It’s been exactly 20 years since Nanni Moretti won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with “The Son’s Room,” a graceful, humane and often surprisingly witty drama about a family regathering itself in the wake of shattering tragedy. That’s a long time ago, and it feels longer by the minute as you watch the Italian writer-director’s latest, “Three Floors,” a film clearly conceived to hit the same bittersweet notes as his 2001 triumph, but scarcely recognizable as the work of the same filmmaker.
Dramatically stilted, cinematically drab and morally dubious at multiple turns, this soapy lather of assorted crises concerning the residents of a single Roman apartment block may come as a crashing disappointment to fans who have been waiting six years for a new Moretti feature. Pedigree alone has secured this misfire a Cannes competition slot and healthy international sales, though we certainly won’t be thinking about it in two decades’ time.
Dramatically stilted, cinematically drab and morally dubious at multiple turns, this soapy lather of assorted crises concerning the residents of a single Roman apartment block may come as a crashing disappointment to fans who have been waiting six years for a new Moretti feature. Pedigree alone has secured this misfire a Cannes competition slot and healthy international sales, though we certainly won’t be thinking about it in two decades’ time.
- 7/11/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Tre Piani
Italian auteur Nanni Moretti should be set to unveil his thirteenth narrative feature in 2021, Tre Piani, co-written by Federica Pontremoli and Valia Santella. As usual, Moretti is part of the cast, joined by a formidable ensemble including Riccardo Scamarcio, Margherita Buy, Alba Rohrwacher, Adriano Giannini, Elena Lietti, Denise Tantucci, Alessandro Sperduti, Anna Bonaiuto, Paolo Graziosi, Tommaso Ragno and Stefano Dionisi. The project is lensed by Dp Michele D’Attanasio.
Moretti won the Palme d’Or in 2001 for The Son’s Room. He competed in 1978 with Ecco Bombo, 1994 with Dear Diary (winning Best Director), 1998 with Aprile, 2006 with The Caiman, 2011 with We Have a Pope and in 2015 with Mia Madre (winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize).…...
Italian auteur Nanni Moretti should be set to unveil his thirteenth narrative feature in 2021, Tre Piani, co-written by Federica Pontremoli and Valia Santella. As usual, Moretti is part of the cast, joined by a formidable ensemble including Riccardo Scamarcio, Margherita Buy, Alba Rohrwacher, Adriano Giannini, Elena Lietti, Denise Tantucci, Alessandro Sperduti, Anna Bonaiuto, Paolo Graziosi, Tommaso Ragno and Stefano Dionisi. The project is lensed by Dp Michele D’Attanasio.
Moretti won the Palme d’Or in 2001 for The Son’s Room. He competed in 1978 with Ecco Bombo, 1994 with Dear Diary (winning Best Director), 1998 with Aprile, 2006 with The Caiman, 2011 with We Have a Pope and in 2015 with Mia Madre (winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize).…...
- 1/1/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Tre piani
Italy’s Nanni Moretti breaks a five-year hiatus (from feature films) with his thirteenth narrative, Tre piani, which is also the director’s first adaptation. Moretti assembles a high profile cast including Riccardo Scamarcio, Margherita Buy, Alba Rohrwacher, Adriano Giannini, Elena Lietti, Denise Tantucci, Alessandro Sperduti, Anna Bonaiuto, Paolo Graziosi, Tommaso Ragno, Stefano Dionisi and himself. Cinematographer Michele D’Attanasio lensed the feature, produced through Sacher Film, Fandando, Rai Cinema and Le Pacte. Moretti has competed seven times in Cannes, with 1978’s Ecco Bombo, 1994’s Dear Diary (winning Best Director), 1998’s Aprile, 2001’s The Son’s Room (which won the Palme d’Or), 2006’s The Caiman, 2011’s We Have a Pope and 2015’s Mia Madre (winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize).…...
Italy’s Nanni Moretti breaks a five-year hiatus (from feature films) with his thirteenth narrative, Tre piani, which is also the director’s first adaptation. Moretti assembles a high profile cast including Riccardo Scamarcio, Margherita Buy, Alba Rohrwacher, Adriano Giannini, Elena Lietti, Denise Tantucci, Alessandro Sperduti, Anna Bonaiuto, Paolo Graziosi, Tommaso Ragno, Stefano Dionisi and himself. Cinematographer Michele D’Attanasio lensed the feature, produced through Sacher Film, Fandando, Rai Cinema and Le Pacte. Moretti has competed seven times in Cannes, with 1978’s Ecco Bombo, 1994’s Dear Diary (winning Best Director), 1998’s Aprile, 2001’s The Son’s Room (which won the Palme d’Or), 2006’s The Caiman, 2011’s We Have a Pope and 2015’s Mia Madre (winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize).…...
