Villa des roses (2002)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Frank Van Passel

Writers:

Christophe Dirickx (writer)
Willem Elsschot (novel)

Release Date:

27 February 2002 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Louise Créteur's husband dies on the Titanic trying to emigrate, so she must leave their boy Lucien...

Plot Keywords:

Male Nudity | Dog | Bed Scene | Drinking | Dancing

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Julie Delpy	...	Louise Créteur
Shaun Dingwall	...	Richard Grünewald
Harriet Walter	...	Olive Burrell
Shirley Henderson	...	Ella
Timothy West	...	Hugh Burrell
Frank Vercruyssen	...	Aasgaard
Toni Barry	...	Mrs. Bunny Wimhurst
Jan Decleir	...	Monsieur Brizard
Dora van der Groen	...	Mrs. Gendron
Albert Delpy	...	Antoine Créteur
Stéphane Excoffier	...	Jeanne de Keros
Rifka Lodeizen	...	Radsky
Halina Reijn	...	Natsje
Maya van den Broecke	...	Anna Kuprinski
Gary Whelan	...	Mr. O'Connor

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including an abortion scene, some sexuality, brief strong language and nudity.

Runtime:

118 min | Belgium:120 min

Country:

Belgium | Luxembourg | UK | Netherlands

Language:

French | English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Netherlands:12 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Company:

Favourite Films

Trivia:

Some old panoramic postcards were used to turn into live images.

Too sterile to become a real masterpiece.

Even though I haven't read the book this movie was based on, I'm sure that it must be a lot better than the movie itself. Willem Elschot, the writer who wrote the book is seen as one of our finest and his books are considered as masterpieces, but I'm afraid I can't say the same about this movie. I'm not saying that it is bad, but it just isn't good enough and I'm sure that Willem Elschot wouldn't have been too happy with this rather sterile adaptation of his book either.

It's sterile because there are too many questions that are left unanswered. Not that I always want everything to be clear even before the movie ends. I like intellectually challenging movies, but this time you never really get to know the characters, you'll not find out what drives them, what exactly happens to them, why they all live in that lousy hotel in Paris that once must have been a marvelous villa... It all looks very gray and dull, even though the "relationship" between the maid and the German tries to bring some light to it. But it isn't enough to stay focused on the entire story.

Maybe you think now that this movie must be the worst ever, well that's not true either. Frank Van Passel is still a very talented director and he had an excellent cast to work with. Some moments in the movie were absolutely great (for instance the abortion scene was very chilling), but it was never enough to cover all the holes in the plot. I give this movie a 6.5/10.