L'Age d'Or

With Luis Buñuel's Tristana playing at the Landmark Opera Plaza this week, it seems as if I planned procrastinating about another Buñuel film.  I watched L'Age d'Or at the YBCA in September.

L'Age d'Or starring Gaston Modot; directed by Luis Buñuel; French with subtitles; (1930)

The screenplay for L'Age d'Or was co-written by Buñuel and Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí.  L'Age d'Or can only be described as surrealist.  The "plot" is barely visible throughout the film and by end of ~60 minute feature, Buñuel has completely abandoned it in favor of allusion to a Marquis de Sade novel.

The nominal plot involves a man (Gaston Modot) and woman (Lya Lys) having their lovemaking interrupted repeatedly in different locations.  The couple seem to move through time as part of the film is set in ancient Rome.  The iconic image from the film is that of Lys sucking the big toe of a statue in a manner to suggest fellatio.  This was one of the main reasons the film was banned almost immediately upon its release.

The final scene invokes de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom but transposes a character who appears like Jesus Christ.  It is implied this character kills a woman off screen and the final image is of a crucifix with scalps of women attached to it.

What am I supposed to make of this film?  Asking that question w.r.t. a surrealist piece of art seems to defeat the purpose.

Many years of ago, I saw Buñuel's Belle de Jour (1967) with the radiant Catherine Deneuve.  I recall enjoying that film.  I'm hoping Buñuel & Deneuve's second collaboration, Tristana (1970), is equally enjoyable.

Looper

On the last day of my Thanksgiving visit with my father in Las Vegas, we went to see Looper at a dollar movie house.

Looper starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis & Emily Blunt; directed by Rian Johnson; (2012) - Official Website

Critically acclaimed and making some Best of 2012 lists, I found Looper to be listless and a little too clever for its own good.

The film is set in 2044 when the US is in economic collapse.  In 2074, time travel is invented.  Organized crime uses time travel to send back people they want killed.  Their emissary is Abe (Jeff Daniels), the only person from the future who isn't targeted for assassination.  Abe rounds up younger version of men he knows in the future to be his hit squad.  At appointed times, people arrive from the future where they are immediately killed by one of Abe's men.  The victims are sent back with silver strapped to their backs which is payment for Abe and the killer.  Eventually, the killer's future self is sent back in time with gold strapped to his back.  When the younger self kills the older self, it is called "closing the loop" and the gold is a final payment for the killer who retires from the business.

Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of these "loopers."  His future self, Old Joe, is played by Bruce Willis. Gordon-Levitt does an admirable job mimicking Willis' speech patterns.  Not closing the loop is a big no-no and punishable with torture and mutilation.  By amputating a limb on the younger version, the older version knows his younger self has broken the rules.  I don't understand why they just don't kill the younger self.  The explanation is killing the younger version would change the future but doesn't cutting off someone's leg change the future?  It's these kids of inconsistencies which annoyed me about the film.

Anyway, we see a two time loops for Joe.  In one loop, he is killed as planned.  Joe retires, moves to China, falls in love but sees his wife killed by gangsters who have come to send him back to 2044 to be killed.  Not content with the way his life turned out, Old Joe returns to the past and overpowers his younger self.  His intention is to kill the Rainmaker, the all powerful mobster in 2074 who is just a boy in 2044.  I forgot to mention some people have telekinetic powers which comes into play later.

Young Joe has to avoid Abe's men and kill Old Joe in order to keep all his limbs.  Both Joes track the Rainmaker down to a farm and encounter Sarah (Emily Blunt) and her son who has powerful telekinetic power beyond anyone's imagination.  The climax is a showdown.  Old Joe wants to kill the boy and is willing to kill Sarah in order to accomplish this task.  Young Joe realizes if the kid see Sarah murdered, the trauma will turn him into the Rainmaker.  Killing Old Joe won't necessarily make much difference because he might return in the next loop.  The only option is to kill himself so that Old Joe doesn't exist.

