Babette's Feast

Amazon.com

Some movies can only be described as delicious. In Babette's Feast, a woman flees the French civil war and lands in a small seacoast village in Denmark, where she comes to work for two spinsters, devout daughters of a puritan minister. After many years, Babette unexpectedly wins a lottery, and decides to create a real French dinner--which leads the sisters to fear for their souls. Joining them for the meal will be a Danish general who, as a young soldier, courted one of the sisters, but she turned him away because of her religion. The village elders all resolve not to enjoy the meal, but can their moral fiber resist the sensual pleasure of Babette's cooking? Babette's Feast deservedly won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This lovely movie is impeccably simple, yet its slender narrative contains a wealth of humor, melancholy, and hope. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Artistic, sensual and sacred passions unite in Babette's Feast. Written and directed by Gabriel Axel, from a short story by Out of Africa's Isak Dinesen, this Oscar(r)-winning*film offers "an irresistible mixture of dry wit and robust humanity" (Newsweek). Onthe desolate coast of Denmark live Martina and Philippa, the beautiful daughters of a devout clergyman who preaches salvation through self-denial. Both girls sacrifice youthful passion to faith and duty, and even many years after their father's death, they keep his austere teachings alive among thetownspeople. But with the arrival of Babette, a mysterious refugee from France's civil war, life for the sisters and their tiny hamlet begins to change. Soon, Babette has convinced them to try something truly outrageousa gourmet French meal! Her feast, of course, scandalizes the local elders. Just who is this strangely talented Babette, who has terrified this pious town with the prospect of losing their souls for enjoying too much earthly pleasure? *1987: Foreign Language Film

Customer Reviews:

Amazing story/Amazing film.......2007-07-30

Though set in the past and in a forgotten place, the story itself is timeless and universal in conveying the deep human need to connect with others. To speak specifically to any aspect of the story is to betray it. See the film. If you have ever longed for an opportunity to give from heart and soul, see the film. If you have ever feared loss of someone precious, see the film. Your life and appreciation for the gifts of others will be enriched by this story.

Babette's Feast.......2007-07-27

This well shot low budget film tells the story of 2 devout daughters of a zealously religous man who choose to remain with their father in lieu of marriage and a wonderful singing career. Following his death the girls remain in the small isolated village on the coast of Denmark living austere unremarkable lives until Babette comes to stay, a refuge from the French civil war. Babette works as a servant to the 2 sisters until she receives unexpected wealth. She elects to share her wealth with the elders of the village by providing them with a sumptuous gourmet french meal,with some unexpected results. Initially a bit slow to get moving.

savor it..........2007-06-22

for anyone desiring to see what the difference between a Hollywood film and a foreign film is, this is the one to watch. Babette's Feast is a scrumptious delight. A simple story about a mysterious French woman who comes to the coast of Denmark and works for 14 years as a cook to two pious Danish sisters. The story slowly unravels like a great masterpiece and when the French cook wins a lottery all the pieces come together to reveal a gorgeous mosaic of humanity. Full of simplicity, humor, and insight to the human condition. Simple, funny, gorgeous and delightfully delicious.

full and overflowing.......2007-06-14

The same gentle irony that Karen Blixen brought to the interplay of faith and human experience in OUT OF AFRICA is to be observed in full flower in this delightfully quirky film adaptation of her short story called BABETTE'S FEAST. Blixen found the French fathers in Kenya a bit rigid and self-interested, yet she expressed this with kindness and patience. She does the same here with her Lutheran Danes.

The romantic exuberance of the French servant-woman Babette as she brings to the island village that is her refuge the sensuality of a lavish feast does not reduce the disciplined and selfless orthodoxy of the Lutheran sect to ridicule. Rather, there is room for a certain conversion in *both* directions, a cross-pollenation that Blixen and her cinematic interpreters allow themselves to relish.

Blixen left us a great story. It has been made into a memorable film that belongs on the 'keeper' shelf of viewers who love a story.

BABETTE'S FEAST is a full plate for the heart.

A Feast for Your Eyes, and Your Heart........2007-06-14

This movie is a masterpiece. Babette's Feast shows the story of love for: God, food, family, friends, and growth. It's literally a feast for your eyes, and your heart. Bravo!

I first watched this movie with the subtitles. I loved it so much, I had to watch it again in dubbed English.

Average customer rating:

Jane's body is the star!
Barbarella
Expired Cheese
"Your mission Barbarella: find Durand-Durand."
Barbarella is the Unchallenged Queen of the Galaxy

Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy
Starring: Jane Fonda , John Phillip Law , Anita Pallenberg , Milo O'Shea , and Marcel Marceau
Director: Roger Vadim
Manufacturer: Paramount
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ASIN: B00000IREA
Release Date: 1999-06-22

Amazon.com essential video

Jane Fonda's memorable, zero-gravity striptease during the opening credits of this 1968 Roger Vadim movie is the closest the film comes to a liberated marriage of wit and sex. Based on a French comic strip, the story concerns the adventures of a 41st-century woman, who pretty much gets it on with whomever asks. The sci-fi sets were pretty interesting at the time, though they look rather anachronistic now. Appreciated today mostly as a camp classic, the movie is actually more trying than anything else. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Jane's body is the star!.......2007-07-31