- 12/30/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Opens
Nov. 7
A famously melancholy song, a touch of "Jules and Jim" and the heavy hand of Nazi oppression give the bittersweet "Gloomy Sunday" a haunted feeling. The streets of old Budapest grow uncomfortably quiet and barren as the years go by. The lively cafe at the heart of the story feels like an oasis from the world's troubles, like a much-deglamorized Rick's Cafe from "Casablanca". People eye one another and fall in love as if fully aware of the impending doom.
Long on atmosphere and Old World charm, "Gloomy", directed by co-writer Rolf Schubel, has circulated in various markets since it was completed in 1999. Distributed by Menemsha Films in the United States, "Gloomy" should attract appreciative adult audiences in specialty venues. The film expands nationally next week.
A song known as "Gloomy Sunday" was written in 1935 by two Hungarians. While it became a hit, the tune achieved notoriety when a number of people committed suicide while listening to its melody. Here, in this fictional story, those deaths are seen as a metaphor for the anguish and anxiety caused by a coming war.
The story begins in the present as a wealthy German industrialist arrives at the favorite restaurant of his youth, the Szabo cafe in Budapest, to celebrate his 80th birthday with his wife and friends. As he digs into his favorite dish, he asks the musicians to "play the song -- you know, the famous one." Then as his eyes fall on a black-and-white photo of a strikingly beautiful woman, he suffers a seizure and dies.
Almost immediately, the movie sweeps us into the 1930s. The beauty in the photo is the cafe's manager, Ilona (Erika Marozsan), hired by doting restaurateur Laszlo (Joachim Krol), who has been her lover for several years. Then Andras (Italy's Stefano Dionisi) enters the scene as the cafe's piano player, and he too falls for the dark-haired enchantress. For that matter, most men fall under her spell, including a blond and awkward German salesman named Hans (Ben Becker), who dines there often.
One fateful night, Andras plays a composition he has written for Ilona. It inspires Hans, due to return to Germany the next day, to propose to her. When she gently turns him down, Hans plunges into the Danube, but Laszlo rescues him. It turns out that Laszlo could use the distraction, for the song also inspired Ilona to go home with Andras.
Hans departs, and the remaining three agree to a menage a trois since none wants to lose the love and friendship of the other two. Soon enough, Andras' song gets recorded, and the suicides begin. Clearly, the tune is background music to the impending Holocaust. When the Nazis take over Hungary, Hans, now a colonel, sets up shop, cutting deals with Jewish manufacturers to take over their businesses and later saving Jews from the camps for steep fees.
Marozsan, dazzling enough to make Ilona's spell over men believable, plays her as a woman determined to live life by her own morality as the old culture is rapidly dying around her. Krol's Laszlo, a nonpracticing Jew who now needs Hans' protection, represents that Old World in a sense, yet as a Jew he too is an outsider. Dionisi (who is dubbed into German) makes Andras into tousle-haired, mercurial youth, essentially a weak man in many ways and a hopeless romantic.
The low-key lighting, graceful cinematography and accurate production design help bring the period to life, though a paucity of sets and locations caused by a limited budget do not allow the production crew to do justice to the rich world of old Budapest. A smooth score by Detlef Friedrich Petersen and Rezso Seress beautifully incorporates the title song into the dramatic structure, making it a true "song of love and death," as the film's German title, "Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod", would have it.
GLOOMY SUNDAY
Menemsha Films
A Studio Hamburg Produktion fur Film & Fernsehen, Dom Film, PolyGram Filmproduktion (Germany)/Focus Film (Hungary) production
Credits:
Director: Rolf Schubel
Screenwriter: Ruth Toma, Rolf Schubel
Based on the novel by: Nick Barkow
Producer: Richard Schops
Executive producers: Martin Rohrbeck, Aron Sipos
Director of photography: Edward Klosinski
Production designers: Csaba Stork, Volker Schaefer
Music: Detlef Friedrich Petersen, Rezso Seress
Costume designer: Andrea Flesch
Editor: Ursula Hof
Cast:
Ilona Varnai: Erika Marozsan
Laszlo Szabo: Joachim Krol
Andras Aradi: Stefano Dionisi
Hans Wieck: Ben Becker
Eichbaum: Sebastian Koch
No MPAA rating Running time -- 114 minutes...
