"Les Ames Fortes" (Savage Souls) marks veteran Chilean director Raoul Ruiz's second cinematic outing with the work of one of France's literary greats. First it was Proust's "Time Regained". Now he tackles an adaptation of a novel by the lesser-known Jean Giono.
"Les Ames Fortes" was the closing movie at this year's Cannes film festival where it failed to impress. It seems to have had a similar effect on French audiences: The film has racked up not much more than 200,000 admissions to date.
It's easy to see why. This a faltering and confused tale based on the story of a young servant girl, Therese, played by supermodel Laetitia Casta.
At the age of 22, Therese runs away with her fiance, Firmin (Frederic Diefanthal), to a small town where she marries, finds work and settles down to start a family. While pregnant with her first child, she meets the rich and mysterious Madame Numance (Arielle Dombasle), who takes an immediate and inexplicable shine to the young girl, setting her and her husband up in a small house.
Not content with making the most of this unexpected good fortune, Firmin hatches a plan to defraud Madame Numance and her husband (John Malkovich). As a result, M. Numance has a heart attack and dies while Mme. Numance leaves the small town without a trace. Therese blames her husband and has him murdered. And there the movie ends with the audience left guessing as to what the future holds for the enigmatic Therese.
Although quite a simple tale, the movie manages to come across as disjointed and complicated. Only the relationship between Therese and Firmin seems clear cut. Madame Numance and Therese gaze endlessly into each other's eyes, but the sparse dialogue gives the audience no clue as to the real nature of their relationship. The rapport between the Numances is equally hazy, at times loving, at times sadistic, at times baffling.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect is why Ruiz chose Casta to play the lead role. She simply cannot hold her own in the presence of heavyweights like Malkovich and Dombasle. Where a more seasoned actresses could turn the lack of dialogue to her advantage, Casta merely draws into play a limited range of facial expressions.
Perhaps because of -- or in response to -- Casta's lack of experience, the others appear to overcompensate. Thus, Dombasle frequently slips into high drama, while Malkovich contrives to be more impenetrable and arch than usual.
Ruiz is known to be a director who defies convention and brings to his work more than a touch of the surreal. In this at least, "Savage Souls" can be said to be a success.
LES AMES FORTES
MDI Productions
Producers: Alain Mijani d'Inguimbert, Dimitri de Clercq, Marc de Lassus Saint-Genies
Director: Raoul Ruiz
Writers: Alexandre Astruc, Mitchell Hooper, Alain Majani d'Inguimbert, Alain
Neuhoff
Director of photography: Eric Gautier
Production designer: Bruno Beauge
Music: Jorge Arriagada
Costume designer: Marielle Robaut
Editor: Valerie Sarmiento
Stereo/color
Cast:
Therese: Laetitia Casta
Firmin: Frederic Diefenthal
Madame Numance: Arielle Dombasle
Monsieur Numance: John Malkovich
Reveillard: Charles Berling
Rampal: Johan Leysen
Minister: Christian Vadim
Mute man: Carlos Lopez III
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Les Ames Fortes" was the closing movie at this year's Cannes film festival where it failed to impress. It seems to have had a similar effect on French audiences: The film has racked up not much more than 200,000 admissions to date.
It's easy to see why. This a faltering and confused tale based on the story of a young servant girl, Therese, played by supermodel Laetitia Casta.
At the age of 22, Therese runs away with her fiance, Firmin (Frederic Diefanthal), to a small town where she marries, finds work and settles down to start a family. While pregnant with her first child, she meets the rich and mysterious Madame Numance (Arielle Dombasle), who takes an immediate and inexplicable shine to the young girl, setting her and her husband up in a small house.
Not content with making the most of this unexpected good fortune, Firmin hatches a plan to defraud Madame Numance and her husband (John Malkovich). As a result, M. Numance has a heart attack and dies while Mme. Numance leaves the small town without a trace. Therese blames her husband and has him murdered. And there the movie ends with the audience left guessing as to what the future holds for the enigmatic Therese.
Although quite a simple tale, the movie manages to come across as disjointed and complicated. Only the relationship between Therese and Firmin seems clear cut. Madame Numance and Therese gaze endlessly into each other's eyes, but the sparse dialogue gives the audience no clue as to the real nature of their relationship. The rapport between the Numances is equally hazy, at times loving, at times sadistic, at times baffling.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect is why Ruiz chose Casta to play the lead role. She simply cannot hold her own in the presence of heavyweights like Malkovich and Dombasle. Where a more seasoned actresses could turn the lack of dialogue to her advantage, Casta merely draws into play a limited range of facial expressions.
Perhaps because of -- or in response to -- Casta's lack of experience, the others appear to overcompensate. Thus, Dombasle frequently slips into high drama, while Malkovich contrives to be more impenetrable and arch than usual.
Ruiz is known to be a director who defies convention and brings to his work more than a touch of the surreal. In this at least, "Savage Souls" can be said to be a success.
LES AMES FORTES
MDI Productions
Producers: Alain Mijani d'Inguimbert, Dimitri de Clercq, Marc de Lassus Saint-Genies
Director: Raoul Ruiz
Writers: Alexandre Astruc, Mitchell Hooper, Alain Majani d'Inguimbert, Alain
Neuhoff
Director of photography: Eric Gautier
Production designer: Bruno Beauge
Music: Jorge Arriagada
Costume designer: Marielle Robaut
Editor: Valerie Sarmiento
Stereo/color
Cast:
Therese: Laetitia Casta
Firmin: Frederic Diefenthal
Madame Numance: Arielle Dombasle
Monsieur Numance: John Malkovich
Reveillard: Charles Berling
Rampal: Johan Leysen
Minister: Christian Vadim
Mute man: Carlos Lopez III
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Les Ames Fortes" (Savage Souls) marks veteran Chilean director Raoul Ruiz's second cinematic outing with the work of one of France's literary greats. First it was Proust's "Time Regained". Now he tackles an adaptation of a novel by the lesser-known Jean Giono.