Looper is an interesting film.  It's always fun to work through the time travel impacts and seeing Gordon-Levitt do a Bruce Willis impersonation is fun.  Jeff Daniels makes the most of his time and there is much speculation if the character Kid Blue (Noah Segan) is younger version of Abe.  There is a certain symmetry to the theory as Old Joe kills Abe and Joe kills Kid Blue thus destroying the timeline if Kid Blue become Abe.  I'd have to watch the film a second time to state an opinion but I didn't think enough of the film to merit a second viewing.  Maybe when it comes on TV.

However, clever plotlines and geeky discussions on time travel do not a great film make.  I didn't think Looper was one of the best films of the year.  My father became so confused and later bored with the film that he left the theater and took a nap in the car.

Welcome/Goodbye to Retrodome

One of the items I have forgot to post last month is that the Retrodome in San Jose is closing on or by January 31.  The Retrodome is a multi-purpose performance space in the former Century 25 Theater at the Westgate Mall at 1694 Saratoga Ave.  Featuring live musical theater, films, stand up comedy & live music, the Retrodome has flourished for nearly 3.5 years.  Having lost their lease, they are weighing their options but will not fight the closure of their current venue.  They are considering reopening in a different location.  To find out more about their plans, you can read their blog.

I've been aware of the Retrodome for awhile but have never been there.  I don't get down to San Jose often.  I'm not sure if I can make it down there by January 31.  The MeshugaNutcracker! looked interesting but I couldn't get down there in December.  I don't think there are any more live productions before their scheduled closure.  There are only sing-along & quote-along films (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Grease and Raiders of the Lost Ark) on the schedule currently.

Seven at the Stanford

I saw seven films at the Stanford Theater from August to October.

The Violent Men starring Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck & Edward G. Robinson; directed by Rudolph Maté; (1955)
Rainbow Over Texas starring Roy Roger, Dale Evans & Gabby Hayes; directed by Frank McDonald; (1946)
Way Down East starring Lillian Gish; directed by D.W. Griffith; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Dennis James; (1920)
Waterloo Bridge starring Mae Clarke & Douglass Montgomery; with Bette Davis; directed by James Whale; (1931)
The Impatient Maiden starring Mae Clarke & Lew Eyres; with Andy Devine; directed by James Whale; (1932)
The Bad Sister starring Conrad Nagel, Sidney Fox, Bette Davis & Humphrey Bogart; directed by Hobart Henley; (1931)
Seed starring John Boles, Genevieve Tobin & Bette Davis; directed by John M. Stahl; (1931)

I saw The Violent Men & Rainbow Over Texas as a double feature on August 2.  Way Down East was a single bill on August 3.  I saw Waterloo Bridge & The Impatient Maiden as a double feature on September 26.  I saw The Bad Sister & Seed  as a double feature on October 16.

The Violent Men was a nice find.  Glenn Ford plays John Parrish, a rancher who wants to sell his land and move east with his fiancee.  Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck play Lew & Martha Wilkison, a married couple who own the largest ranch in the area.  Wilkison lowballs Parrish for his ranch.  Unwilling to sell at such a low price and looking for revenge when Wilkison's hired gun (Richard Jaeckel) kills one of his ranch hands, Parrish digs in his heels.  Parrish is the wrong man to mess with since he has experience as a Confederate marauder.

The Violent Men is elevated by the presence of Robinson & Stanwyck.  Wilkinson is left wheelchair bound as a result of an Indian attack years before.  Unable to perform his husbandly duties, Wilkinson can only wonder about the relationship between his younger brother (Brian Keith) and his wife.  The audience and Wilkinson's daughter (Diane Foster) have no doubts regarding their illicit relationship.  This melodramatic love triangle among the hard-nosed and bitter Wilkinson, his Lady MacBeth wife and his brother is unique in that the villains rarely get such treatment.  Indeed, Wilkinson almost comes off as the most sympathetic of the bunch.  Even Ford's Parrish is less than admirable as his ruthlessness comes to the forefront.