Nov. 7
A famously melancholy song, a touch of "Jules and Jim" and the heavy hand of Nazi oppression give the bittersweet "Gloomy Sunday" a haunted feeling. The streets of old Budapest grow uncomfortably quiet and barren as the years go by. The lively cafe at the heart of the story feels like an oasis from the world's troubles, like a much-deglamorized Rick's Cafe from "Casablanca". People eye one another and fall in love as if fully aware of the impending doom.
Long on atmosphere and Old World charm, "Gloomy", directed by co-writer Rolf Schubel, has circulated in various markets since it was completed in 1999. Distributed by Menemsha Films in the United States, "Gloomy" should attract appreciative adult audiences in specialty venues. The film expands nationally next week.
A song known as "Gloomy Sunday" was written in 1935 by two Hungarians. While it became a hit, the tune achieved notoriety when a number of people committed suicide while listening to its melody. Here, in this fictional story, those deaths are seen as a metaphor for the anguish and anxiety caused by a coming war.
The story begins in the present as a wealthy German industrialist arrives at the favorite restaurant of his youth, the Szabo cafe in Budapest, to celebrate his 80th birthday with his wife and friends. As he digs into his favorite dish, he asks the musicians to "play the song -- you know, the famous one." Then as his eyes fall on a black-and-white photo of a strikingly beautiful woman, he suffers a seizure and dies.
Almost immediately, the movie sweeps us into the 1930s. The beauty in the photo is the cafe's manager, Ilona (Erika Marozsan), hired by doting restaurateur Laszlo (Joachim Krol), who has been her lover for several years. Then Andras (Italy's Stefano Dionisi) enters the scene as the cafe's piano player, and he too falls for the dark-haired enchantress. For that matter, most men fall under her spell, including a blond and awkward German salesman named Hans (Ben Becker), who dines there often.
One fateful night, Andras plays a composition he has written for Ilona. It inspires Hans, due to return to Germany the next day, to propose to her. When she gently turns him down, Hans plunges into the Danube, but Laszlo rescues him. It turns out that Laszlo could use the distraction, for the song also inspired Ilona to go home with Andras.
Hans departs, and the remaining three agree to a menage a trois since none wants to lose the love and friendship of the other two. Soon enough, Andras' song gets recorded, and the suicides begin. Clearly, the tune is background music to the impending Holocaust. When the Nazis take over Hungary, Hans, now a colonel, sets up shop, cutting deals with Jewish manufacturers to take over their businesses and later saving Jews from the camps for steep fees.
Marozsan, dazzling enough to make Ilona's spell over men believable, plays her as a woman determined to live life by her own morality as the old culture is rapidly dying around her. Krol's Laszlo, a nonpracticing Jew who now needs Hans' protection, represents that Old World in a sense, yet as a Jew he too is an outsider. Dionisi (who is dubbed into German) makes Andras into tousle-haired, mercurial youth, essentially a weak man in many ways and a hopeless romantic.
The low-key lighting, graceful cinematography and accurate production design help bring the period to life, though a paucity of sets and locations caused by a limited budget do not allow the production crew to do justice to the rich world of old Budapest. A smooth score by Detlef Friedrich Petersen and Rezso Seress beautifully incorporates the title song into the dramatic structure, making it a true "song of love and death," as the film's German title, "Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod", would have it.
GLOOMY SUNDAY
Menemsha Films
A Studio Hamburg Produktion fur Film & Fernsehen, Dom Film, PolyGram Filmproduktion (Germany)/Focus Film (Hungary) production
Credits:
Director: Rolf Schubel
Screenwriter: Ruth Toma, Rolf Schubel
Based on the novel by: Nick Barkow
Producer: Richard Schops
Executive producers: Martin Rohrbeck, Aron Sipos
Director of photography: Edward Klosinski
Production designers: Csaba Stork, Volker Schaefer
Music: Detlef Friedrich Petersen, Rezso Seress
Costume designer: Andrea Flesch
Editor: Ursula Hof
Cast:
Ilona Varnai: Erika Marozsan
Laszlo Szabo: Joachim Krol
Andras Aradi: Stefano Dionisi
Hans Wieck: Ben Becker
Eichbaum: Sebastian Koch
No MPAA rating Running time -- 114 minutes...