"Les Ames Fortes" was the closing movie at this year's Cannes film festival where it failed to impress. It seems to have had a similar effect on French audiences: The film has racked up not much more than 200,000 admissions to date.
It's easy to see why. This a faltering and confused tale based on the story of a young servant girl, Therese, played by supermodel Laetitia Casta.
At the age of 22, Therese runs away with her fiance, Firmin (Frederic Diefanthal), to a small town where she marries, finds work and settles down to start a family. While pregnant with her first child, she meets the rich and mysterious Madame Numance (Arielle Dombasle), who takes an immediate and inexplicable shine to the young girl, setting her and her husband up in a small house.
Not content with making the most of this unexpected good fortune, Firmin hatches a plan to defraud Madame Numance and her husband (John Malkovich). As a result, M. Numance has a heart attack and dies while Mme. Numance leaves the small town without a trace. Therese blames her husband and has him murdered. And there the movie ends with the audience left guessing as to what the future holds for the enigmatic Therese.
Although quite a simple tale, the movie manages to come across as disjointed and complicated. Only the relationship between Therese and Firmin seems clear cut. Madame Numance and Therese gaze endlessly into each other's eyes, but the sparse dialogue gives the audience no clue as to the real nature of their relationship. The rapport between the Numances is equally hazy, at times loving, at times sadistic, at times baffling.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect is why Ruiz chose Casta to play the lead role. She simply cannot hold her own in the presence of heavyweights like Malkovich and Dombasle. Where a more seasoned actresses could turn the lack of dialogue to her advantage, Casta merely draws into play a limited range of facial expressions.
Perhaps because of -- or in response to -- Casta's lack of experience, the others appear to overcompensate. Thus, Dombasle frequently slips into high drama, while Malkovich contrives to be more impenetrable and arch than usual.
Ruiz is known to be a director who defies convention and brings to his work more than a touch of the surreal. In this at least, "Savage Souls" can be said to be a success.
LES AMES FORTES
MDI Productions
Producers: Alain Mijani d'Inguimbert, Dimitri de Clercq, Marc de Lassus Saint-Genies
Director: Raoul Ruiz
Writers: Alexandre Astruc, Mitchell Hooper, Alain Majani d'Inguimbert, Alain
Neuhoff
Director of photography: Eric Gautier
Production designer: Bruno Beauge
Music: Jorge Arriagada
Costume designer: Marielle Robaut
Editor: Valerie Sarmiento
Stereo/color
Cast:
Therese: Laetitia Casta
Firmin: Frederic Diefenthal
Madame Numance: Arielle Dombasle
Monsieur Numance: John Malkovich
Reveillard: Charles Berling
Rampal: Johan Leysen
Minister: Christian Vadim
Mute man: Carlos Lopez III
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Les Ames Fortes" was the closing movie at this year's Cannes film festival where it failed to impress. It seems to have had a similar effect on French audiences: The film has racked up not much more than 200,000 admissions to date.
It's easy to see why. This a faltering and confused tale based on the story of a young servant girl, Therese, played by supermodel Laetitia Casta.
At the age of 22, Therese runs away with her fiance, Firmin (Frederic Diefanthal), to a small town where she marries, finds work and settles down to start a family. While pregnant with her first child, she meets the rich and mysterious Madame Numance (Arielle Dombasle), who takes an immediate and inexplicable shine to the young girl, setting her and her husband up in a small house.
Not content with making the most of this unexpected good fortune, Firmin hatches a plan to defraud Madame Numance and her husband (John Malkovich). As a result, M. Numance has a heart attack and dies while Mme. Numance leaves the small town without a trace. Therese blames her husband and has him murdered. And there the movie ends with the audience left guessing as to what the future holds for the enigmatic Therese.
Although quite a simple tale, the movie manages to come across as disjointed and complicated. Only the relationship between Therese and Firmin seems clear cut. Madame Numance and Therese gaze endlessly into each other's eyes, but the sparse dialogue gives the audience no clue as to the real nature of their relationship. The rapport between the Numances is equally hazy, at times loving, at times sadistic, at times baffling.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect is why Ruiz chose Casta to play the lead role. She simply cannot hold her own in the presence of heavyweights like Malkovich and Dombasle. Where a more seasoned actresses could turn the lack of dialogue to her advantage, Casta merely draws into play a limited range of facial expressions.
Perhaps because of -- or in response to -- Casta's lack of experience, the others appear to overcompensate. Thus, Dombasle frequently slips into high drama, while Malkovich contrives to be more impenetrable and arch than usual.
Ruiz is known to be a director who defies convention and brings to his work more than a touch of the surreal. In this at least, "Savage Souls" can be said to be a success.
LES AMES FORTES
MDI Productions
Producers: Alain Mijani d'Inguimbert, Dimitri de Clercq, Marc de Lassus Saint-Genies
Director: Raoul Ruiz
Writers: Alexandre Astruc, Mitchell Hooper, Alain Majani d'Inguimbert, Alain
Neuhoff
Director of photography: Eric Gautier
Production designer: Bruno Beauge
Music: Jorge Arriagada
Costume designer: Marielle Robaut
Editor: Valerie Sarmiento
Stereo/color
Cast:
Therese: Laetitia Casta
Firmin: Frederic Diefenthal
Madame Numance: Arielle Dombasle
Monsieur Numance: John Malkovich
Reveillard: Charles Berling
Rampal: Johan Leysen
Minister: Christian Vadim
Mute man: Carlos Lopez III
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/27/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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