SaligoBay Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 Sent the boys to watch Alien v Predator. I decided I couldn't face the Long Dimanche de Fiançailles (2 hours of Audrey Tautou and her lips was just too daunting a prospect), so I opted for another icon of French culture, Arsène Lupin.I was expecting a gentleman thief, I wasn't prepared for the woman with the secret of eternal youth, and the 3 crucifixes, and the bloke with the iron half-mask, and the killer dad. I'm reading the Da Vinci code just now, so my little brain was getting a bit confused!However, it's quite a spectacle, and Beaumagnan was a brilliant baddie. Good-looking women everywhere, gorgeous frox, lots of derring-do in carriages and on horses. Exciting stuff on the white cliffs of Normandy.Only thing was the casting of Lupin himself, he wasn't quite right.But what happened at the end, eh eh eh? Did he survive the blast, or was that his ghost? Did the flower mean that his wife was dead, and he'll go back to la sorcière?I may never know........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 Which of the novels was that based on? As he appears to have survived to WW2 and outwitted the Nazis he probably didn't really die in that film. His creator, Maurice Leblanc, pitted him against Sherlock Holmes (for copyright reasons renamed Herlock Sholmes and Dr Wilson) in some of the books. Lupin's house, in reality the Leblanc family home, is at Etretat in Normandy and is open to the public. And I'm amazed that the auto-censor on the forum permits his name to be printed.This is a useful site for Lupin fans:http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/arsenelupintimeline.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted November 3, 2004 Author Share Posted November 3, 2004 [quote]Which of the novels was that based on? As he appears to have survived to WW2 and outwitted the Nazis he probably didn't really die in that film. His creator, Maurice Leblanc, pitted him against Sherlo...[/quote]It's an adaptation of La Comtesse de Cagliostro. Allegedly.Kirstin Scott Thomas is the Comtesse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted November 4, 2004 Share Posted November 4, 2004 It's an adaptation of La Comtesse de CagliostroI'm going to have to reread that one (last time was 15 years ago) as I don't remember all the things you mentioned. BTW, think yourself lucky, we went to see gang de requins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted November 4, 2004 Author Share Posted November 4, 2004 LOL Mistral, you could be right!I've never read any Arsène Lupin, so I had no idea what to expect. I've since read a load of spectator reviews on it, and it really hasn't been very well received by Lupin fans.Bad casting of Beaumagnan was mentioned a few times, as was the affreux white-cliff incident. Sigh, you see how wrong I was! It was certainly too long, at 2h 10mins. But I'm glad I saw it, and between it and Le Long Dimanche, I think it was the right choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 With a friend, I dithered between the same two last week - and finally went for the Long Dimanche...Apart from lots of WW1 carnage (interesting to see from French perspective though), the Audrey Tatiou bits were directed in very similar winsome style to "Amélie Poulain" - which was amusing first time around, but less so on second viewing. Many of the soldier characters had similar moustaches, mud-spattered faces etc, so I confused them a bit - which tended to make the plot a bit hard to follow. We compared notes afterwards, and just about made sense of it - though neither of us was sure about the significance of the officer dropping the list of executees' names in the bath... Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted November 9, 2004 Author Share Posted November 9, 2004 Okay, you've talked me into it, Loiseau, I'll go and see it!It was the trailers that put me off, those shots of Audrey T looking lippily dippy, but I felt kind of heretical saying so, and wondered if I was alone in my Doubt.I'll focus on the muddy squddies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprob Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Not being an 'officiando' of the said Arsène Lupin, I don't understand why will you never know, SaligoBay. I often find myself in that position after watching a movie. Most regrettably this is due to my tendancy to nod-off when the 'daring-do's' start running out.Sadly too, I shut my eyes at the on-screen snoggs that once held my attention. They just remind me how badly cheated we are by real life once we have ceased to be film stars. Hey-ho. PS What did the boys think about their movie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted November 9, 2004 Author Share Posted November 9, 2004 Did you used to be a film star then, Piprob? The boys enjoyed their film, and wisely didn't spend too much time philosophising about it.You know what you need if you keep dropping off? A refreshing dip in the Med, it's lovely once you're in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprob Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Yes, thats what they all say!I was a star in my dreams, SB. But weren't we all stars once?I can remember standing in front of the mirror for hours, preparing for various roles in life. I put lots into these rehearsals. I took to dressing for the parts, too. At one point, after mastering a particularly impressive character who dressed in 'winkle-pickers, tight jeans, an almost white duffle coat, and had a large quiff of hair hanging down his forehead, my mother refused to be seen with me. Unfortunately, despite the carefull rehearsals, I was never discovered - except by Pip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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