Opens
Nov. 7
A famously melancholy song, a touch of "Jules and Jim" and the heavy hand of Nazi oppression give the bittersweet "Gloomy Sunday" a haunted feeling. The streets of old Budapest grow uncomfortably quiet and barren as the years go by. The lively cafe at the heart of the story feels like an oasis from the world's troubles, like a much-deglamorized Rick's Cafe from "Casablanca". People eye one another and fall in love as if fully aware of the impending doom.
Long on atmosphere and Old World charm, "Gloomy", directed by co-writer Rolf Schubel, has circulated in various markets since it was completed in 1999. Distributed by Menemsha Films in the United States, "Gloomy" should attract appreciative adult audiences in specialty venues. The film expands nationally next week.
A song known as "Gloomy Sunday" was written in 1935 by two Hungarians. While it became a hit, the tune achieved notoriety when a number of people committed suicide while listening to its melody. Here, in this fictional story, those deaths are seen as a metaphor for the anguish and anxiety caused by a coming war.
The story begins in the present as a wealthy German industrialist arrives at the favorite restaurant of his youth, the Szabo cafe in Budapest, to celebrate his 80th birthday with his wife and friends. As he digs into his favorite dish, he asks the musicians to "play the song -- you know, the famous one." Then as his eyes fall on a black-and-white photo of a strikingly beautiful woman, he suffers a seizure and dies.
Almost immediately, the movie sweeps us into the 1930s. The beauty in the photo is the cafe's manager, Ilona (Erika Marozsan), hired by doting restaurateur Laszlo (Joachim Krol), who has been her lover for several years. Then Andras (Italy's Stefano Dionisi) enters the scene as the cafe's piano player, and he too falls for the dark-haired enchantress. For that matter, most men fall under her spell, including a blond and awkward German salesman named Hans (Ben Becker), who dines there often.
One fateful night, Andras plays a composition he has written for Ilona. It inspires Hans, due to return to Germany the next day, to propose to her. When she gently turns him down, Hans plunges into the Danube, but Laszlo rescues him. It turns out that Laszlo could use the distraction, for the song also inspired Ilona to go home with Andras.
Hans departs, and the remaining three agree to a menage a trois since none wants to lose the love and friendship of the other two. Soon enough, Andras' song gets recorded, and the suicides begin. Clearly, the tune is background music to the impending Holocaust. When the Nazis take over Hungary, Hans, now a colonel, sets up shop, cutting deals with Jewish manufacturers to take over their businesses and later saving Jews from the camps for steep fees.
Marozsan, dazzling enough to make Ilona's spell over men believable, plays her as a woman determined to live life by her own morality as the old culture is rapidly dying around her. Krol's Laszlo, a nonpracticing Jew who now needs Hans' protection, represents that Old World in a sense, yet as a Jew he too is an outsider. Dionisi (who is dubbed into German) makes Andras into tousle-haired, mercurial youth, essentially a weak man in many ways and a hopeless romantic.
The low-key lighting, graceful cinematography and accurate production design help bring the period to life, though a paucity of sets and locations caused by a limited budget do not allow the production crew to do justice to the rich world of old Budapest. A smooth score by Detlef Friedrich Petersen and Rezso Seress beautifully incorporates the title song into the dramatic structure, making it a true "song of love and death," as the film's German title, "Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod", would have it.
GLOOMY SUNDAY
Menemsha Films
A Studio Hamburg Produktion fur Film & Fernsehen, Dom Film, PolyGram Filmproduktion (Germany)/Focus Film (Hungary) production
Credits:
Director: Rolf Schubel
Screenwriter: Ruth Toma, Rolf Schubel
Based on the novel by: Nick Barkow
Producer: Richard Schops
Executive producers: Martin Rohrbeck, Aron Sipos
Director of photography: Edward Klosinski
Production designers: Csaba Stork, Volker Schaefer
Music: Detlef Friedrich Petersen, Rezso Seress
Costume designer: Andrea Flesch
Editor: Ursula Hof
Cast:
Ilona Varnai: Erika Marozsan
Laszlo Szabo: Joachim Krol
Andras Aradi: Stefano Dionisi
Hans Wieck: Ben Becker
Eichbaum: Sebastian Koch
No MPAA rating Running time -- 114 minutes...
