Mr. Klein
|
Our Price: $57.50 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $44.00 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Mr. Klein
Movie Review: GREAT FILM/ EXCELLENT DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
For those who have seen all of Joseph Losey's significant films, MR. KLEIN is the greatest after THE SERVANT. Some even call MR. KLEIN Losey's finest achievement. It's telling of our fragmented film culture that such an accomplished work of art remains unknown, even to many serious film buffs. For years, we had to settle for an English-dubbed, panned & scanned VHS tape. But the greatness of MR. KLEIN showed through even that medium.Now the film is available on a high-quality DVD from Home Vision (which manufactures Criterion DVDs). The transfer is very fine, with the broad color pallette ringing out. And the widescreen aspect of the film can be appreciated by many who have never seen it look so good.
MR. KLEIN is a work of which its director should have been proud. It's intelligent, intriguing, moving, funny, and beautiful. Like THE SERVANT, it has at its center an ambiguous hero by whom one is, at turns, repelled and attracted.
This may also be the greatest acting achievement of Alain Delon. The charismatic French actor's still-stunning good looks sometimes can distract from appreciating his genuine talent. Delon probably never gave a bad performance in any film. But MR. KLEIN provides him with a wide range and depth that he is more than capable of handling. It's mostly a quiet performance, with few outbursts. Delon is required to react, which he does brilliantly at several points, or to express the meaning of scene through posture and facial expression alone. One subtle example is the scene early on, where the mistress is on the bed in the background, wondering if she should get up. Delon is seated at his desk, half-listening to her trivialities. He has far more pressing issues on his mind. The actor perfectly conveys the ambivalent, trapped situation through small body gestures and tone of voice. When he finally rises to address the mistress's concerns, his forced tone is also exactly right for the moment. Later, Delon plays Klein's mixture of desperation and arrogance with so much conviction, it's easy to forget he is, after all, acting.
MR. KLEIN is a film of rich interiors, and eye-catching, but not ostentatious, location shooting. It looks tremendous on DVD and it can leave the viewer devastated, but undeniably impressed by the genius of Joseph Losey and Alain Delon.
A trailer for MR. KLEIN is also included
Movie Review: A beautiful film made by genuises
Summary: 5 Stars
Joseph Losey entered college at Dartmouth at age 16, went on to be a successful stage director, and then headed off to Europe before McCarthy could summon him. He is known as an international director. And to this day he is greatly overlooked. Thank god for the release of MONSIEUR KLEIN.This is a film made by a genius, assisted by geniuses. I still can't believe this film was made in 1976! The look of it is extraordinary, with brilliant cinematography by Gerry Fisher (who photographed 7 films for Losey), and art direction by Alexander Trauner. With a script by Franco Solinas, who also wrote the powerful THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, MR KLEIN is a film that doesn't explain itself, or hit you over the head with a philosophy, or message. Delon is incredible, as he is in Losey's other, much less graceful ASSASSINATION OF TROTSKY, although Delon is striking, and you would be pressed to not look at him. His face is amazing in this film, as it captures the confusion, bewilderment of the character as he is stripped of his identity. This film is atmospheric and dreamy.
This is a must for any serious film enthusiast. THE SERVANT should be next, then ACCIDENT, THE GO-BETWEEN, and the rest of Losey's oeuvre. Great books on Losey are Conversations with Losey by Michel Ciment and Joseph Losey by David Caute. Incredibly insightful and informative.
Movie Review: Best fiction film representation of the Holocaust...
Summary: 5 Stars
...because it avoids facing the issue head-on, thus falling into cliche; I have not seen the DVD yet, so I can't vouch for quality, but Losey's film is Hitchcock meets Kafka meets film noir -- a riveting study of what happens when a Gentile who fleeces Jews in occupied Paris c.1943 is mistaken for a shadowy Jewish Resistance fugitive who happens to share his name; step-by-step, the "wrong" Mr. Klein gains every attribute of the Jew, shedding his safe and comfortable bourgeois identity, as he searches for the "real" Mr. Klein; the climax is shattering. By treating his material as an allegorical thriller, Losey paradoxically avoids sensationalizing the subject, ala "Schindler's List." Plus, it's Alain Delon's best performance.Movie Review: Doppleganger
Summary: 5 Stars
Mr Klein got a rough ride from the critics, but it's every bit as impressive as I remembered it being. In many ways it's a classic Doppelganger plot, but by placing it in the run-up to Vichy France's deportation of the Jews (ascribed entirely to the French here: while we see their officials silently preparing throughout the film, it's more than a hour before we see a single German uniform, and then only in a cabaret audience). It even makes Klein's mounting obsession with the other Mr Klein (only once fleetingly glanced from behind by a completely disinterested camera) credible as it becomes stronger than his will to survive. Impressive.
The only extras are the US trailer and sleeve notes.
Movie Review: A Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I haven't seen this movie since it came out in 1976, but I've never forgotten it! Without question, it's a masterpiece, one of the best movies ever made about the Holocaust. Its subtlety is part of its power. After you've seen and appreciated "Mr. Klein," go to see the new movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," the only other Holocaust movie in the same league as "Mr.Klein." Like "Mr. Klein," it's remarkably sensitive and moving, and packs an unbelievable wallop at the end. Two amazing movies!