) plays a stripper determined to have a child in the hopes that it will better her life. She tries in vain to convince her rough, selfish boyfriend (Jean-Paul Belmondo) to father the child, but he refuses. In desperation and sparked by anger she turns to his best friend to father the child, setting off a new round of recrimination and betrayal. Une Femme Est une Femme is one of Godard's first films and essential viewing for fans of the Nouvelle Vague, to chart the beginnings of the detached mood and style that influenced a coming generation of films. --Robert Lane

Description

With A Woman Is a Woman (Une Femme est une femme), compulsively innovative director Jean-Luc Godard presents "a neorealist musical, that is, a contradiction in terms." Featuring French superstars Anna Karina, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Jean-Claude Brialy at their peak of adorability, A Woman Is a Woman is a sly, playful tribute to - and interrogation of - the American musical comedy, showcasing Godard#s signature wit and intellectual acumen. The film tells the story of exotic dancer Angéla (Karina) as she attempts to have a child with her unwilling lover Émile (Brialy). In the process, she finds herself torn between him and his best friend Alfred (Belmondo). A dizzying compendium of color, humor, and the music of renowned composer Michel Legrand, A Woman Is a Woman finds the young Godard at his warmest and most accessible, reveling in and scrutinizing the mechanics of his great obsession - the cinema.

Customer Reviews:

terrible musical screenplay .......2007-04-27

only with watchable pretty actress. this early french movie is a typical clueless french deadbeat. the whole movie is like a randomly patched up work, every scene is independently separated with one another, the sound track and the musical scores are simply terrible, off and on abruptly without any logic connection. you don't need director or editor to make this movie, because it never looks like having both important key persons doing it. you must got high french fever to appreciate such junk and would say anything french is good.

One of Godard's most fun .......2007-03-05

Before the 'umbrellas of choubourg' there was a 'woman is a woman' a film which uses the format of the hollywood musicAL to explore the very nature, at its most abstract, of cinema.. This is some of jean luc godard's best commentary on the art of film-making... It is ablaze in color and glamour, making it one of Godard's most accesible films.. It is unique, however, to the point of questioning its own validity.. This is the first film to fully realize the potential of the new wave to capture the visual imagery of the popular hollywood musical and to turn it against itself.. it is also an introduction to the magic of Anna Karina - an actress with very revealing eyes.. Jean paul belmondo reunites with godard to create a fine companion piece to 'breathless' - they would later come together again in the incompareable 'pierrot le fou'.. One of the top new wave films..

What a Woman Wants..........2007-01-31

"Une femme est une femme" (1961) is the second Goddard's film - his dissection of a traditional Musical and Comedy. It may seem silly and naïve at times but it is a funniest and most enjoyable of his films that I've seen so far. A pretty stripper Angela (Anna Karina) wants a child. She decided to become a respectable bourgeois mother and wife but her dear husband Emil (Jean - Claude Briali) is categorically against her decision. He loves his wife but he loves his freedom even more, and the child means the end of freedom. Angela turns for help to Emil's friend, Alfred (Jean - Paul Belmondo). He is ready to do anything for Angela because he's been deeply and desperately in love with her ...But a woman is a woman and blessed is he who truly knows what she really wants.

3.5/5 or 7/10

Angela est tres mignon!.......2006-06-26

Reading the plot of this film is not going to be helpful to you in gaining a sense of it. It's not about the plot. If film is exclusively about narrative for you, I would suggest that you not buy this film. This film is about the characters, the incredibly adorable Angela in particular, the images, the playfulness and cleverness of the direction, and the music/audio.

Angela is winsome, irresistable. I've been trying to bat my eyelashes to such effect as hers, but with limited success. She pouts, she prances. She tells Emile and Alfred that she will go out with whomever does the most extraordinary thing. At this, Emile and Alfred take turns shadow boxing and generally behaving in a delightfully absurd manner.

We are aware that this is a Godard film from the beginning. The music strangely stops and starts in the opening scene, for apparently no reason. Godard also will focus on a character (Emile) and then do a very slow pan across the room to Angela, and then have some sort of textual explication at the bottom of the screen. In between scenes, he might do a rapid montage of one character's scenes throughout the movie, also for no apparent reason. And of course, his film often refers to film. For example, Alfred, on entering Emile's and Angela's apartment, tells them to make it quick, because "Jules and Jim" is on that night. All of these devices suggest a playfulness that, for me, defines the film. Everytime I see this film (and I have seen it many, many times) I am reminded that great art, and life in general, need not be staid and heavy-handed. We can have a lighter touch, to great effect.