Nov. 7
A famously melancholy song, a touch of "Jules and Jim" and the heavy hand of Nazi oppression give the bittersweet "Gloomy Sunday" a haunted feeling. The streets of old Budapest grow uncomfortably quiet and barren as the years go by. The lively cafe at the heart of the story feels like an oasis from the world's troubles, like a much-deglamorized Rick's Cafe from "Casablanca". People eye one another and fall in love as if fully aware of the impending doom.
Long on atmosphere and Old World charm, "Gloomy", directed by co-writer Rolf Schubel, has circulated in various markets since it was completed in 1999. Distributed by Menemsha Films in the United States, "Gloomy" should attract appreciative adult audiences in specialty venues. The film expands nationally next week.
A song known as "Gloomy Sunday" was written in 1935 by two Hungarians. While it became a hit, the tune achieved notoriety when a number of people committed suicide while listening to its melody. Here, in this fictional story, those deaths are seen as a metaphor for the anguish and anxiety caused by a coming war.
The story begins in the present as a wealthy German industrialist arrives at the favorite restaurant of his youth, the Szabo cafe in Budapest, to celebrate his 80th birthday with his wife and friends. As he digs into his favorite dish, he asks the musicians to "play the song -- you know, the famous one." Then as his eyes fall on a black-and-white photo of a strikingly beautiful woman, he suffers a seizure and dies.
Almost immediately, the movie sweeps us into the 1930s. The beauty in the photo is the cafe's manager, Ilona (Erika Marozsan), hired by doting restaurateur Laszlo (Joachim Krol), who has been her lover for several years. Then Andras (Italy's Stefano Dionisi) enters the scene as the cafe's piano player, and he too falls for the dark-haired enchantress. For that matter, most men fall under her spell, including a blond and awkward German salesman named Hans (Ben Becker), who dines there often.
One fateful night, Andras plays a composition he has written for Ilona. It inspires Hans, due to return to Germany the next day, to propose to her. When she gently turns him down, Hans plunges into the Danube, but Laszlo rescues him. It turns out that Laszlo could use the distraction, for the song also inspired Ilona to go home with Andras.
Hans departs, and the remaining three agree to a menage a trois since none wants to lose the love and friendship of the other two. Soon enough, Andras' song gets recorded, and the suicides begin. Clearly, the tune is background music to the impending Holocaust. When the Nazis take over Hungary, Hans, now a colonel, sets up shop, cutting deals with Jewish manufacturers to take over their businesses and later saving Jews from the camps for steep fees.
Marozsan, dazzling enough to make Ilona's spell over men believable, plays her as a woman determined to live life by her own morality as the old culture is rapidly dying around her. Krol's Laszlo, a nonpracticing Jew who now needs Hans' protection, represents that Old World in a sense, yet as a Jew he too is an outsider. Dionisi (who is dubbed into German) makes Andras into tousle-haired, mercurial youth, essentially a weak man in many ways and a hopeless romantic.
The low-key lighting, graceful cinematography and accurate production design help bring the period to life, though a paucity of sets and locations caused by a limited budget do not allow the production crew to do justice to the rich world of old Budapest. A smooth score by Detlef Friedrich Petersen and Rezso Seress beautifully incorporates the title song into the dramatic structure, making it a true "song of love and death," as the film's German title, "Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod", would have it.
GLOOMY SUNDAY
Menemsha Films
A Studio Hamburg Produktion fur Film & Fernsehen, Dom Film, PolyGram Filmproduktion (Germany)/Focus Film (Hungary) production
Credits:
Director: Rolf Schubel
Screenwriter: Ruth Toma, Rolf Schubel
Based on the novel by: Nick Barkow
Producer: Richard Schops
Executive producers: Martin Rohrbeck, Aron Sipos
Director of photography: Edward Klosinski
Production designers: Csaba Stork, Volker Schaefer
Music: Detlef Friedrich Petersen, Rezso Seress
Costume designer: Andrea Flesch
Editor: Ursula Hof
Cast:
Ilona Varnai: Erika Marozsan
Laszlo Szabo: Joachim Krol
Andras Aradi: Stefano Dionisi
Hans Wieck: Ben Becker
Eichbaum: Sebastian Koch
No MPAA rating Running time -- 114 minutes...
