Elegy

Kauneuden valta / Elegy - skönhetens makt. US (c) 2007 Lakeshore. D: Isabel Coixet. SC: Nicholas Meyer - based on the novel The Dying Animal (2001) by Philip Roth. DP: Jean-Claude Larrieu - 1,85:1 - color. LOC: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. CAST: Ben Kingsley (David Kepesh), Penélope Cruz (Consuela Castillo), Patricia Clarkson (Carolyn), Dennis Hopper (George O'Hearn), Deborah Harry (Amy O'Hearn), Peter Sarsgaard (Kenneth Kepesh). 108 min. A Future Film release with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by JS. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 5, Helsinki, 5 Jan 2009. - A digi-mastered look, not grating, as the film is based on close-ups and medium shots of people. - There are parallels here to The Human Stain: the male protagonist is a senior professor, and the female protagonist is a young woman who faces a crisis. The affair between the two is both profoundly fulfilling and deeply disturbing. The professor's breast fetish is not exaggerated in the movie, but Penélope Cruz's gorgeous charms are wonderfully displayed. Among other things, the film is a celebration of her beautiful naked breasts. For the female viewer, Ben Kingsley's naked body is in perfect shape, he could be 30 years old. - The professor has always been emotionally immature. One of the big themes of the story is that reaching maturity is still possible at an advanced age. - All performances are good. Patricia Clarkson is the professor's grown-up lover. Dennis Hopper and Deborah Harry are the couple who are his best friends. Peter Sarsgaard plays the perennially frustrated son.

Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski 2005)

Oliver Twist / Oliver Twist. FR/GB/CZ (c) 2005 Oliver Twist Productions LLP. P: Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Roman Polanski. D: Roman Polanski. SC: Ronald Harwood - based on the novel by Charles Dickens (1838). DP: Pawel Edelman - shot on Super 35mm - digital intermediate - 35mm print 2,35:1. PD: Allan Starski. M: Rachel Portman. ED: Hervé de Luze. Studio: Barrandov (Prague). CAST: Barney Clark (Oliver Twist), Ben Kingsley (Fagin), Jamie Foreman (Bill Sykes), Harry Eden (Artful Dodger), Leanne Rowe (Nancy), Edward Hardwicke (Mr. Brownlow), Ian McNeice (Mr. Limbkins), Mark Strong (Toby Crackit), Jeremy Swift (Mr. Bumble). 130 min. The NFI / Columbia Norway release print with Norwegian subtitles by Harald Ohrvik viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 7 Dec 2008. - A print without signs of wear, the image slightly too dark and soft. - Film Indexes Online synopsis: "Adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel. Young orphan Oliver Twist escapes from the workhouse and working for an undertaker and runs away to London. There he is taken under the wing of Fagin, who operates a gang of young thieves, and is taught to steal." - In Polanski's oeuvre, this can be seen as a companion piece to The Pianist: the ordeal of the protagonist, the survival against all odds. - In Ronald Harwood's oeuvre, this can be seen as a part of a trilogy with Ivan Denisovich, and The Pianist; all share similarities of imagery and situations of humiliation and terror. - Charles Dickens' second novel has been filmed some 20 times. David Lean's version (1948) is still superior. - Both Lean and Polanski were inspired visually by Gustave Doré's London: A Pilgrimage (1872). - The lush Romantic score by Rachel Portman can be compared with the composers of Hollywood's Golden Era. - Polanski's special emphasis is on the terror of the 10-year old protagonist, with which he could identify, having been a Holocaust fugitive in Nazi-occupied Poland at the same age. - Another special emphasis is Fagin's death row agony. No clue to Fagin's Jewishness.