"She was not..........2005-12-05

Woman was not made of his head to top him;
nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him;
but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved."

After I watched this film, I remembered that small poem.

Pierrot Le Fou [1965, Jean-Luc Godard, IMPORT]

Average customer rating:

Pierrot Le Fou [1965, Jean-Luc Godard, IMPORT]
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo , and Anna Karina
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Manufacturer: South Korea
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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A Woman is a Woman - Criterion Collection
Band of Outsiders - Criterion Collection
Breathless
L' Argent
A Man Escaped

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Pierrot Le Fou

ASIN: B000NG86Z2

Product Description

DVD Made in South Korea~~French Sound with English or Korean Subtitlees~~~Plot Synopsis:Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run

Average customer rating:

perfect quality and cheap, too
Adequate productions, etc.
Great Movie!
House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris
It is unique!

The Dreamers (R-Rated Edition)
Starring: Michael Pitt (II) , Eva Green , Louis Garrel , Anna Chancellor , and Robin Renucci
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
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9 songs - Unrated Full Uncut Version
Intimacy (Unrated, Widescreen Edition)
Swimming Pool (Unrated Version)
Romance
Havoc (Unrated Version)

ASIN: B00023P4HY
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Amazon.com

Description

Customer Reviews:

perfect quality and cheap, too.......2007-05-13

For $5, a great film at an even better price...

Adequate productions, etc........2007-05-07

Great Movie!.......2007-05-07

House of 'Yes' in the War Zone or The First Tango in Paris.......2007-04-26

It is unique!.......2007-04-24

That Man From Rio / L' Homme De Rio - with ENGLISH subtitles (Import)

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That Man From Rio / L' Homme De Rio - with ENGLISH subtitles (Import)
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo , Françoise Dorléac , Jean Servais , Simone Renant , and Roger Dumas
Director: Philippe de Broca
Manufacturer: DVD Magic
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

- English subtitles

ASIN: B000OYZ04S

Product Description

ENGLISH SUBTITLES!!! Import, Region All, Full screen, NTSC DVD. Audio Tracks: DD 2.0 FRENCH and optional DD 2.0 RUSSIAN (voice-over)____________ An eight-day pass, a kidnapping, and a greedy group of South American Indians provide the basic ingredients of this madcap adventure. A French air force pilot has the pass and plans to use it to see his girl friend in Paris. He gets there just in time to see a gang of South American Indians, who believe the girl knows the location of a set of statues that can pinpoint the location of a fabulous jungle treasure, kidnapping her. He follows them to the Brazilian jungle and many riotous adventures ensue. Eventually the lovers manage to escape and return to France just before the pilot's pass expires.

Average customer rating:

50 books to 1 record
Important, yes, but not terribly watchable.
Highly regarded by some, but somewhat overrrated in my opinion
we meet in eternity - no its just the sea with the sun
Is this the only DVD in print?

Pierrot Le Fou
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo , Anna Karina , Graziella Galvani , Roger Dutoit , and Jimmy Karoubi
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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My Life to Live
Weekend
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A Woman is a Woman - Criterion Collection
Alphaville - Criterion Collection

ASIN: 6305154899
Release Date: 1998-11-24

Amazon.com essential video

Jean-Luc Godard has been called the most self-conscious, the most realistic, and the most modern of filmmakers. To his appreciators this means he owns up to the fact that a movie is a movie, that at any moment in one of his films you know you're watching a film by Jean-Luc Godard. His films are self-aware in a way that films never were before him. Pierrot le Fou achieves a rare spontaneity and naturalness, largely due to the presence of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, but also because of Godard's willingness to let go of any pretense to an illusionary or mimetic style, so-called "realism." What story there is has Pierrot (Belmondo) escaping from his boring life along with Marianne Renoir (Karina), who is chased by gangsters. But this is just an excuse to film a kind of essay to lost love, a poem to Karina that is delightful. If "Pierrot goes wild," then so does Godard, with Belmondo standing in for him in his pursuit of and journey with Karina. Godard is not for everyone, admittedly, but for those with the wherewithal to enjoy his films, they are receiving new life on DVD. Whatever coterie taste survives today has been distributed in multiple across the Internet and via the agency of video rental bins, perhaps all the more potent for that reach. Let's hope so. --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews:

50 books to 1 record.......2007-05-19

During the year of 1965, Jean-Luc Godard would create three highly acclaimed films: Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, and Masculin, Feminin. What makes this accomplishment even more outstanding is the fact that these three films could not be more different from each other with Alphaville being an Orwellian science fiction film and Masculin, Feminin being a romance with a strong socialist edge. However, amongst these three films it would be the lone color film Pierrot le fou, Peter the Wild, that would garner most critical attention. Having watched all three films myself, I can say at least that Pierrot le fou is indeed the most experimental of the three films and it delves heavier into the potential of film as a medium that the other two, but is it as enjoyable as the other two films? In my opinion, no, it is not a very enjoyable film and it borders on absolute tedium at times.