If you are expecting a great film, then leave this one alone. If you want to see Jane Fonda, in her prime, in various states of undress, then you are in luck!
The 'strip tease' at the start of the film is infamous. If you use your 'pause' and 'stop' buttons on the DVD, you CAN see Jane's breasts a few times.
Every costume Jane wears shows off her great body. Twice, her costume is torn up, and we see even more skin!
My favorite scene is "The Excessive Machine". Jane is put in this 'organ' and stripped of her costume. The machine is meant to pleasure you to death. Jane Fonda is great here. She sells this scene for all it's worth. Soon, she is covered in sweat, and we get many close-ups of her face, as she gives in to the pleasure. Jane then gives what may be the best orgasm ever in a PG film.
Again, the plot, and special effects are not that good. But Jane Fonda's body ROCKS!

Barbarella.......2007-05-28

A fantastic sci-fi sexual experience! Totally cosmic and Jane Fonda is a very hot woman!!
Worth it!

Expired Cheese.......2007-05-25

I think "Barbarella" is best appreciated at a midnight showing with people shouting rude things at the screen. The flick is undermined by the lunkheaded direction of Roger Vadim. Did anybody explain to this guy that he was making camp? Also on display is some of the most garish art direction ever. Austin Powers would vomit. I did dig the shag carpeting in Barb's spaceship, though. What redeems this enterprise is the acting, not least Jane Fonda in the title role. Jane, consummate actress that she is, did understand the tongue-in-cheek aspects of the film. Jane's striptease over the opening credits is something to write home about. Good contributions are also given by David Hemings, Milo O'Shea, Anita Pallenberg, and Ugo Tognazzi. Venture into this flick for it's curiousity value and nothing else.

"Your mission Barbarella: find Durand-Durand.".......2007-04-09

Jane Fonda stars in a title role of this famous cult sci-fi sex comedy as a space beauty in the variety of skimpy outfits. She looks great - all male (and female) creatures on a strange planet SoGo (Sodom and Gomorra?) drooled over her.

"Barbarella" (1968) directed by then Fonda's husband, Roger Vadim may be the silliest, the cheesiest, the campiest movie ever made but it is certainly one of the most entertaining comedies I've seen and is Fun with the capital "F". It is also very "pretty - pretty".

So, what do we have here? In the year 40.000, Barbarella "the Queen of the Galaxy" is sent by the President of Earth in search of the disappeared scientist named Durand Durand (finally I learned how the band got its name.) While looking for him, her space ship crashes on the planet Sogo where she encounters Pygar the Blind Angel (yes the man with the wings), Professor Ping - kind scientist (the celebrated and the finest mime artist Marcel Marceau in the rare speaking role), Dildano (David Hemmings of "Blowup") - the revolutionary who plots to overthrow the evil empire, Marcan - the barbarian who introduces Barbarella to an old fashioned love making (the advanced one is achieved by taking a pill and holding hands - welcome to the brave new world!) and The Great Tyrant - dangerous and very attractive ruler of Sogo (Anita Pallenberg, the object of Mick's, Brian's and Keith's desire and Mrs. Keith Richard at the time) who calls Barbarella "pretty-pretty" and invites her to come and play.

Fonda is quite good as a naive Barbarella and sometimes there is such an ironic and intelligent smile on her face that it should not surprise you what a fine actress she would eventually become.

Barbarella is the Unchallenged Queen of the Galaxy.......2007-03-18

After watching Jane Fonda as "Barbarella" I have nothing negative to say about her anymore.

Average customer rating:

The Best of Youth
The Best of Youth...
poor dvd formatting
An Excellent Journey
ignore the snide amazon praise

The Best of Youth
Starring: Luigi Lo Cascio , Alessio Boni , Adriana Asti , Sonia Bergamasco , and Fabrizio Gifuni
Director: Marco Tullio Giordana
Manufacturer: Miramax
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ASIN: B000C1VB8M
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Amazon.com

368 minutes of Italian TV miniseries--yes, that is indeed six hours' worth--comes unspooling in The Best of Youth, a stirring and beautiful experience. The film needs its running time to immerse us in the world of the Carati family from 1966 to near the present day. Two brothers are the primary focus: Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio), a responsible medical student, and Matteo (Alessio Boni), a troubled soldier. After a youthful road trip, their paths diverge, but each is carried along by the changing, sometimes violent, political weather of Italy in the 1970s and '80s. Life issues surge and ebb, with the increasing sense that Matteo is a lost soul, beyond even the help of the luminous woman (unforgettable Maya Sansa) who comes into his life.

