Dadge

About 15 minutes in, my wife and I turned to each other and agreed that this was rubbish. In fact, if it hadn't been a Woody Allen film, we might've stopped watching. The acting is rotten, but given that the script is appallingly bad, they didn't stand a chance. (Brian Cox was good, and Johansson had her moments, but that's about it.) The lines are so cliché-laden, we thought that maybe it was all supposed to be a little tongue-in-cheek, but unfortunately it turns out it was all "serious".

I was mightily relieved when the film finally achieved some dramatic tension. The plot at this point wasn't original, but it was quite well done, and I almost decided that the film might be worth 5/10 after all. But the denouement is utterly ridiculous - Allen has resorted to remaking one of his own films! Sad. If this is the future level of Allen's film-making, I hope he retires.

I started watching the film about 30 minutes in, just as Helen is being taken, dead, from the house, and that seemed like a reasonable place to start. I'm not sure what, if anything, is added to the viewing experience by seeing her alive. The film isn't about her, it's about Warren; it's his road movie.

Is Jack Nicholson miscast? I know it was already 5 years since "As Good As It Gets", but this character isn't far enough away from that one, at least in the way that Nicholson plays it. Only right at the end does he look the part: really sad and un-Jack.

Also I think that the film is either a bit under-scripted, or the directorial touch is too light. Some scenes come and go without a feeling that they've given their full contribution to the film.

Two hours. Too long for such a simple story. An interesting cast, but maybe not a good cast, because it's such a mixture. All those different accents is odd enough, in a film supposedly set in La France Profonde. So, though I don't think anyone acted badly, the uncomfortable combination of foreigners reminded me of Star Trek.

The film falls between too stools. It's too odd to be realistic, and too realistic to be a fantasy/morality tale. (Having said that, the atmosphere created by the director and designers is often very good.) I was again reminded of lame SF tales by the simplicity of the religious/social aspect of the story. The freethinking outsider disturbing the status quo... and why not throw some gypsies into the mix?! Molina is good in a Molina-esque way, but how much do we really get to know him, never mind the minor characters, such as the hapless Serge.

The ending of the film is generally well done, and I almost changed my score to 8, but I should resist the temptation to be taken in by the naivety of the "message".