The film opens with Ferdinand Griffon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, reading in the bathtub while puffing away on his ever present cigarettes. Being forced to attend a party that he does not want to attend, Ferdinand states that he would prefer to stay at home with the children. Yet, because her husband is unemployed, Ferdinand's wife is insistent that he will attend the party. Also, a fellow party patron's niece will look after the children. On their way out, Ferdinand meets Marianne, Anna Karina, and soon is whisked off to the party. The party turns out to be a complete bore with its patrons speaking as if they were commercials. Ferdinand soon flees home and it is at time that we the viewers learn that Ferdinand and Marianne shared a relationship with each other some years before and, as he is giving her a ride home, Ferdinand soon decides to abandon his family. After spending the night with Marianne, Ferdinand sees that there is more to the young, pretty girl than meets the eye when he sees several automatic weapons in her apartment and not to mention a dead man with a pair of scissors sticking out of his neck. Therefore, they begin their lives on the run promising to love each other, but can that truly come to be?

I have watched a handful of Jean-Luc Goddard films now and for the most part my reaction has been quite cool towards them. I respect that they are quite creative and that Godard pushes the boundaries of film. I even like the strong socialist and antiwar groundings within the films, but at some points the films just come off as a bit ludicrous to me or that they were striving so much to become "art" that they ignore entertainment value for the viewer. I am not trying to say that I do not appreciate films that make the viewer think, I really enjoy the Brechtian films of Oshima Nagisa, but at least I want to feel some enjoyment while watching the film instead of feeling my eyes glaze over. I do think this film is important to watch in order to see the progress of the French New Wave, but if you want to simply enjoy a French New Wave film watch a François Truffaut film instead.

Important, yes, but not terribly watchable........2007-05-12

Pierrot le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)

I've been going through the hundred best films of all time, as rated by the massive collection of critics' surveys and the like housed at the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? website, and I've found that most of them deserve (or seem to) the accolades. But there are some movies that make me wonder what all those critics were thinking, and Pierrot le Fou is one of them. Yes, I get that Godard was one of the leading lights of the New Wave in French cinema. But it's kind of like billing Woody Allen as the greatest comic filmmaker of our time; I just don't see the attraction.

The plot of the film starts off simple: Pierrot ("my name is Ferdinand!") (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a man bored with his stultifying life, runs away with his babysitter, Marianne (Anna Karina), an old girlfriend. He soon finds out he got a lot more than he bargained for as the plot gets ever more complex, but paradoxically plays less and less a role in the film as Godard wanders off into pointless sociopolitical posturing. It's an attractive film, competently directed, but barely coherent at best, a thin canvas of movie disguising a rambling political statement. **

Highly regarded by some, but somewhat overrrated in my opinion.......2007-03-01

This 1965 movie by Jean-Luc Godard is considered by some as among his masterpieces. I think, though, most people (with the exception of Godard fans) would find it somewhat overrated. The plot has a couple (Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina) fleeing Paris in a car for the French Riviera, but as in almost all Godard films the plot matters very little. What matters is the off-the-cuff style of filmmaking, the nonsensical situations the couple has to go through, the droll performances, the musical interludes, the comments on the political situation of the time (Vietnam war included), the movie's take on American genre films. Still, I can't say the movie isn't thought provoking: when I saw it, what crossed my mind is that while the couple are two young adults, in their twenties, they really behave as if they were children. Spoiled by their parents, who wanted to protect them from the horrors they have witnessed in World War II, the children of the 60s were really very immature in their perspective (not that they were not right in many issues, and that thanks to them a more relaxed, less conservative society come about in the west).

we meet in eternity - no its just the sea with the sun.......2007-02-15

Godard's pierrot le fou is one the most successful comedy/tragedy/political/crime-thriller/musicals he ever made. It breaks all the rules, as all his movies do, but plays with such gusto and joie de vivre to keep any audience in their seet untill the end.. It stars the great jean-paul Belmondo who was introduced to us in 'breathless' - this is an equally enchanting film.. Godard's use of color in the widescreen format is very effective (also see 'contempt' it is probably Godard's best color feature).. This is self-concious cinema at its finest.. combining literary and political references with theatrics and chase scenes.. This is a transitional Godard moment - getting evermore political - yet still in his full new wave examination of different cinematic techniques.. It keeps your interest at the same time as challenging your mind (something not all of his films achieved).. This is one of his best..