Truth be told, The Best of Youth has some of the limitations of made-for-TV fare, from the simplicity of its themes to its cheap-looking makeup. (Those beards are not convincing.) But by the time you've spent a couple of hours with these characters, you're deeply invested in their joys and sorrows. At that point the measured pace begins to feel like the rhythm of life, and the people onscreen a mirror of ourselves. It's probably true that the cultural references and specific historic events will have more resonance for Italians than other viewers, but everything translates. Director Marco Tullo Giordana maintains the tone by allowing details to accumulate, and the location shooting, including a stint at the cinematically rich island of Stromboli, is consistently rich (his sampling of the music from Jules and Jim feels like a shortcut somehow, but who could argue that the music isn't perfectly in key with the melancholy mood?). The final act delivers an emotional coup de grace that has been thoroughly earned. And you'll feel like you earned it, too, having spent six hours with this moving film. --Robert Horton

Description

In the award-winning epic tradition of THE GODFATHER and COLD MOUNTAIN, THE BEST OF YOUTH has wowed critics and earned honors at numerous film festivals worldwide. As Italy explodes in an era of social unrest, a single ill-fated incident sends the lives of equally idealistic brothers Nicola and Matteo Carati careening in opposite directions. Divided by politics but bonded by blood, the next 40 years will find the brothers' divergent paths intersecting through some of the most tumultuous events in recent history! A stunning cinematic achievement, you don't want to miss this incredible motion picture!

Customer Reviews:

The Best of Youth.......2007-08-23

An absolutely beautiful movie, in every way. Spanning a period of some 40 years and weaving the social and political history of Italy into the lives of the main characters, it does it with splendid acting, cinematography, and writing. The music, evocative of the particular time periods of the movie, always enhances the scene in subtle but understated ways. The movie has humor and tragedy but never becomes maudlin or melodramatic, as American films often do.

If you've been to Italy, you will appreciate the wonderful scenes of Sicily, Rome, Turin, and Florence.

For anyone who appreciates fine Italian films, this is certainly one of them.

The Best of Youth..........2007-08-02

1. I caught this flick on cable and was stunned at it's running time (368 minutes = 6 hours and 8 minutes).
2. I didn't move for 6 hours
3. I only found out later that it was an Italian mini-series
4. My only complaint: I wish the could have gotten it on one disc (I wonder what they did on cable?)
5. The story: Wow! (You really do get involved with the family)
6. Try to see it for yourself - I'm getting a copy
7. This is some of the best viewing on cable that I've seen in a long time!
8. My rating: five stars

poor dvd formatting.......2007-07-30

This comment concerns not the film but the formatting of the dvd, a matter of interest to anyone who might want to use scenes from the film in an Italian language or culture course. Its simplified subject matter, clear sentiments, and clear language make it a good choice for a classroom, but the scene selection options on this dvd seem arbitrary and there are too few of them. It's maddening to try to scan backward or forward to isolate specific moments and scenes.

An Excellent Journey.......2007-07-25

I stumbled on this film at 11:30PM last night on one of my cable stations and was TRANSFIXED for next the SIX hours as it captivated not only my attention but my heart.

What a saga...what interesting characters and portrayals...everyone casted was suberb and provided an endearing and haunting glimpse into the saga of this family over time.

I am exhausted from the unexpected all nighter...but first thing set out to own this film on DVD and watch it again, and again to explore even more of the nuances. Watch it, share it, own it.....it is a film masterpiece.

ignore the snide amazon praise.......2007-06-21

This is a remarkable piece of cinematic work, as many others have attested. I've seen it three times ... very moving. And the beards look fine to me.

Average customer rating:

Typical for this director
I wanted to like it
Beautlful and loving. How do you expect them to show her interior life. Ecstacy isn't easy to portray.
A Look at Therese
Insider view of the growth of a saint

Therese
Starring: Lindsay Younce
Manufacturer: Xenon
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ASIN: B000BDGVT0
Release Date: 2006-02-14

Description

THÉRÈSE tells the story of a young girl who fell in love with Jesus Christ and demonstrated a path of spirituality through the actions of unconditional love, human compassion, and her "Little Way" to the modern world. This inspiring true story is told through simple narrative which invites the audience to contemplate and apply such spirituality in their own modern lives, regardless of one's own faith or religious background.

Customer Reviews:

Typical for this director.......2007-09-05

First, let me say that I'm a practicing Catholic but I'm also a honest one. When I saw that this was going to be directed by Leonardo Defilippis, my first reaction was uh oh. Let's put it this way, he's no Steven Spielberg. His film on John of the Cross was so corny and amatuerish as to be hysterical. He hasn't gotten much better since then.

I wanted to like it.......2007-08-10

Alas, a juvenile script, amateur direction and porn-level acting about a remarkable woman worthy of infinitely more. I will presume it was made with love, but a lack of inspiration, know-how and funding.

Beautlful and loving. How do you expect them to show her interior life. Ecstacy isn't easy to portray........2007-07-24

This film was as true to the Saint as possible without being theological and going on and on in a ponderous way, which wasn't what Therese was about. The music was composed by a Carmelite Nun, given special permission to leave the convent for a week and her father directed the orchestra.The Canticle of Love is exquisite and I bought the CD just to listen to it. The acting was excellent, but yes it was a little stilted, but then have you ever been around nuns or holy people, they are very ofter formal and quite conservative in their behavoir and in their affections.Especially those in contemplative orders. They live so much on the interior. They are warm and loving buy highly disciplined, as was her family. And in their interactions, I doubt seriously if they were ever overly familar or disrespectful, but quite the opposite, overly respectful and very sweet and loving and respectful of each others privacy. Thus you have a film that modern society thinks impossible, but I think it's quite possible that people behaved that way, high souls are quite capable of loving sweetness and great discipline of character and action. I loved the music, the beauty and the acting, expecially of the father. I found this movie inspirational and dear and I would imagine it would be very hard to do more, since the major part of her life was spent inside with God and Jesus, and how can you access ecstacy, and how can you portray, bliss and interior joy. It's not possible for a human unless they have experienced it themselves, and who but Saints have done this?So, I think they did a beautiful job.

