Chopin: Desire For Love
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Movie Reviews of Chopin: Desire For Love
Movie Review: What love?
Summary: 3 Stars
This is not the first treatment of the Sand/Chopin love affair. It is the second of the lot that I have seen. What intrigued me about it was that it was firstly a Polish production and it was mostly from Chopin's point of view.
The costumes and the music were fantastic as was the casting/make-up of showing the dispairity in age and health between Sand and Chopin. Sand looks more mature but exceedingly healthy while Chopin is clearly younger and weaker.
The movie is a little drawn out, as far as I am concerned. And while it does attempt to explain what went wrong in Sand and Chopin's relationship it never really does much beyond a few Florence Nightengale scenes to show what went right--why they stayed together for eight years, as far as the movie is concerned it was mostly intolerable. It also wasn't the best at introducing new characters or certain plot points. I was only able to figure certain things out from all of the reading about Sand that I have done.
Not only is the movie drawn out, but it also seems disjointed in places. Especially the leap from Majorica and a 12 year old Solange to Paris where Solange is now a woman, in love with Chopin (something that is not a proven fact--only a bit of lore--thought it is true that in his last days he was closer to her than her mother).
I think my favorite scene in the whole of the movie was the moment on the stairs when Chopin informs Sand of her grand-daughter's birth. It was as if it was right out of time, it so captured the awkwardness and lingering pain and longing of what their relationship had degenerated into.
All of the actors do an amazing job. Especially the leads (Chopin and Sand) she is feminine and strong and he looks amazingly like him (though he doesn't play any of the comedy that Hugh Grant did) caputuring that delicacy that Chopin always seemed to be known for.
Not a bad movie, but probably confusing to anyone who is unfamiliar with the story of Sand and Chopin.
Movie Review: Some parts good....Some parts bad.
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie was not terrible, but it was not unwatchable. I found the interpretations of Chopin's music to be very accurate as well as entertaining. The characters within the film, however, were not all too accurate. The real Chopin had dark hair and the real Liszt was blonde to light brown in terms of his hair. The character playing CHopin was blonde and the character playing Liszt had brown hair. This was a very slight inaccuracy, but it kinda bugged me when watching the film.
Furthermore, the portrayal of Chopin presented an open character who said what was on his mind and was not shy about shouting out his emotions. Additionally, the Chopin portrayed in the film seemed to be a hedonistic character constantly seeking sexual gratification from Georges Sand when in actuality the situation was vice versa. From what I have read about Chopin, he was incredibly shy and instead of shouting out his emotions he used his music as the outlet for emotional release. There is a scene where Chopin plays part of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 in a very animated fashion playing out to the crowd in a charismatic fashion. This did not seem to mirror what I have read about the real Chopin. The Liszt character, although a minor character in the film, was too much of a wallflower in the film. The real Franz Liszt would have been the center of attention at any appearance and would make his presence clearly known to all in attendance.
I have to admit that the George Sand character was VERY similar to what I have read about the real George Sand. She was rugged yet feminine, and she was the only character in the film who possessed a physical resemblance to the actual person.
Keep in mind that I did not loathe this movie, but I wouldn't encourage it either based on historical accuracy. Instead, I would encourage it as a movie to enjoy for mere entertainment.
Movie Review: sounds better than it is
Summary: 3 Stars
The music in this film is exquisite, with Chopin's compositions primarily played by Polish virtuoso Janusz Olejniczak, and other musicians in the soundtrack are Emanuel Ax and Yukio Yokoyama (piano), Yo Yo Ma (cello), and Vadim Brodsky and Pamela Frank (violin). The music however, no matter how glorious, didn't keep my interest throughout this rather overlong film. Not only does the film need editing in length, but some of the cuts are peculiar, and don't flow well.
It's an uneven tale of Chopin's relationship with novelist George Sand and her children, and Chopin's destructive self-obsession that turn the family into the ultimate dysfunctional scenario. The scene about the chicken leg versus the breast meat descends into the absurd and humorous, and though I realize there are people as silly and petty as how Chopin is portrayed (and I know little about his history), 134 minutes of this sort of petulance gets very boring.
Piotr Adamczyk plays Chopin with a remarkable physical resemblance, and Danuta Stenka fares the best in the thankless role of George Sand, as she tries to keep the sun revolving around Chopin, while keeping her children from doing something unhelpful, like committing suicide.
Filmed in Warsaw, Paris and Majorca, the cinematography is nice (by Edward Klosinski), with a lot of meadow scenes and wildflower picking.
If this film resembles Chopin's life, then perhaps it is best to just listen to his music. Self-absorption tends to become exceedingly tiresome...and one wants to yell at the screen "get over it !".
Movie Review: Disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
The photography is excellent. The acting is excellent. But I was disappointed in the story line. It didn't come close to reality. Perhaps it wasn't supposed to. Maybe it was intended to be just a turbulent love story using the characters of Chopin and Sand as hooks. Chopin's life was more involved and tragic than this film presented and had the story line followed his life more accurately, it would have been a much better production. Also I expected to hear more of his music but appart from the Op.10 #12 etude (played by Listz) and part of the 'Heroic' polonaise played by Chopin, there were just snippets of other works. Most of the 'mood' background music was from the same nocturne. This was very disappointing.
I thought the film would find a place in my 'masterpiece' achive but it didn't. It was quite entertaining but not worth viewing more than once.
A pity, it could have been much more.
Movie Review: Chopin as George Sand saw him
Summary: 3 Stars
If you've read George Sand's novel Lucrezia Florizani everything about this movie makes perfect sense including its unusually melodramatic style. Chances are though you haven't unless your a Chopin/Romantic history buff. It is my understanding that Lucrezia Florizani , though it never mentions Chopin directly is George Sand's scandulous appraisal of their relationship after their breakup. Seeing, that the story is told through her eyes, and that she was such a writer of taudry novels, makes this movie kind of stylistically facinating. The melodramatic style is taken to a squirmingly edgy extreme. I can see what thedirector was trying to do. If you are a fan of the Romantic period in history you would probably like this film on one level at the same time it might push on and possibly even disgust your modern sensibilities.