Is this the only DVD in print?.......2007-01-17

It's great to have this entertaining film in widescreen and on DVD, however the mastering here is terrible. Either it's an old transfer or done on a short budget because the encoding here really is poorly executed. On my television Anna Karina's jawbones looked like they were built of Legos. This film deserves better. Maybe Criterion will come out with a version. If you don't care about the presentation and are just dying to see this film again the money is probably worth it.

Average customer rating:

"Double" Trouble
Pick a Genre - And Deviate from Every Possible Convention for that Genre

A Double Tour
Starring: Jacques Dacqmine , Mario David , André Dino , Bernadette Lafont , and Antonella Lualdi
Director: Claude Chabrol
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000BT994S
Release Date: 2005-11-22

Customer Reviews:

"Double" Trouble.......2006-05-09

Master filmmaker Claude Chabrol's "Double Tour" is not one of his best films. It's not on the same level as "Le Boucher", "Les Biches", "This Man Must Die" or "The Unfaithful Wife", but "Double Tour" is just too much fun to watch not to like.

The movie follows Chabrol's usual ingredients that make a successful film. We have the upper class family, the hidden family secrets, murder and lust, but the movie plays the material as if it were stylized melodrama. I wonder what Douglas Sirk would have done with the same material.

Henri (Jacques Dacqmine) is married to Therese (Madaleine Robinson) and has two children; Richard (Andre Jocelyn) and Elisabeth (Jeanne Valerie). But meanwhile he is having an affair with Leda (Antonella Lualdi), who lives right next door.

Now besides Henri's activities this family is going through a lot. Elisabeth is about to marry Laszlo (Jean-Paul Belmondo). Did you ever think you'd see Belmondo play a Hungarian? And son Richard, is a bit of a lose screw. He seems to lust after their maid, Julie (Bernadette Lafont) who likes to parade around in the underwear.

"Double Tour" was Chabrol's third film, coming after "Le Beau Serge" and "Les Cousins". It's not as good as "Serge" but clearly Chabrol was coming into his own with this film. He was finding a style that worked for him and themes that interested him. After watching this film, when you view his later films you will see the logical progression.

I compared the film to a melodrama and the performances are just as wild and overly dramatic. This is not a fault. It helps give the movie more color. No one really goes over the top, not even Belmondo, because no one is "normal" to compare them to.

Again, while this isn't Chabrol's best film, it's one of most most fun to watch. And something this fun should be seen by everyone.

Bottom-line: Not one of Claude Chabrol's best films, but one of the most fun and entertaining. The movie reminds me of a Douglas Sirk melodrama, but shows Chabrol's progression as a filmmaker.

Pick a Genre - And Deviate from Every Possible Convention for that Genre.......2006-03-18

I enjoyed this movie very much. I was lucky to see it without reading the DVD cover (avert your eyes from the image of the cover on this site!!) or any reviews of it, and that's the best way to see this one. That's because this movie is of a particular genre, but, unless you've been tipped off, you won't realize which genre until 2/3 of the way through it. Then, suddenly, it will dawn on you - "Oh! I get it! That's what's been set up for me in the 1st hour". I have to believe Chabrol deliberately listed all the common conventions for this type of film and then said to himself: "In my film of this type, I'm going to violate every single one of these conventions, and I'm still going to end up with an entertaining film.". I think he succeeded. I give it only 4 stars because there are certain reasons why most films of this genre follow the conventions. I would have given it 5 stars if Chabrol had adhered to just 1 of those conventions in particular. Anyways, getting 4 stars after violating all the conventions is really equivalent to 5 stars. I think this one will have broader appeal than the other Chabrol films I've seen. It's a bright, sunny, colorful, energetic, fast-paced film - often even cheerful - with a Hitchcockian feel in some ways, but definitely not Hitchockian in most ways. I really like the way the time line is handled, too, which I think is the source of the title. It's one of the most original, creative films I've seen. I like it.

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