A Look at Therese.......2007-07-18

This movie is wonderful! I enjoyed every moment of it. I am familiar with the Carmelites. The movie portrayed her exactly as we read about her in her biographies. I would recommend this movie very highly.

Insider view of the growth of a saint.......2007-06-09

In this true story we are introduced to a family in which all the daughters can't wait to become Carmelite nuns. We don't often hear of such families these days. One of the nuns is an unbearably precious, loving, dutiful child, who is taught to keep a diary. The child becomes very sick with tuberculosis and dies of it. And everyone who knew her is transformed by knowing her.
After the events of the film, the diary becomes a best seller, and the girl is canonized in 1925. I cannot imagine a better way to put this story on film than the way this company and cast have done it. For viewers who have no clue as to the way of life in a Carmelite convent, this will be an eye-opener as well.

Average customer rating:

Grotesque And Beautiful
Senior Pasolini, I think I am ready for your movie now
Not what it seems
A sweet transfixion
wow, that really sucked.

Sweet Movie (Criterion Collection)
Starring: Carole Laure , Pierre Clémenti , Anna Prucnal , Sami Frey , and Jane Mallett
Director: Dusan Makavejev
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000OPPAEM
Release Date: 2007-06-19

Description

Pushing his themes of sexual liberation to their boiling point, Yugoslavian art-house provocateur Dusan Makavejev followed his international sensation WR: Mysteries of the Organism with this full-throated shriek in the face of bourgeois complacency and movie watching. Sweet Movie tackles the limits of personal and political freedom with kaleidoscopic feverishness, shuttling viewers from a gynecological beauty pageant to a grotesque food orgy with scatological, taboo-shattering glee. With its lewd abandon and sketch-comedy perversity, Sweet Movie became both a cult staple and an exemplar of the envelope pushing of 1970s cinema.

Customer Reviews:

Grotesque And Beautiful.......2007-09-10

There is nothing I can say about this film that it can't say for itself. Some moments are disturbing (the lady basically exposing herself and deflowering young boys in a boat full of candy, which I still am astonished how illegal it should have been), some moments are depressing (our heroine weeping with a penis against her face as the hoard of people around her are behaving like scat-a-holic animals), some moments are comical (having gotten 'stuck together like dogs' after copulating on the Eiffel Tower, the couple have to be brought to some sort of kitchen to be seperated), and some moments are just plain weird (she's stuffed into a suitcase, for real, and sent to paris). Actually the whole movie was weird, and at many times, cryptic. I'm still unsure of the true 'point' if there even was one. But I know it has something to do with tyranny, communism, self indulgence, and the perversion of mankind. (?) Either way, it's an AWESOME movie, visually beautiful, grimly erotic, emotionally disturbing, and most importantly, ARTISTIC AS HELL. I'll be watching it again and again till I figure out what it's really about.

Senior Pasolini, I think I am ready for your movie now.......2007-08-29

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

What is it - a satire on social and sexual politics, government sponsored genocide, democracy for Eastern Europe and the stereotypes of the times? Or non-connected collection of shocking images that include "virgin beauty contest" the winner of which would marry a billionaire, Mr. Kapital (John Vernon) with golden penis; an intercourse in Eiffel Tour that ends up with a spasm; a dinner party with the members of Viennese commune Friedrichshof, a revolutionary/ siren /vampire, Anna Planeta who sails a riverboat with a huge Karl Marx head on its bow on the canals of Amsterdam and lures men and young boys aboard with her seductive songs for sex, candies, and death? "Sweet Movie" is all that and it shocks you even more, and I think it is a good and deep movie. It is extremely disturbing and it really tests its viewers on how much and for how long they would endure watching some of very disgusting stuff but everything what happens on screen does make sense and does prove the writer/ director's many points. Actually, first hour or so is a wild and funny surreal black comedy/satire of which my most beloved filmmaker Don Luis Bunuel would be proud.

The two scenes closer to the end really push all possible envelopes. After I found out that the participants in the "commune" scene were actually the real members of Friedrichshof, the Viennese commune that had been founded and run by artist/filmmaker/painter Otto Meuhl, and everything we see is pretty much real, I was shocked even more. Dusan Makavejev explains in the interview on the Criterion disc who the people are and why they engage in the shocking activities. From what I understood, the acts of people urinating on each other, indulging in emetophilia, coprophilia, were the part of Wiener Aktionismus or Viennese Actionism, the Art movement which is remembered for the willful transgressiveness of its naked bodies, destructiveness and violence. Makavejev added that what those people were doing to themselves and one another was also a part of the group therapy. Whatever it was, I had to fast-forward some of the scene.

