A married American couple goes to the San Sebastian Festival and gets caught up in the magic of the event, the beauty and charm of the city, and the fantasy of movies.A married American couple goes to the San Sebastian Festival and gets caught up in the magic of the event, the beauty and charm of the city, and the fantasy of movies.A married American couple goes to the San Sebastian Festival and gets caught up in the magic of the event, the beauty and charm of the city, and the fantasy of movies.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe scene in which Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957) chess game was recreated was filmed on the same beach where the Dragonstone landing of Game of Thrones (2011) was filmed. Christoph Waltz, dressed in a heavy black robe withstood high temperatures in the sun (40 degrees Celsius) on the hottest day of the last half century in the area.
- GoofsDuring the game of chess played against Death, the table appears incorrectly rotated. According to the rules of chess, the right square on the bottom row of each player should be white. Both players should know better than to make this mistake. Interestingly, the same mistake appears in the original movie The Seventh Seal (1957) by Ingmar Bergman..
- Quotes
Mort Rifkin: Nobody wants to die. Not even for love.
Jo Rojas: You wouldn't die for love?
Mort Rifkin: I'd frankly prefer not to die for anything. And that includes sickness, old age or choking on a bagel.
- ConnectionsFeatures Breathless (1960)
- SoundtracksSan Sebastián
Composed by Stephane Wrembel
Performed by Stephane Wrembel, Thor Jensen, Josh Kaye, Ari Folman-Cohen, Nick Anderson, Scott Kettner, Adrien Chevalier, Nick Driscoll & David Langlois
Featured review
Romantic city. Gyspsy jazz. Film talk. Infidelity. The usual. It's well written, well acted and well-trodden. But not bad! The various 'homages' to classic filmmakers shows Woody can still have fun with his ideas. The cinematography by Vittorio Storaro is a massive improvement from the last Woody project ("Rainy Day in NY") which was dreadful to look at. It seems the production went smoother this time around.
There are many fleeting characters that deliver quality lines throughout the vignettes. Some of their stories would have been worth pursuing. Carmen Salta appears on screen for 10 seconds, but I wish the film was about her.
I agree with other critics that Wallace Shawn (a fine character actor) is miscast in the lead. His pairing with Gina Gershon doesn't work on any level. Neither perfomer can overcome the romantic chasm between them. At no point did I believe they were ever lovers, let alone married.
Gershon acts well, but Shawn delivers his lines glacially, often in an ironic tone which doesn't gel with the rest of the cast. For some reason he has cheap, ill-fitting clothes in every scene. I'm sure he's capable of playing a confident writer, or even an esoteric lady's man, but Woody directs him as a daydreaming loser who can barely dress himself.
Overall, it is an episodic, trivial romance, lacking the spark of better works like "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". But, it's gently amusing and still worth a watch.
There are many fleeting characters that deliver quality lines throughout the vignettes. Some of their stories would have been worth pursuing. Carmen Salta appears on screen for 10 seconds, but I wish the film was about her.
I agree with other critics that Wallace Shawn (a fine character actor) is miscast in the lead. His pairing with Gina Gershon doesn't work on any level. Neither perfomer can overcome the romantic chasm between them. At no point did I believe they were ever lovers, let alone married.
Gershon acts well, but Shawn delivers his lines glacially, often in an ironic tone which doesn't gel with the rest of the cast. For some reason he has cheap, ill-fitting clothes in every scene. I'm sure he's capable of playing a confident writer, or even an esoteric lady's man, but Woody directs him as a daydreaming loser who can barely dress himself.
Overall, it is an episodic, trivial romance, lacking the spark of better works like "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". But, it's gently amusing and still worth a watch.
- Victor_Fallon
- Sep 18, 2021
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Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $2,319,180
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1
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