Rainbow Over Texas is the first Roy Rogers film I can recall seeing.  Even as a kid, I don't recall seeing his films on television.  The most memorable scenes involved Dale Evans in a swimsuit.  I didn't realize what an attractive woman she was.  She plays an rich Eastern socialite hiding out from her father at their ranch in Texas.  I can't recall the plot too well.  There is a horse race over open country.  Roy & Trigger enter the race but some gangster has fixed the race so they try to cheat to win.  There was a murder in there somewhere too.  It involved a guy wearing the same shirt as the murderer and being falsely accused.  I can't remember the songs.  There was a scene in a saloon where Dale is jealous of a woman paying attention to Roy.  Dale dresses as man while stowing away on a train.  At 65 minutes, the film is like a tasty appetizer than you enjoyed at the time but cannot recall later.  Did I mention Dale Evans looked awfully good in the film?

I don't recall much about Way Down East.  Lillian Gish plays a country bumpkin who goes to the city to visit her wealthy cousins.  She falls in with the wrong man and her reputation is ruined.  Later, living in a small town, the rich guy arrives and the town gossip exposes Gish's secret.  She is cast out of town and dies on an icy river bank.  Heavy handed and predictable, I just couldn't enjoy the film.  Two scenes stayed in my memory.  There is a party scene where Gish's stands out (for appearance and conduct) and the aforementioned climax on the icy river.

Waterloo Bridge involves an American streetwalker (Mae Clarke)  and an American GI (Douglass Montgomery) in London during WWI.  Unaware of her profession, Cronin (Montgomery) invites Myra (Clarke) to his family's country estate.  Why an American in the Canadian army (as an enlisted man) would have a family estate in Britain was not explained.  Bette Davis shows up as Cronin's younger sister.  Keeping her secret despite Cronin's declarations of love and proposals for marriage, Myra goes to great lengths to avoid Cronin.  Finally, Myra's landlady reveals her true profession.  Undeterred, Cronin returns to Waterloo Bridge (her stroll and where they originally met) and finds Myra.  Desperate to marry before being shipped to the front, Cronin secures Myra's acceptance of his marriage proposal just before being hauled off by MPs to report to the front.  As his truck departs, a bomb detonates and Myra is killed.  It's quite a tearjerker.  The English accents and sound quality of films from the era made it difficult to understand all the dialog.

Not as well known as the Vivian Leigh/Robert Taylor version, this Waterloo Bridge was quite good.

The Impatient Maiden casts Clarke as a legal secretary for a divorce lawyer.  This makes her cynical about marriage.  Clarke lives on the Angels Flight street in LA which is always nice to see.  A suicide attempt by a neighbor puts her in contact with Lew Ayres as an ambulance doctor.  A love triangle forms between Clarke, Ayres and John Halliday who plays the divorce lawyer.

I can't say I disliked The Impatient Maiden but three months later I don't recall much about it nor do I recall what I thought of it at the time.  Clarke's roommate in the film is Una Merkel & the ambulance driver is Andy Devine.  The become a couple in the film and their two voices grated against my ears like sandpaper.

The Bad Sister is Sidney Fox.  Her younger sister is Bette Davis.  Fox is the most popular girl in town.  She falls for Humphrey Bogart, a con man.  She convinces her father to back Bogie's scam who then convinces the rest of the townfolk.  Abandoned and pregnant, Fox comes slinking back home.  A very abrupt ending indicates all was forgiven and Davis got the doctor who was more interested in Fox.  The Bad Sister was underwhelming.  At 68 minutes, it was probably a B film.