The most disturbing and important scene in the movie (and it is often overlooked by the viewers and critics) is a real footage of the 1943 discovery of mass graves at Katyn Forest by Germany, after its armed forces had occupied the big European part of the former USSR in 1941.

From Wikipedia: "The term "Katyn massacre" originally referred to the massacre, at Katyn Forest near villages of Katyn and Gnezdovo (about 12 miles (19 km) west of Smolensk, Russia), of Polish military officers confined at the Kozelsk prisoner-of-war camp in 1940. Estimates of the number of executed persons ranges from 15,000 to 21,768."

The Soviet Union continued to deny responsibility for the massacres until 1990, when Mikhail Gorbachev in his attempt to openness, acknowledged that the NKVD (People Committee of Internal Affairs, later known as KGB - Committee of State Security) secret police had in fact committed the massacres and the subsequent cover-up. The Russian government has admitted Soviet responsibility for the massacres, although it does not classify them as war crimes or as acts of genocide. Including the footage of the war crimes of such scale that were completely unknown to the West during the high point of the Cold War, and trying to get attention to those crimes and acknowledge their victims, was a courageous act from Makavejev. As he said in the end of his interview - as long as we remember the ones who died, they are not dead.

Reading the reviews and comments about "Sweet Movie", I realized that some posters were puzzled and somehow confused with the "revolutionary" part of the story that involves Anna Planeta and her killing boat. Since I also "came in from the Cold", like Dusan Makavejev did, his many references to the history of Eastern Europe of the last century, including two World Wars, and Revolutions, make a lot of sense to me. For those who want to learn more, I highly recommend watching featurette with the film scholar Dina Lordanova. This 20 minutes long documentary may help you to understand better what is behind all the shocking imagery and what Makavejev wanted to say. I already mentioned interview from 2006 with the director/writer which is very interesting. The last featurette presents Anna Prucnal who talks about the impact "Sweet Movie" made in her life and she sings the song "The Urchins Down In the Meadow" in Italian (it is performed in Greek in the movie during the Katyn Forest scene). Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote the Italian lyrics for the song.

Senior Pasolini, I think I am ready for your movie now.

Not what it seems.......2007-08-14

This movie is not as great or as shocking as billed. Apart from that, the movie really suffers from being poorly edited. It is hard to follow what's going on.

A sweet transfixion.......2007-08-06

This is the ultimate "art" film. It will intentionally toy with your emotions while rattling every corner of your inner senses and perceptions. I've never seen a movie so quick to change gears, it will hit you with the most bizarre erotic sequence or humorous moment and then BAMMM! blind side you with some completely devastating images.
As it drags you through the quagmire, it flashes lots of obvious statements about Soviet Communism and capitalism and probably lots of other stuff that went over my head. That's the beauty of great art films, you can understand and pull new things from them with each viewing.
This obviously won't appeal to many, there are some shocking and confusing moments that will likely leave you bewildered. This film is quite an experience.

wow, that really sucked........2007-07-26

first, a little about me. i love things that are weird, original, creative, sexually explicit, subversive, and substantive.

i was led to believe (from other amazon reviews) that Sweet Movie was worth seeing, if not owning. well, i bought it and was completely bored and unsatisfied. sure, there were a couple neat subtleties in that hour and a half, but mostly it was vague, nonsensical twaddle (with annoying singing)!

why this is a Criterion Collection film, i have no idea. i own a number of Criterion movies and really enjoy them, but this is extremely crappy.

Darrick

Average customer rating:

NOT BAD THRILLER! LOOKS LIKE A TV MOVIE!
Great movie!
Not always believable, derivative, but fun to watch
Weak, Implausible Plot But Brilliant Directing
beware of nannies humming "Poor Wandering One"...

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Starring: Annabella Sciorra , Rebecca De Mornay , Matt McCoy , Ernie Hudson , and Julianne Moore
Director: Curtis Hanson
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305213305
Release Date: 1998-12-08

Amazon.com

A potboiler featuring a demented caretaker and a seemingly hapless suburban family, this is The Nanny of the 1990s. However, it is much more predictable than that 1965 Bette Davis psychodrama, and more graphic. It works only because Rebecca De Mornay makes us intensely uncomfortable as the disturbed au pair who wants to take care of much more than her employer's well-being.

Annabella Sciorra plays the perfect mother of a flawless family. Her obstetrician, however, is less than wonderful, having enjoyed her examination much more than he should have. When she files sexual harassment charges against the repugnant doctor, he loses face--literally--after shooting himself in the head. Several months later, an ideal nanny shows up at her home. You guessed it--she's the doc's widow.

The movie follows a tried and true formula, with the audience in on everything. However, the story does surprise us in intense and intimate ways. The visit to the obstetrician is one of the creepiest moments in the film. You definitely hear the voice of writer Amanda Silver in a plot concerned with the vulnerabilities of a family, a newborn, a marriage.

