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Amateur (1994)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Hal Hartley (writer)
Release Date:
19 May 1995 (USA)
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Tagline:
Accountancy, Murder, Amnesia, Torture, Ecstasy, Understanding, Redemption
Plot:
Isabelle is an ex-nun waiting for her special mission from God. In the meantime, she is making a living writing pornography...
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Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 win
&
2 nominations
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NewsDesk:
User Comments:
I could live in a movie like this
more (32 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Isabelle Huppert | ... | Isabelle |
 | Martin Donovan | ... | Thomas Ludens |
 | Elina Löwensohn | ... | Sofia Ludens |
| Damian Young | ... | Edward, Jaque's Accountant |
 | Chuck Montgomery | ... | Jan, Jaque's Goon |
| Dave Simonds | ... | Kurt, Jaque's Goon |
 | Pamela Stewart | ... | Officer Patsy Melville |
 | Erica Gimpel | ... | Irate Woman |
| Jan Leslie Harding | ... | Waitress |
| Terry Alexander | ... | Frank, the Cook |
 | Holt McCallany | ... | Usher |
| Hugh Palmer | ... | Warren |
 | Michael Imperioli | ... | Doorman at Club |
| Angel Caban | ... | Detective |
| Emmanuel Xuereb | ... | Bartender |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
105 min
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Australia:M |
Finland:K-16 |
Norway:15 |
Spain:18 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:15 |
USA:R |
Iceland:12 (original rating) |
Iceland:16 (re-rating)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Isabelle Huppert got the lead role by writing to the director and begging for a part in his next film.
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Movie Connections:
References Bande à part (1964)
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Having seen and loved 'Trust' a few months ago, I jumped at the opportunity to see another film by the poorly-distributed (in the UK, at least) writer/director Hal Hartley when I saw it in the late-night TV listings. And did it disappoint? Of course it didn't! Some directors you get instinctively and some you don't. Hartley and I clicked straight away, so apologies in advance if this review becomes overly-fawning…
Martin Donovan wakes up in the street and is unable to remember anything about himself. In other words, he has amnesia. He stumbles into a café, where smut authoress and ex-nun Isabelle Huppert is working on her latest opus and being hassled by the management for, among other things, sitting all day on one coffee and upsetting the other customers by reading her work out loud. It's a fantastic opening that introduces both of the main characters and sets up the comic/dark thriller duality of the film. Naturally, Huppert offers to help Donovan rediscover his identity, a plot device which, admittedly, has been done a thousand times before. Hartley's masterstroke, however, is not only in his skillful pacing and cunning deployment of dramatic tension, but the absurdity that inhabits the script, and the way he elaborates on it in such a way that allows the film to maintain its mystery while neatly sidestepping farcical territory.
Hartley's staging of scenes and direction of actors is very cine-literate and self aware. Make no mistake about it: his films will most likely be better received by people who have seen a lot of films. His dialogue is a joy to behold, especially when it's delivered by Martin Donovan. There's a beautiful rhythm to his speech, delivering it with pace, clarity and detachment, resembling a private eye's voice-over from a classic film noir, only transplanted into a (somewhat) normal conversation. I can't imagine another actor being capable of earnestly asking a teenage boy he's just met on a park bench if he finds the women in a porno magazine he's just been shown (by Donovan's character) attractive and making it so utterly, utterly hilarious without actually changing anything in his tone or expression. Donovan's deadpan cool adds layers to his character, particularly as Hartley reveals fragments of his past for us to piece together. This is a man who knows how to act intuitively, letting his eyes do most of the work. His facial expressions are, at times, priceless.
The real beauty of 'Amateur' is that, for a long time, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. There is nothing better in narrative film than absence of narrative! We're allowed time to get to know these characters, to see how they behave and relate to each other – almost half of the film – and, because the actors we're watching are so gifted, the script is so incredibly witty and the film is such a pleasure to look at – really, the setting, framing and every other aspect of the mise-en-scene is absolutely divine – it's almost a disappointment when the narrative picks up again! It's the kind of film you come across on TV when it's already half-way through, but you can't turn off. To draw a musical analogy, you could drop the needle at any point on the record and the music will be always be good. And by the way, the music in this film is fantastic!
It's really sad that Hartley rarely seems to be mentioned alongside the Tarantinos and the Soderberghs of the US indie revolution, because on the evidence of 'Amateur' and 'Trust', he's better than all of them. Want proof? I wrote a whole review without mentioning Isabelle Huppert's performance!