Head in the Clouds (2004)

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS is a sweeping romantic drama set in 1930's England, Paris, and Spain. Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee ... See full summary »

Director:

John Duigan

Writer:

John Duigan

Stars:

Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Penélope Cruz

6 wins & 5 nominations.

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

Storyline

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS is a sweeping romantic drama set in 1930's England, Paris, and Spain. Gilda Bessé shares her Paris apartment with an Irish schoolteacher, Guy Malyon, and Mia, a refugee from Spain. As the world drifts toward war, Gilda defiantly pursues her hedonistic lifestyle and her burgeoning career as a photographer. But Guy and Mia feel impelled to join the fight against fascism, and the three friends are separated - seemingly forever.

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Plot Keywords:

girl in panties | female frontal nudity | lingerie slip | women dancing together | striptease | 

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Taglines:

In a city of glamour at a time of decadence they met. An aristocrat, a soldier of conscience, and an entertainer. Together they shared a deep passion.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and some violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Russia] Sony Classics [United States]

Country:

UK Canada

Language:

English German French Spanish

Release Date:

30 October 2004 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Bulutlarin üzerinde

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$46,133 (USA) (17 September 2004)

Gross:

$398,179 (USA) (31 December 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Remstar Productions, Dakota Films, Spice Factory

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film opened on only ten screens in the United States and earned $46,133.

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Quotes

Julian Elsworth: [Guy and Gilda are on the pool table, naked under a blanket] What are you wearing under there?
Gilda Bessé: As it's your big day, I'm wearing my Birthday Suit in your honor.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou (2008)

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Soundtracks

Vous qui passez sans me voir
Music by Johnny Hess
Lyrics by Charles Trenet
Performed by Jean Sablon

User Reviews

World War II from the European View

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