IMDb > Head in the Clouds (2004)
Head in the Clouds
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Overview

User Rating:
6.3/10   4,733 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 5% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
John Duigan
Writer:
John Duigan (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Head in the Clouds on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
30 October 2004 (Japan) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance | War more
Tagline:
Three lives. One destiny. more
Plot:
HEAD IN THE CLOUDS is a sweeping romantic drama set in 1930's England, Paris, and Spain. Gilda Bessé... more | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
6 wins & 5 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(5 articles)
Charlize Theron kisses a woman for charity
 (From AfterEllen.com. 23 October 2009, 7:45 PM, PDT)
'Twilight's' Rachelle Lefevre: Fans Carried Me Through
 (From Extra. 18 September 2009, 1:48 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
World War II from the European View more (58 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Charlize Theron ... Gilda Bessé

Penélope Cruz ... Mia

Stuart Townsend ... Guy Malyon

Thomas Kretschmann ... Major Franz Bietrich
Steven Berkoff ... Charles Bessé

David La Haye ... Lucien
Karine Vanasse ... Lisette

Gabriel Hogan ... Julian Elsworth
Peter Cockett ... Max
Élizabeth Chouvalidzé ... Fortune Teller
Jolyane Langlois ... Gilda, Age 14

Sophie Desmarais ... Élodie
Éloïsa Laflamme-Cervantes ... Julie
Ivan Vukov ... Undergraduate #1
Sebastian Bailey ... Undergraduate #2
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for sexuality, nudity and some violence.
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
Canada:121 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:132 min
Country:
UK | Canada
Language:
English | German | French | Spanish
Color:
Black and White | Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Certification:
Brazil:16 | Australia:MA | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Japan:R-15 | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 | USA:R | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating)
Filming Locations:
London, England, UK more
Company:
Remstar Productions more

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Gilda Bessé: Beauty, bravery, and brains. What a catch. You also have a nice willy, and I hope to dream about it. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in "Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou" (2008) more
Soundtrack:
La litanie à la vierge more

FAQ

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
26 out of 30 people found the following comment useful.
World War II from the European View, 27 March 2006
8/10
Author: gradyharp from United States

Writer and Director John Duigan has added to his cinematic stature with this recent film about the interrelated responses of three countries - England, France, Spain - to the early phases of WW II and in doing so gives some inadvertent insight into how the continent was so endangered by the little known bad boy Hitler in the years leading up to the horror of a second World War.

The title seems very appropriate - taken from the quip of 'Head in the clouds, Feet on the ground' - as the lead character Gilda (a radiantly beautiful Charlize Theron) seems to float above all of the reality of warring struggles in 1933, focusing her life on paramours, expensive clothes, and 'dangerous liaisons' with a varied assortment of men, all the while keeping a firm stance on needs of her strangely disjointed life. Indeed, the opening of the film finds Gilda in need of shelter from a night's fling with a Cambridge lover and she knocks on the door of a poor struggling Irish student Guy (Stuart Townsend), thus beginning a lasting affair that coasts through the entire story.

Guy eventually follows Gilda to Paris where she is a popular photographer living with her gallerist, but also living with her lesbian lover Mia (Penelope Cruz). Gilda, Guy, and Mia become a triptych and it is only the impact of the rise of fascism in Spain (Mia's home) that separates the ménage a trois: idealistic Guy and compassionate Mia are off to fight Franco while Gilda is left behind to admit to the encroaching threat of Nazis in France and enter into her own version of involvement.

How these three weather the war and resolve their varied degrees of complicity provides the film's finale. The cast is strong, the settings are gorgeous (in all three countries) as captured by cinematographer Paul Sarossy, and the musical score by Terry Frewer introduces a potential talent for film composition (while borrowing heavily from French cabaret songs, symphonic music by Edward Elgar, and pieces of Francis Poulenc). But the overall reason for enjoying this rather long film is the interplay of Theron, Townsend and Cruz in a variety of richly sensuous vignettes. Well worth watching. Grady Harp

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