Since we know so much up front, there is an overall lack of inventiveness in the plot machinations. It may not jolt us, but De Mornay does. It's unsettling to watch someone who appears so attractive and who behaves so kindly suddenly reveal hideous psychopathic tendencies. Restraining herself from going over the top, she instead oozes such malevolence you'll want to shudder. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Description

Get ready for edge-of-your-seat excitement with the hit that rocked the nation! In this entertaining thriller, Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra -- THE HARD WAY, INTERNAL AFFAIRS) has the perfect life and family -- and exactly what Petyon Flanders (Rebecca De Mornay -- RISKY BUSINESS) desires desperately. But once Peyton deceptively becomes the Bartels' live-in housekeeper, how far will she really go when the life she wants belongs to someone else? From absorbing start to heart-stopping finish, this critically acclaimed winner delivers a lively mix of thrills, chills, and surprises equaling 100% fun!

Customer Reviews:

NOT BAD THRILLER! LOOKS LIKE A TV MOVIE!.......2007-08-16

This movie always reminded me of one of those life channel TV movies. It is however, well constructed and there are some good performances, especially De Mornay as the psycho nanny from H E L L ! It's kind of predictable, but I thought it did keep my interest. The DVD transfer looks good.

Great movie!.......2007-06-16

Rebecca is good in it and pretty, and the little girl is the cutest, most adorable personality of a child actor I've ever seen. She is SO innocent. She is just ADORABLE.

Not always believable, derivative, but fun to watch.......2007-06-12

I was never a fan of the soap opera-ish/Lifetime channel-type movies, but I've always found 1992's "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" a fun movie to watch, but unrealistic in a few areas. The Bartel's naivete was too far-fetched, and they took way too long (to be believable) to connect the dots about Peyton's true intentions. At least Claire figured it out in a forgivable time frame, although she should've suspected that Peyton had framed Solomon before he was fired, because the circumstances should've looked very suspicious to Claire that this was the case. And Michael was the dimmest bulb of all. He thought the sun rose and set on Peyton until almost the very end of the movie, even after Peyton tried to seduce him in the kitchen, when Claire wasn't home.

I've always thought that Rebecca DeMornay's performance in this movie was overrated. She gave a solid performance, but nothing that droves of other actresses couldn't have duplicated. I mean, if you compare DeMornay's performance in this movie to Glenn Close's in "Fatal Attraction," Demornay's performance looks mediocre. And THTRTC was also clearly inspired by "Fatal Attraction."

But I don't mean to bash this movie too much. I still enjoyed it very much. You just have to put its flaws aside while watching.

Weak, Implausible Plot But Brilliant Directing.......2007-06-04

A pregnant woman files sexual harassment charges against her repugnant gynae and he commits suicide. Several months later, the woman gives birth and an ideal nanny shows up at her home. You guessed it. She's the dead gynae's widow seeking revenge.

Such a plot would normally insult any viewer's intelligence. How does this newcomer gain trust and affection from this family at the mother's expense may be difficult to believe, but the pace and the dramatic turn of events can keep the viewer glued to his/her seat.

Definitely can't hold a candle to Fatal Attraction, but overall, it's still a watchable thriller.

beware of nannies humming "Poor Wandering One"..........2007-04-09

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE was one of the most popular edge-of-your-seat thrillers of the 1990s. It taps into the suburban nightmare of a deranged nanny who tries to 'steal' a family.

Young housewife Claire Bartel (played by Annabella Sciorra) is thrust into a nightmare situation when her new doctor's medical procedures border on indecent assault. She files a complaint, and opens the way for other women to speak up about his malpractice. Shortly before he's due in court to explain his actions, he commits suicide, and Claire resumes her life.

Enter Peyton Flanders (played with chilling conviction by Rebecca DeMornay). She's a young nanny with no job, and Claire's busy raising two small children whilst building a new greenhouse. The situation couldn't be more perfect...or more sinister. While Peyton worms her way into the Bartel household, she hides a secret plan of revenge to bump Claire out of the family portrait for good!

Sciorra and DeMornay duke it out in grand style in THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, which features enough sickening suspense and fabulous thrills to hook even the most remote audience. Co-starring Matt McCoy, Madeline Zima (TV's "The Nanny"), Ernie Hudson (TV's "Oz"), and Julianne Moore ("The Hours", "Far from Heaven").

The DVD offers no extras, but the widescreen transfer looks a treat.

Average customer rating:

my all-time favorite story of childhood -
beautiful film about childhood memories.......
you guys are awsome
Idyll of Boyhood
Lavish, Beautiful, and Sentimental

My Father's Glory
Starring: Philippe Caubère , Nathalie Roussel , Didier Pain , Thérèse Liotard , and Julien Ciamaca
Director: Yves Robert
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006I04J
Release Date: 2002-11-05

