My main reason for seeing 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' was Jeremy Irons, he has always been a great and seldom less than watchable actor, responsible for a lot of good to outstanding performances in some fine work. Even in lesser projects, and his career has been very hit and miss since 'Lolita', he was nearly always one of the redeeming qualities with one indefensible exception that won't be named.
Having heard mixed reviews on 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen', despite wanting to see it (other attractions being Morocco, the French language which is such a beautiful one and Claude Lelouch) part of me was uncertain as to how it would turn out. Watching it for myself, 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' may be a flawed film but on the most part personally found myself really enjoying it and the things that attracted me in seeing it in the first place did not disappoint. Can see why it may not work for everybody, but it is not hard at all to see what value a fair share of people have seen in it.
'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' as said has its drawbacks. It could have done with less subplots, a few of which unnecessary and complicate the storytelling at times. There could have been less characters too, enough of them bring fun and charm to the film but not all of them are particularly interesting and don't add much.
The pace meanders at times later on in the odd uneventful stretch, but most of the time actually the pace wasn't an issue for me.
Conversely, 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' is a treat to look at. The photography and gorgeous scenery and vistas make for some gorgeous images that won't be forgotten in a hurry. Absolutely loved the music too, lots of seductive and ethereal (others rousing) jazz numbers beautifully performed by the film's leading lady Patricia Kaas. Not only is it great music on its own, and so appealing to listen to, it proves to be important to the story and moves it forward, have not seen in a while a film to excel so well in doing that.
Regarding the script, it never was too heavy and it didn't take itself too seriously while also never being too silly. The humour put a smile on my face (much coming from Irons), parts left me moved without sinking too much into bathos, there is bagsful of charm throughout and felt my heart melting at the immensely charming romantic chemistry. Valentin's thief trickery is just delicious. Lelouch doesn't always achieve momentum in the story, but his direction of the actors and their interaction fares much better and even more so how he made the photography and scenery have the impact they do have without being self-indulgent. The pace was imperfect but was fine generally.
Good performances here too. Claudia Cardinale stands out of the supporting cast. Kaas is immensely charming, lovely to watch and she sings the songs absolutely beautifully and it is a voice that is not hard to recognise straightaway. She has lovely chemistry with a relatively against type Irons, who had a not so easy picnic making a prepostrous role on paper plausible on screen but he does that remarkably well and has great fun with it.
In summary, a nice film. 7/10
Having heard mixed reviews on 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen', despite wanting to see it (other attractions being Morocco, the French language which is such a beautiful one and Claude Lelouch) part of me was uncertain as to how it would turn out. Watching it for myself, 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' may be a flawed film but on the most part personally found myself really enjoying it and the things that attracted me in seeing it in the first place did not disappoint. Can see why it may not work for everybody, but it is not hard at all to see what value a fair share of people have seen in it.
'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' as said has its drawbacks. It could have done with less subplots, a few of which unnecessary and complicate the storytelling at times. There could have been less characters too, enough of them bring fun and charm to the film but not all of them are particularly interesting and don't add much.
The pace meanders at times later on in the odd uneventful stretch, but most of the time actually the pace wasn't an issue for me.
Conversely, 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' is a treat to look at. The photography and gorgeous scenery and vistas make for some gorgeous images that won't be forgotten in a hurry. Absolutely loved the music too, lots of seductive and ethereal (others rousing) jazz numbers beautifully performed by the film's leading lady Patricia Kaas. Not only is it great music on its own, and so appealing to listen to, it proves to be important to the story and moves it forward, have not seen in a while a film to excel so well in doing that.
Regarding the script, it never was too heavy and it didn't take itself too seriously while also never being too silly. The humour put a smile on my face (much coming from Irons), parts left me moved without sinking too much into bathos, there is bagsful of charm throughout and felt my heart melting at the immensely charming romantic chemistry. Valentin's thief trickery is just delicious. Lelouch doesn't always achieve momentum in the story, but his direction of the actors and their interaction fares much better and even more so how he made the photography and scenery have the impact they do have without being self-indulgent. The pace was imperfect but was fine generally.
Good performances here too. Claudia Cardinale stands out of the supporting cast. Kaas is immensely charming, lovely to watch and she sings the songs absolutely beautifully and it is a voice that is not hard to recognise straightaway. She has lovely chemistry with a relatively against type Irons, who had a not so easy picnic making a prepostrous role on paper plausible on screen but he does that remarkably well and has great fun with it.
In summary, a nice film. 7/10