Fanny
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Movie Reviews of Fanny
Movie Review: Long, Leisurely Soap Opera Leavened by a Superior Cast and Beautiful Camerawork
Summary: 4 Stars
Ending a decade-long string of gamine roles that started with her propitious debut as Gene Kelly's unattainable object of desire in Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris, Leslie Caron plays the title role, a poor 18-year-old Marseilles girl who helps her fortune-hunting mother sell fish on their waterfront boat stall. Even though she was thirty in real life, Caron is genuinely affecting in conveying the character's youthful vigor and romantic yearning. Directed by Joshua Logan (Picnic) in his familiar overwrought manner, the time-spanning 1961 drama is really an intimate story that suffers somewhat from overly deliberate pacing and excessive length (it's 134 minutes long). Offsetting those flaws are some lighthearted comic touches mainly in the first half, a sterling cast, and Jack Cardiff's (Black Narcissus) vibrant, often painterly cinematography which brings a lustrous glow to the seaside setting.
Adapted by Julius J. Epstein (Casablanca) from Marcel Pagnol's famous Gallic trilogy, the story revolves around Fanny's pining for her lifelong love, Marius, the hot-tempered son of waterfront café owner Cesar. While he obviously loves Fanny, Marius has a greater passion to escape his humdrum life to become a seaman. He gets his golden opportunity when a scientific research vessel docks in Marseilles, and he can sign on for a five-year hitch. On the night before he leaves and with Fanny's mother away, they share a night of unbridled passion. Truly conflicted about his feelings for her, Marius leaves but only after Fanny tells him that she will marry the sixtyish Panisse, a lonely sailmaker who constantly locks horns with Cesar. The rest of the soap opera plot plays out the way you would think and eventually skips a decade to find that choices made are not as final as they seem.
The movie is simply beautiful to look at, and even though Logan and Cardiff tend to rely on extreme close-ups for dramatic emphasis, the story is engaging. Despite the fact that she is playing a teenager for most of the film, Caron shows how she has truly evolved as an actress since her plucked-from-obscurity MGM debut. Fresh from his memorable role as a Mexican gunman in The Magnificent Seven, German actor Horst Buchholz smolders appropriately as Marius although his character inevitably becomes more unsympathetic as the story unfolds. The scene stealers are Charles Boyer as Cesar and Maurice Chevalier as Panisse, both peaking in late-career roles that suit their distinctive personalities. This was the least known to me of the five 1961 Best Picture nominees (the others were The Guns of Navarone, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremberg, and the runaway winner, West Side Story) - but it is a Gallic-flavored gem well worth viewing now that it has been released on DVD. The 2008 package only includes as an extra a long trailer featuring Chevalier and Boyer and a separate CD of the film's soundtrack penned by Broadway composer Harold Rome.
Movie Review: A Tearjerker, but I Love It!
Summary: 4 Stars
It appears that this is the DVD and CD set featured at[...] as the release date and list price are the same. In fact, if it is the same, the set includes BOTH the DVD of the movie, and a CD of the entire orchestral soundtrack by Harold Rome. This is not at all clear in the item details, and I have submitted this information to Amazon.
Slow and silly at times, this film just pushes and pushes and pushes. The driving "Fanny" theme is played and played in theme and variation, and ultimately is just irresistible. Beautiful performances. The French accents-- way too many of them-- get a little irritating at times, but it's worth it.
Movie Review: Wonderful Fanny
Summary: 4 Stars
With Leslie Caron you have a winning movie every time. Combine that with the excellent service from Amazon, and what more could one ask for? I will continue to trust Amazon (and Leslie Caron) every time I shop online. Thank you!Movie Review: Mess From a Masterpiece
Summary: 1 Stars
This is surely the worst movie ever re-made from an original masterpiece. The characters act like human embodiments of cartoon figures. Even the famous "hat scene" turned from a superb, amusing set piece into a bad clown act.The Marseilles scenery is magnificent, yet the whole is horribly stage-bound. Scores of super-close pictures of Horst Buccholz's face (in unmatching sizes) but not much of Leslie Caron's gracefulness and beauty. Maurice Chevalier is restrained and touching, but everybody else is in a high school farce. YOU MUST WATCH THE ORIGINAL: The Marseilles trilogy from the early 30s--better, funnier, more touching, a work of art.Movie Review: Not this time........
Summary: 1 Stars
I am afraid I cannot endorse this movie as I have endorsed the majority of the others I've purchased. It was fraught with silliness, drunkness, lust, and french immorality. It also has a typical ending with an improbable conclusion. I was hoping for more of the English type films which are the best. Fanny was very disappointing because she fell so quickly for the rich old dirty man.....who by his own admission at the end played the adulterer. This was typical (dirty) french poetry. Not recommendable.