Amazon.com

Among the bounteous literary and cinematic legacy of Marcel Pagnol, poet laureate of Provence, is a two-volume memoir, My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle. The enormous success of Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring (Claude Berri's 1986 remakes of two Pagnol films from the '50s) encouraged Yves Robert to shoot another Pagnol diptych. Like Garlaban, the great bluff overhanging Pagnol's childhood home, the result is "less than a mountain, much more than a hill." The first part, My Father's Glory, spans Marcel's early years from infancy to preteen. The film keeps faith with its juvenile subject, leaping from one quirky detail of landscape, character, or biography to the next--whatever has caught the child's fancy and lingered in the adult narrator's memory. This makes for episodic storytelling, but it's an appropriate way to reflect childhood experience, and it doesn't prevent Robert from developing loving portraits of Pagnol's nearest and dearest, or paying luminous tribute to the Provençal countryside Pagnol loved. You can almost feel the sunshine, smell the wild thyme. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

Based on the best-selling memoirs of French novelist/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, this captivating recollection of a young boy's life in turn-of-the-century South of France is an intelligent, emotionallyrealistic account of a more idyllic time. A glorious celebration of family, this is one of the most beguiling films since charm went out of fashion (Time)! Among the intoxicating hills of rustic Bastide Neuve, young Marcel and his family experience an unforgettable summer holiday. Marcel,mystified by nature, eagerly turns to his father, Joseph, for an education on the ways of the wild.But Joseph comes up short in Marcel's eyes when cantankerous Uncle Julesan experienced woodsmanproves to be far more knowledgeable. To redeem himself, Joseph challenges Jules to a hunting matchto prove once and for all that he is not only the patriarch but a father who deserves respect.

Customer Reviews:

my all-time favorite story of childhood -.......2007-04-23

this isn't sappy or childish in any way - and it is profoundly affecting in how it shows life as it should be, and very easily Could Be. for those of us who did not have a precious and protected childhood, this is a chance to see what that might be like. this was very renewing for me to watch, at a time where life had lost its sweetness for me. i can't imagine anyone who would not love the time spent seeing this movie, again and again. this would make a great baby gift or holiday present for a young family -

beautiful film about childhood memories..............2007-02-10

My Father's Glory is, quite simply, a marvelous story about the simple (and profound) memories of childhood. This film is an adaptation of the memoirs of great, Provence-based writer Marcel Pagnol. Marcel (Julien Ciamaca)has two wonderful and loving parents, school teacher Joseph (Philippe Caubere) and seamstress Augustine (Nathalie Roussel). Marcel's early recollections of childhood are, both, heartwarming and tender. He remembers taking many walks with his Tante (Aunt) Rose (Therese Liotard) in the park, where Rose has a chance encounter with her future husband, Marcel's Uncle Jules (Didier Pan). He also remembers the arrival of his younger brother, Paul (Victorien Delamare), his companion and friend in many of life's adventures. This story also recounts the family's summer trip to the country (this ties into the significance of the title, but I won't ruin it for you).

At this day and age, where filmmaking runs rampant with cynicism and darkness, My Father's Glory is a refreshing alternative. This is a joy to watch.....it makes you feel happy to be alive.

you guys are awsome.......2006-04-11

THIS IS THE BEST SITE TO FIND THE MOVIES I REALLY WANT AND LIKE YOU GUYS HAVE HELPED ME OUT WITH HAVING THE STUFF I OREDRED AND ARE GENERLLY GOOD ABOUT GETTING THE STUFF FAIRLY QUICK. AND I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING HOME FOR UPS OR FEDEX KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. AND I'LL CONTINUE USEING AND TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT YOU FOLKS. BEST REGARDS SEAN S.

Idyll of Boyhood.......2003-11-26

This film is one of the most honest and beautiful accounts of family life and boyhood in the Auvergne and in Marseilles. The warmth of the Langudoc shimmers through the colours of the film as also through the lives of this happy family drenched in the browning sunlight in the last few years of the nineteenth and the first few of the twentieth century. This warmth is reflected also in the son Marcel's friendship with the young peasant boy, Lili, who modestly asks if he may keep the sailor suit which fits him. In a sense, this is a 'lower professional' childhood rather than the aristocratic one of the Tadzio in 'Death in Venice'. It is completed by a continuation film, equally wonderful, called 'Le Chateau de ma Mere' - and this, too is a must. The two together make for a wonderful winter evening and make you realise just what dross we are generally offered on the television.

Lavish, Beautiful, and Sentimental.......2003-07-07

My Father's Glory is the first of two films dealing with the novelist/filmmaker Marcel Pagnol's childhood. The film really does not have a plot. Marcel's parents Joseph, a beloved school teacher, and his mother Augustine, a dressmaker meet, fall in love, and get married. Soon afterward Marcel is born, as is his brother and sister. Marcel's family, along with his Uncle Jules and Aunt Rose, vacation in the South of France, and his father wins a hunting contest. On the surface there is not much to hold the film together. Yet the plot of the film is not what makes it so worthwhile. The film's chief strength is the way that each character is developed. We can see that Joseph is a good and descent man, a masterful teacher, and most especially a devoted father and husband. Young Marcel idolizes his father, and wants all others to realize the father's great qualities. The father is not perfect, and Marcel has questions about his doubt of all things religious. Marcel admires his mother as well, who is a nurturing and caring soul. The other major characters are both richly developed and varied.

The setting of the film is sumptuous. The small French town where Marcel and his family hail from seems realistic and the viewer can feel as if he/she has stepped back in time. The music adds to the film and perfectly blends with the scenes and characters.