Seed was more interesting.  Davis plays John Boles' dutiful wife.  Boles was a former aspiring novelist who had to take a job in a publishing company to support his wife and five kids.  Wealthy Mildred (Genevieve Tobin) re-enters his life.  A former friend and admirer of his literary work, Mildred offers to support him while he writes his great novel.  Mildred's largesse drives a wedge between the man and his family.  Eventually Boles divorces Davis & marries Mildred.  To add insult to injury, Boles asks Davis if the kids can live with him and Mildred.  Rather than dashing the childrens' excitement of living the high life and being reunited with their father, Davis selflessly agrees.

Davis (like Joan Crawford) is at her best when she is bitchy.  Here she play the saint and it's just not very interesting.  More interesting that The Bad Sister, Seed has a few scenes showing the evolving relationship among the three main character which is skillfully done.  Taken as a whole, the film is old fashioned in its views about the role of women in society and acceptable behavior.  I was very aware that the situation seemed artificial in 1931 (when the film came out) and even more so in 2012.

Bellissima: Leading Ladies of the Italian Screen

Way back in July and August, I saw a series at the PFA called Bellissima: Leading Ladies of the Italian Screen.

The series paid tribute to Italian actresses in their iconic performances.  The series consisted 17 films but I only 7.  The series ran from July 6 to August 31.

Nights of Cabiria starring Giulietta Masina; directed by Federico Fellini; Italian with subtitles; (1956)
Sandra starring Claudia Cardinale; directed by Luchino Visconti; Italian with subtitles; (1965)
The Girl with a Suitcase starring Claudia Cardinale; directed by Valerio Zurlini; Italian with subtitles; (1961)
Open City starring Anna Magnani; directed by Roberto Rossellini; Italian with subtitles; (1945)
L’amore starring Anna Magnani & Federico Fellini; directed by Roberto Rossellini; Italian with subtitles; (1948)
Bread, Love and Dreams starring Gina Lollobrigida & Vittorio De Sica; directed by Luigi Comencini;  Italian with subtitles; (1953)
The Widower starring Franca Valeri; directed by Dino Risi; Italian with subtitles; (1959)

Among the films I missed were three I had already seen - Bellissima, Mamma Roma & The Leopard.  The films I regret missing were Oh! Sabella! & Two Women.  Although La Strada was scheduled for July 7, I recall that they replaced it with something else (La Dolce Vita?) at the last minute.

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One of my favorite (perhaps the qualifier can be omitted) musical films is Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine.  Aware that it was based on Nights of Cabiria, I have long wanted to see the Fellini film for comparison purposes.  The first difference is the profession of the lead character.  Charity (MacLaine) is a taxi dancer in Sweet Charity (1969).  Thirteen years after Cabiria and released during Vietnam War and Free Love movement, it is telling that the American version had to resort to a profession which was on the verge of extinction at the time.  Are there any taxi dancers left today?  Although the film hints at the unsavory side of "taxi dancing," the film is surprisingly tame.

Nights of Cabiria is heartbreaking as Cabiria (Giulietta Masina, Fellini's wife for 50 years) is a flat-out streetwalker.  Although the strolls are mostly played for laughs, it's Cabiria personal relationships which tugged at my heartstrings.  The two films follow the same plot roughly until the end when the most significant difference occurs.

In Sweet Charity, the boyfriend abandons Charity when he realizes he cannot look past her "taxi dancing."  In Nights of Cabiria, the boyfriend abandons Cabiria after robbing her of her life savings and nearly killing her.  Both moments were emotional but Cabiria's ending had a greater sense of tragedy.  Charity suffered heartbreak.  Cabiria experienced breathtaking cruelty.  Charity is whitewahsed; Cabiria is sordid.  Charity's upbeat demeanor is quirky; Cabiria upbeat demeanor is surreal given the ugly circumstances of her life.

Both films are outstanding but Nights of Cabiria puts your emotions through a workout as the audience follows Cabiria's tragicomic plight.