- 11/6/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -Director Antonio Tibaldi, who in his last picture, "Little Boy Blue", demonstrated a penchant for both vivid atmospherics and overbaked narratives, provides a similarly uneven mixture in his latest effort.
A beautiful looking film with a strong performance by Christina Applegate, "Claudine's Return", set on a picturesque island off the coast of Georgia, is ultimately undone by its narrative obliqueness. It recently served as the closing night film at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Applegate, in a strong departure from her television roles, plays the title character, an unstable young woman who works as a motel maid by day and stripper by night. The other central character is Stefano (Stefano Dionisi), a young Italian drifter who takes a job as the motel's handyman. The pair are soon romantically involved, but Claudine, who is bisexual, keeps her emotional distance.
The pair embark on a road trip in which Claudine's already fragile emotional state becomes increasingly undone, as she confronts the events of her past, including the early death of her only sibling. Stefano, very much in love, becomes more and more frustrated as he watches Claudine spiral downward into self- destruction.
The screenplay, by Tibaldi and Heidi Hall, is deliberately vague as to the characters' motivations, and generally seems more interested in providing colorful incidents - the pair have a lengthy encounter with a cockatoo, for instance - and depicting the sleepy and somewhat seedy atmosphere of its setting. The general themes of loneliness and emotional unraveling are not handled in a particularly original fashion, and the film is affecting only in isolated moments.
Still, the director demonstrates a strong visual sense and a definite ability to provide a vivid ambiance. Although at times one becomes too aware of his efforts, such as with his use of different film speeds, there is no denying his technical skills. Both lead actors deliver strong performances, with Applegate providing a textured and subtle characterization of a disturbed woman and Dionisi registering as a smoldering and sexy presence. Valerie Perrine also shows up for a brief and wordless cameo.
CLAUDINE'S RETURN
Alliance Independent Films
A Jazz Pictures production
Director:Antonio Tibaldi
Screenplay:Antonio Tibaldi, Heidi Hall
Producer:Amedeo Ursini, Patricia Foulkrod
Director of photography:Luca Bigazzi
Editor:Janice Keuhnelian
Production designer:Bryce Perrin
Composer:Michel Colombier
Color/stereo
Cast:
Claudine Van Doozen:Christina Applegate
Stefano:Stefano Dionisi
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A beautiful looking film with a strong performance by Christina Applegate, "Claudine's Return", set on a picturesque island off the coast of Georgia, is ultimately undone by its narrative obliqueness. It recently served as the closing night film at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Applegate, in a strong departure from her television roles, plays the title character, an unstable young woman who works as a motel maid by day and stripper by night. The other central character is Stefano (Stefano Dionisi), a young Italian drifter who takes a job as the motel's handyman. The pair are soon romantically involved, but Claudine, who is bisexual, keeps her emotional distance.
The pair embark on a road trip in which Claudine's already fragile emotional state becomes increasingly undone, as she confronts the events of her past, including the early death of her only sibling. Stefano, very much in love, becomes more and more frustrated as he watches Claudine spiral downward into self- destruction.
The screenplay, by Tibaldi and Heidi Hall, is deliberately vague as to the characters' motivations, and generally seems more interested in providing colorful incidents - the pair have a lengthy encounter with a cockatoo, for instance - and depicting the sleepy and somewhat seedy atmosphere of its setting. The general themes of loneliness and emotional unraveling are not handled in a particularly original fashion, and the film is affecting only in isolated moments.
Still, the director demonstrates a strong visual sense and a definite ability to provide a vivid ambiance. Although at times one becomes too aware of his efforts, such as with his use of different film speeds, there is no denying his technical skills. Both lead actors deliver strong performances, with Applegate providing a textured and subtle characterization of a disturbed woman and Dionisi registering as a smoldering and sexy presence. Valerie Perrine also shows up for a brief and wordless cameo.
CLAUDINE'S RETURN
Alliance Independent Films
A Jazz Pictures production
Director:Antonio Tibaldi
Screenplay:Antonio Tibaldi, Heidi Hall
Producer:Amedeo Ursini, Patricia Foulkrod
Director of photography:Luca Bigazzi
Editor:Janice Keuhnelian
Production designer:Bryce Perrin
Composer:Michel Colombier
Color/stereo
Cast:
Claudine Van Doozen:Christina Applegate
Stefano:Stefano Dionisi
Running time -- 90 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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