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DVD Impromptu
Still more Victorian country-house shenanigans: novelist George Sand (Judy Davis, affected but pretty darn charming) has eyes for Franz Liszt's young protégé Chopin (Hugh Grant, solid as always, but burdened by a silly Polish accent and a script that never lets him stretch out), but various lovers, jealous rivals, and Chopin's own overdeveloped sense of propriety conspire to confound her. Impromptu is witty but overlong--probably 20 minutes of hijinks and repartee, not to mention several completely gratuitous and redundant characters, could have been sliced from the film. Davis plays Sand as an impetuous, overgrown tomboy, outraging her genteel hosts by wearing pants, chomping cigars, and falling off horses; her coterie of artist-friends assure us, in a series of naked plot devices, that she nonetheless has a heart of gold. It's all good silly fun, and about as feminist as your average Def Leppard video--the other two developed female characters are ugly stereotypes: a featherbrained, feckless social climber (Emma Thompson, who once again proves she's up for anything) and a spiteful, back-stabbing shrew (the ever-capable Bernadette Peters). Director James Lapine clearly belongs to the Dr. Quinn school of historical accuracy, so don't expect to learn anything about the period or the artists themselves. Impromptu is far more Melrose Place than Mrs. Dalloway, or perhaps best described as an episode of Entertainment Tonight set in the 19th century. --Miles Bethany
This DVD was in very good shape and of course we loved the story (which is why we bought it though it is not recent ~ just had to see it again).
Who knew Hugh Grant had it in him?
Hugh Grant = Chopin, in what world? =) This one, apparently. Playing a neurotic, brilliant hypochondriac with a Chopinian accent is right up his alley in this film. Judy Davis as the famous popular woman writer of the time period, George Sand, is also fabulous. As is Mandy Patinkin, who Princess Bride fans will know as the sword-fighting fatalistic spaniard. The comedy is well-timed, well-scripted, and well-carried out, and if you think you'd enjoy watching a film about all that can go wrong (and right) amid a commune of writers and artists, this is a film you want to see as soon as possible!
I take exception to the editorial review!
I did not watch this movie in order to get educated (books are better for that), but in order to be entertained. I tend to expect historical accuracy more in novels, such as Gore Vidal's or Mary Renault's, than films, which are constrained by time and the need to please a diverse audience. I accept that a filmmaker will take considerable liberties in order to get his story across in less than two hours. There are history books available that cover the story of Sand and Chopin. And anyway, the liberties taken with facts and characters are trivial.
As far as entertainment value goes, I award five stars, meaning that in my opinion, there are few if any movies that are better. Maybe it is romantic foolishness, but the scene where Sand confronts Chopin is very moving no matter how many times I watch it. Judy Davis is amazing, while Hugh Grant performs competently. Besides passion, there is abundant wit and humor. This movie richly deserves being owned. I have watched it seven times, and it only improves with time.
I take strong exception with the first and foremost Editorial review of Impromptu, which appears to me of a jaded and cynical spirit. I think the movie was not given mature consideration, but judged solely on how it appealed to the author's pet political causes and infatuation with Hugh Grant.
Our Amazonian author may suppose the cause of feminism must be trumpeted by every movie. If this were the case, I should stop watching movies, as would most men and women. She takes Emma Thompson, who delivered a superb performance, to task. This is a comedy, and the buffoonery is distributed irregardless of gender. The author, had she bothered to count the numerous male buffoons in the film, might by a simple calculation have drawn the opposite conclusion, and accused the film of misandrogyny.
Sand, the heroine, is depicted quite favorably by Impromptu, with pluck and daring. Judy Davis is not in the slightest degree affected in her performance, though the prose of Sand herself, used in the script, was often affected and rather too flowery, but here the film is indulging in that virtue which our critic thinks it lacks, historical accuracy; as to which, there is no disputing the alliance between Chopin and Sand, which lasted many years. The details are invention, but the movie gets the character of the major players exactly right. Whether Chopin actually attended such a dinner party at such-and-such a date, and whether a certain play was performed with disasterous consequences, we may not know, but let us allow the artist some liberty to compress what could have been a very long story into less than two hours.