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Open City is a famous film.  Often billed as Rome, Open City, the Roberto Rossellini production was filmed in Rome while fighting was still occurring on the Italian peninsula.  Based on the life of Don Pieto Morosini, a Catholic priest who had been killed the Gestapo for helping the resistance, Open City is the grandfather of the neorealist film movement.  Filmed less than a year after Rome was liberated by US troops, the title refers to Rome's status after the Nazis pulled out.  The general events depicted in the film must have been very personal to the many non-actors who appear in the film.

The film is fascinating because it is set so close to the actual events it depicts.  Rossellini made films when Mussolini was in power and during Allied occupation.  The natural question is how he gained favor with the Americans so quickly.  Also during the filming of Rome, Open City, Rossellini began a romantic relationship with star Anna Magnani despite both being married.  In fact, most biographers imply Rossellini left Magnani for Ingrid Bergman although technically he had to get divorced from his wife (Marcella De Marchis) to marry Bergman.  A decade after the divorce, De Marchis would collaborate with Rossellini as his costume designer on Garibaldi.

Open City is best known for a harrowing sequence where the Gestapo torture an insurgent (Marcello Pagliero) in front of the priest (Aldo Fabrizi in a memorable performance) and Magnani's death scene as she is shot while chaseing after a truck.  The camera angle is from the back of the truck and we see Magnani fall and die.

Open City is still a powerful film which really lays bare the double dealing consequences of Nazi sympathizers.  This is common theme as Army of Shadows transplants the action to Paris.  Nazis brought the worst in humans (both in real life and in film).

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Bread, Love and Dreams is a showcase for Gina Lollobrigida's earthy sexuality.  Of the mid-century Italian actresses, I have always found Lollobrigida's screen image to be most appealing.  In Bread, Love and Dreams Lollobrigida plays a country girl whose headstrong manner captures the attention of a Carabinieri colonel (Bicycle Thieves' director Vittorio De Sica).  A good natured comedy, De Sica arranges for Lollobrigida's character to encounter one of the men (Roberto Risso) under his command and the object of her longings.  For his part, the Colonel refocuses his attention on the local midwife (Marisa Merlini).  A sex farce (the Colonel's love life is the topic of much discussion among the villagers) with some laughs at the expense the rural and backward townfolk, Bread, Love and Dreams is an entertaining if not terribly memorable film.

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Two Claudia Cardinale films gave me a greater appreciation for the actress.  Sandra, also titled Sandra of a Thousand Delights, is a variation on the Electra complex complete with an incestuous relationship between the eponymous Sandra (Cardinale) and her brother (Jean Sorel).  Set in a decaying palazzo, the setting matches Sandra's decaying family - incest, Nazi sympathizers, Jewish concentration camps, etc.  Sandra, filmed by Luchino Visconti in black and white, is a beautiful looking film about ugly secrets.

The Girl with a Suitcase was, perhaps, my favorite film of the series.  A coming of age story with the 23 year old Cardinale as the older woman, Girl with a Suitcase is as much Jacques Perrin's film as Cardinale's.  Aida (Cardinale) arrives at the Fainardi house looking for her boyfriend Marcello who has dumped her.  Marcello's teenage brother, Lorenzo (Perrin) meets Aida and quickly smitten.  I can't blame him as Cardinale has never looked better.  A bit of a fantasy courtship ensues - age differences and class differences separate the two.  There is a scene where an older man "seduces" Aida while Lorenzo looks on; treated like, acting like and feeling like a little boy.  Aida is far from naive and is fully aware of her effect on men but that doesn't necessarily mean she isn't passionate about Lorenzo.  Girl with a Suitcase is a love story for realists.

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Alberto Sordi play the would-be title character in The Widower.  A black comedy about a con man scheming to kill his wealthy wife (Franca Valeri), The Widower is a memorable film which also comments on the industrialization occurring in Italy at the time.  The comedy is farcical at times but Sordi is up to the task.  Sordi made a series of films in the 1950s with similar and progressive titles - The Bachelor, The Husband and The Widower.