Amazon.com

Prime Cut is a strangely likeable if decidedly oddball thriller from 1972. A happy collision of gangster genre grit (validated by Lee Marvin's granite-faced lead performance) with a strain of shameless (though shrewd) exploitation not unfamiliar to screenwriter Robert Dillon (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), plus the kinetic, semi-documentary wit of director Michael Ritchie (The Candidate) makes Prime Cut both a straightforward noir and a satire of itself. Marvin plays Nick, an aging enforcer for the Chicago mob, sent to Kansas City to deal with a ruthless cattle baron (Gene Hackman) who owes a half-million to Windy City racketeers. Hackman's character (inexplicably named Mary Ann), dismissive of old-guard crime chieftains, has set up his own heartland empire guarded by a weird contingent of blond, lookalike young men with rifles. Not only does he render the bodies of his enemies into sausage meat, Mary Ann is making a fortune trafficking in naked, enslaved young women. One of the latter, played by Sissy Spacek (in her film debut), falls under the protection of Nick, who sets about taking Mary Ann down. Ritchie's highly energized, absurdist scenes (e.g., a gunfight in an endless field of sunflowers) are nicely counterpointed by Marvin's smooth anti-heroics and the self-conscious cheesiness of the sex slave angle. --Tom Keogh

Description

In PRIME CUT, a Chicago mob enforcer (Marvin) is sent to Kansas City to settle a debt with a man called Mary Ann (Hackman) who sells women as sex slaves

Customer Reviews:

Lee Marvin V Gene Hackman.......2007-07-17

This is a rarely seen movie which basically is a showcase for the great acting of Hackman and Marvin - stoic Marvin taking on out of control pig farmer and sausage maker Hackman in a battle of wills with bizarre overtones.
You have to see Hackman at the end in the slaughter house to really believe it - a cacophony of screaming pigs
being the backdrop to Hackman's demise.

Loking Yummy.......2007-04-28

This movie is well worth watching if for no other reason than the first 2 scenes with Sissy Spacek, the first in the barn, laying on the straw, in which she displays all of her feminine beauty, including her beautifully shaped breasts along with her beaver. Second scene includes her emerging from her hotel bed, fully nude, as she then tries on a new dress that Marvin hes bought for her. She is then seen being escorted by Marvin to the hotel retaurant attired in a see through dress, no bra, again revealing those perfect boobs. Two rather silly things about the latter two scenes. Sissy is naked in bed and Marvin is casually looking at her, apparently interested only in the cigar he is smoking. The only way it makes sense is if it's the morning after and he has just spent most of the night balling her. The scene in the restaurant is ridiculous, he has rescued this helpless little gal from white slavery and now he is parading her among the people in the hotel with her wearing a see though dress.

Yummy!.......2007-02-13

SO many of the best films came out of the 70's and this is certainly one of them. Mobsters, sex slave trade, and most of all good ole' country cuisine make Prime Cut a real winner. The photography is beatiful, the direction very cunning, and the performances terrific. A real oddity in some ways, but a great twisted ride for those willing to take the chance on on older film.

Oldy but Goody.......2007-01-16

This a classic with great acting and some light nudity that was well before its time. Worth a watch or two just so you can brag about having seen it. Gene Hackman, Lee Marvin (at the top of their games) and a very young Sissy Spasick- need more be said?

The Bobster

Lee Marvin was the ultimate in professional torpedoes..........2007-01-11

In the Fifties, in "Violent Saturday," he made a little name as the killer who kept using a nose spray while terrorizing Sylvia Sidney and a bank... When Don Siegel made the second version of Hemingway's "The Killers," he was the cool, hard gunman who knew he was being paid to do the job and would definitely do it, come hell or high water...

His "Prime Cut," is a study in professionalism... Before that came "Point Blank," in which again he was the unstoppable force... But watch him in "Prime Cut." Notice the care with which he handles the tools of his trade, the cavalry rifle which takes to pieces and is lovingly kept in a neat executive-style case...

He is a "hit man," a torpedo who can be hired by the new breed of businessman-gangster... Pressured into a job against his will, he is sent to Kansas City to enforce his employer's demands for payment from another gangster-type... From then on, a trail of murder, malice and killing makes the screen run red... If the baddies all come to sticky ends - so does at least one innocent person, whom Marvin involves - as in the case of the truck-driver whose vehicle he hijacks...

"Prime Cut" is a tremendously exciting film, if one disregards its moral values... At the end Marvin, the paid killer who keeps the weapons of his trade in velvet-lined cases, has destroyed all the other villains... yet walks off into the sunset without a hint of retribution...

Average customer rating:

a beautiful and heartfelt sequel to LA GLOIRE DE MON PERE (MY FATHER'S GLORY).......
Very Appealing
Loved it
Time magazine described as "rapture" - which it very much is -
A movie that should be in everyone's library.

My Mother's Castle
Starring: Philippe Caubère , Nathalie Roussel , Didier Pain , Thérèse Liotard , and Julien Ciamaca
Director: Yves Robert
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video