Every moment of this film was enjoyable; the quality is uniform and never lags. To slice even five seconds (let alone twenty minutes) from the movie would be an unforgivable travesty; and in all events the movie could only be considered too short, if anything. The author disparages the wit of the movie, considering it unnecessary, but this is one of its charms. Every apparently unnecessary diversion or digression is in fact relevant to the plot and to the characters, if you bother to pay close attention to the movie. There is not a single redundant character, and every character introduced entertains and instructs in their own way, despite being caricatures or buffoons.
Watching "Impromptu" for the eighth time tonight, I was reminded that, here, Sand falls in love not with Chopin the man, but his music, which I too love, as who could not? This is a truly Romantic version of love which transcends the physical, much like Chopin himself, whose body was feeble (he was to die of tuberculosis in his thirties). How often do we see this portrayed in movies? (Ever?) Listening to the dialogue once again confirms in my mind how well the movie captures the spirit of Romanticism, which Chopin and Sand both embodied in their own ways.
The central mistake the Amazonian reviewer made was to approach this movie with expectations about Hugh Grant, Hollywood's favorite, a good-looking dullard. Numerous actors could have improved upon Grant's performance, but no one could improve upon Judy Davis as George Sand. If you can find your way to appreciating her genius, then the movie's magnificence becomes crystal clear.
The quality of writing in this film is not equalled by any movie among the thousands that I have seen. It is the best movie ever made to my knowledge.
This sumptuous and moving 1994 film written and directed by Bernard Rose (Candyman) investigates the artistic and romantic passions of one of the greatest composers of all time. Featuring a superb performance by Gary Oldman (Sid and Nancy) as Ludwig van Beethoven, Immortal Beloved is full of uncommonly vivid, rich imagery as it charts the tumultuous life of the deaf child prodigy and his rise to the height of musical achievement. Along the way, he attempts to play mentor to his nephew, attend to his many passionate romances--the most stable one was with a countess (Isabella Rossellini)--and fight bouts of depression and madness that ruled his life and his art. The film is framed around a "Rosebud"-type letter found after the composer's death that makes up the crux of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gary Oldman - Jeroen Krabbé Director(s): Bernard Rose DVD Release Date: Released the 28 August 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The satirical sensibilities of writer Peter Shaffer and director Milos Forman (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) were ideally matched in this Oscar-winning movie adaptation of Shaffer's hit play about the rivalry between two composers in the court of Austrian Emperor Joseph II--official royal composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), and the younger but superior prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce). The conceit is absolutely delicious: Salieri secretly loathes Mozart's crude and bratty personality, but is astounded by the beauty of his music. That's the heart of Salieri's torment--although he's in a unique position to recognize and cultivate both Mozart's talent and career, he's also consumed with envy and insecurity in the face of such genius. That such magnificent music... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Milos Forman DVD Release Date: Released the 24 September 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The writer and director of this film is Peter Schamoni, not Alfred Hirschmeier as reported in another customer review, and he took most of the dialogue from the correspondence and other documentation of Robert,Clara and Friedrich Wieck. Anyone with knowledge of Schumann's correspondence, his love of poetry and dramatic narrative and the world of 19th century German romanticism will recognize the accuracy and faithfulness of the dialogue used throughout this wonderful film.
The look and sound of the pianofortes used is another example of the care lavished on presenting Robert and Clara's world as accurately as possible.
A fantastic premise is utterly blown in this film by director Michael Hoffman and screenwriter Rupert Walters (the two collaborated previously on the winning Some Girls). Robert Downey Jr. plays Robert Merivel, King Charles II's (Sam Neill) spirited young physician in 17th-century England. The king offers to set Merivel up for life in exchange for one small favor: marry the royal mistress (Polly Walker) to provide his highness some cover for his philandering. But Merivel blows it by falling in love with the woman, and he is cast out of his pampered paradise to reinvent himself as a serious man helping victims of the plague beyond the palace's walls. It's a superb notion, and the film looks just terrific, particularly Charles's court, where scientific and artistic innovation... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Downey Jr. - Sam Neill Director(s): Michael Hoffman DVD Release Date: Released the 03 August 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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