L’amore with Anna Magnani & Federico Fellini and directed by Roberto Rossellini was my least favorite.  Consisting of two unrelated stories, Anna Magnani first plays a woman who believes she is St. Mary and is pregnant (but not immaculately) by a man she thinks is St. Joseph (Fellini).  In the other story, Magnani is a woman who speaks on the phone in a desperate plea to save her romantic relationship.  Neither story appealed to me and four months later, I cannot recall much about either.  I just recall being disappointed in the film when it screened.

More Parkway and More Perks of Being a Wallflower

On Sunday, I returned to the New Parkway with a friend who works in downtown Oakland.  Before the screening, we stopped at an Oakland bakery she knew of called Sweet Bar Bakery.  Located at the corner of Broadway and 24th, Sweet Bar is located in the "historic MacFarlane’s Candy and Ice Cream showroom."  MacFarlane Candy & Ice Cream is not a business I was familiar with; it must be one of those old-timey Bay Area institutions (I've only lived here for 20 years).  Just to show how cool Sweet Bar is, it raised over $20,000 via Kickstarter.  Open seven days a week (closing at 7 PM Mon-Sat and 5 PM on Sundays), Sweet Bar is nice place to get a coffee and pastry.  They have some fascinating historic photos of downtown Oakland on their walls.

Having seen every film being screened at the New Parkway on Sunday, I gave my companion her choice of films.  I was hoping she would choose Barbarella which was screened under the theme "Thrillville Theater" - Will "The Thrill" Viharo's Sunday night series.  Viharo hosts "Parkway Classics" on Thursday nights (The Big Lebowski is being shown tomorrow evening at 9 PM).

Instead, she chose The Perks of Being a Wallflower which I saw at the now shuttered Bridge Theater.    I'm glad to say Wallflower stood up well to a second viewing.  There were a few humorous moments which I caught the second time around.  I didn't even realize Paul Rudd was the teacher until the second screening.  Wallflower is a poignant film which mixes in humor for a crowd pleasing experience.  The film has "legs" as they say.  It's box office has gone up every week since its opening in late September. Tellingly, the Landmark Bridge carried it over for a month (or longer) and it was the last film they screened on December 27.  The next day it opened at the Landmark Opera Plaza in their largest auditorium.  That tells me it must be drawing some crowds.  There were 30 or so people at the New Parkway screening I attended.

I cannot recall which screening room is which at the New Parkway.  I think I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild in Theater 1.  We saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower in Theater 2 or the other, smaller screening room.  Theater 2 lacks much of the kitschy charm of the other room.  The floor mostly consists of a number of utilitarian dining tables which gives the impression of a corporate cafeteria.  There is an organ in the corner but I don't think it is functional.  There is a  balcony with three rows of terraces.  We sat in the front row of the balcony.  All but two people sat in the balcony.  I didn't think the floor tables were that bad but my friend insisted on the balcony as she felt the viewing angle was inferior from the floor.  There isn't as much leg room as the first row of the balcony as in the other theater.  Again, there is a side table between seats for your food and drink.

With a bigger crowd, I noticed a few problems.  First, the food runners have less room to maneuver so they were stepping in front of people to get the food to its ultimate destination.  Also, there was quite a bit of noise as servers called out orders, plates clanked and customers asked for condiments or whatever.   I have no doubt that spilled food/drinks and broken dishes/glasses will occur more frequently when the audience is large.  It looked like the Barbarella screening drew a good crowd so I don't know how many people ordered food in total.  The kitchen seemed to have a hard time keeping up as food came in 30 or 40 minutes after Wallflower started.

As for the food, I had the quesadillas.  Not bad but again a very simple dish to prepare so there isn't much to mess up or excel at.  My friend had an apple chicken sausage served like a hot dog.  She wanted more condiment selections but settled on dressing her sausage with olive oil and Sriracha sauce.  She is an exacting connoisseur of food so I take her food judgments with a grain of salt (pun intended).  She carries powdered popcorn toppings and BBQ sauce in the trunk of her car for exigencies such as this.  I don't know why she didn't bring the BBQ sauce in with her.  I saw her retrieve some popcorn seasoning but we didn't order any popcorn.  We split an order of "saucy fries."  I can't recall what the ketchup sauce consisted of, but the mayonaisse was transformed into aioli with some garlic seasoning.

