Only Half the Stars a Subtitled
Copy Would Rate
(Originally posted October 5,
2002)
[This review refers to the
dubbed VHS edition] |
A wonderful
film; the opening shot (with its surprise
followup) is my second-favourite example
of how camera movement can make or break a
scene (my all-time favourite is that
incredible crane shot in Leone's "Once
Upon a Time in the West"), and the peeks
behind the silver screen that it gives us
both de-mystify and increase our
appreciation of the high art of
film-making.
Something else it may point up for us is
that, in Hollywood (and, to a lesser
extent, in other nation's cinema
industries), in Dory Previn's words
"Female meat does not improve with
time..."; movies continually cast lead
actors in romantic roles opposite women
twenty or thirty years their junior, but
almost the only possible roles that allow
an older woman to be romantically
attracted to a younger male tend to
portray the woman as a predator. Severine,
the older actress playing the mother in
the film within a film complains that she
and Alexandre, the romantic lead, hit
Hollywood at about the same time and here
she is playing mothers and other "older
women", and he's still playing the
romantic lead who gets the young girl.
(The irony of this is emphasised by the
fact that, in 1973, Valentina Cortesa
(Severine) was 48 and Jean Pierre Aumont
(Alexandre) was 59 -- and she is cast as
the aging actress playing the cast off
older woman and he was the "mature"
leading man getting the girl -- played by
then-29-but-looking-younger Jacqueline
Bissett).
The sequence in which Severine completely
falls apart as she repeatedly blows take
after take of a relatively simple scene is
almost harrowing to watch; one almost
wonders how Cortese was able to so
convincingly simulate progressively
broader problems until she is in
near-hysteria without breaking down almost
as badly as her character does.
The details of film technology are
fascinating, as are the story and
continuity problems that arise and (due to
the fact that films are shot out of order
and two scenes that take place one after
the other on screen may well be shot in
reverse order and days, even months,
apart) must be taken into account and
require rewrites and even reshoots (though
one attempts to avoid those) -- such
things as the death of the person playing
a major character before all of that
character's shots are in the can.
The dream sequences (in black & white)
are, in fact, actual events from director
Truffaut's childhood.
The only thing really wrong here is the
abysmal English dubbing. Not only is it
bad, in and of itself, but it decreases
the sense of how truly international the
production of "Je vous presente Pamela"
is.
Also, it leads to absurdities in scenes
like the one in which director Ferrand
(Truffaut) announces (in French) that the
important action scene will be shot in
"nuit Americaine". The stunt man (British
and not speaking a word of French) says
"What?" and bi-lingual Julie (Bissett)
translates it for him to the
English-language term "Day for Night".
Consider the absurdity of this, as
rendered in the dubbing with everyone
dubbed in English, no matter what language
they were originally speaking:
"We'll be shooting it day for night."
"Huh?" "It means 'day for night'." "Oh.
Thanks." |
It's
Finally Here With Subtitles!
March
26, 2003
[This review refers
to the subtitled
DVD version] |
For years i
have been not watching this film -- one of
my very favourites -- because it was only
available on VHS in an abysmally-dubbed
version.
Well, now it's on DVD with the original
French track and subtitles in English, and
it's just as great as i've been
remembering it from the last chance i had
to see it theatrically.
The video transfer looks excellent, the
sound is good, and the film is the film.
And there are goodies galore on the DVD as
well; i haven't finished all of them yet.
If you haven't seen this film, now is the
time to do so.
The
latest subtitles have changed the
punchline from my favourite joke
(originally based on film terminology)
to a rather obvious line that's flat
and not really even very funny - just
imagine that instead of "Hey - you
changed your top!" (as now), the
scriptgirl says (as in the original
theatrical release's subtitles) "Wrong
continuity, girl"...
((The
dubbed track is also included for
people who simply can't deal with
subtitles.))
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