The New Parkway could do a better job with signage.  We arrived more than 30 minutes early so I asked if the theater was open for seating.  Barbarella was still more than 60 minutes from starting.  The employee told us the theater was open and directed us to Theater 1.  As it turned out, that was the theater for Barbarella.  It wasn't until another patron entered and asked if it was the theater for Barbarella that we realized we were in the wrong room.   I said no, someone else said yes.  It turned out we were directed to the wrong theater.  The New Parkway needs to put up signs indicating which film is screening in each theater.  These signs should be placed in clear view as one enters the theater;  even if it is just an 8½ x 11 sheet of paper.  This is standard for any multiscreen theater.  The 4 Star & Balboa have two screening rooms but have signs indicating which film is screening in each theater.

While waiting in the wrong screening room, I noticed there were red wine ring marks on some of the tables and food crumbs on the sofas & love seats.  At least one person didn't bus his/her tableware.  Given that there was an hour before the next screening, I wonder why the staff didn't tidy up the room.  That's going to be crucial going forward.  There needs to be light cleaning and servicing of the theaters in between shows.

After a second trip to the New Parkway, I'm ambivalent.  I go to the PFA frequently so I'm willing to travel to the East Bay for a film but the New Parkway doesn't seem like enough of a draw to make a dedicated trip.  Maybe some of their special programming will draw me in.  On Tuesday (January 8), the New Parkway is hosting a film series called "Brooklyn Reconstructed."  The series is co-sponsored by the Broaklyn Film & Theater Company.

My Worst Nightmare

On New Year's Eve, I went to the Landmark Opera Plaza to see My Worst Nightmare.  I notice I've been going to the Opera Plaza more often since the Lumiere closed.

My Worst Nightmare starring Isabelle Huppert & Benoît Poelvoorde; directed by Anne Fontaine; French with subtitles; (2011) - Official Website

My Worst Nightmare is one of those romantic comedies which so many Americans find contrived but I'm a sucker for.  Benoît Poelvoorde, a comedic actor I am fond of, gets a plum role as a crass ne'er-do-well with an academically gifted son.  He crosses paths with an uptight art gallery owner because their sons have formed a friendship at school.  Agathe's (Isabelle Huppert) son is decidedly less scholastically inclined than Patrick's (Poelvoorde) son.  My Worst Nightmare begins as a comedy about class distinctions which soon gives way to Patrick's lecherous desires for the ice queen Agathe.

Through plot devices too tedious to recount, Patrick ends up moving into Agathe's house after her bourgeois "baby daddy" moves out (to date Patrick's social worker!).  As Patrick & Agathe work inextricably towards sex and later marriage, the comedy becomes less raucous and the plot begins to collapse under its own weight.  The film begins with Agathe shocked and resentful of Patrick's boorish and juvenile antics but ends with a whimper and an extended ending even I could not embrace.

I don't feel like going into too much detail.  Huppert & Poelvoorde shine in their roles but the material just didn't support a 100 minute film.  They actually have quite a bit of chemistry and Huppert really nails her character's frigidity and rigidity.

There was a scene where the two go to Ikea.  In fact, Patrick eats the Swedish Meatballs which is the highlight of any trip to Ikea for me.  There is something comforting in knowing Ikea stores in France (and probably around the world) are the same.  Because it is a Swedish company & the film is set in France, it has a certain savoir faire that would be lacking if the setting was a Wal-Mart in the US.

My Worst Nightmare was far from a nightmare but I thought it wasted strong comedic performances by Huppert & Poelvoorde.  Interestingly, even a middling French romantic comedy like My Worst Nightmare trumps most of what comes out of Hollywood in this genre.