A Business Affair

Rating:
Summary: TERRIFIC CHRISTOPHER WALKEN VIDEO
Review: I saw this movie for Christopher Walken. But it's not his movie. It's Carole Bouquet's movie. She plays the main character, and it with her character that we identify and empathize with.

I saw this labelled as a comedy, but it's not. Its a very real human drama... sometimes lighthearted, sometimes not so light... but always a real drama. And I cared what happened to the characters.

In the end, the characters didn't all act the way I wanted them to. But it's not my movie. And I realize that it ends the way it should. It's a movie about a woman who is stuck in a man's world. Who faces, and loves, men who want to keep her in her parents' era. But she wants a life of her own... and in the end it's a movie about her liberation.

If you are looking for another good creepy Christopher Walken movie, then you may be looking in the wrong place. Because this is a very good movie, but it's not a psycho-thriller. It a human story.

Rating:
Summary: superb direction
Review: The story line of this movie has been described by other reviewers, so I'll just say that it is one of my favorites. The acting is first-rate: English actor Jonathan Pryce always turns in a creditable performance, and Carole Bouquet, as the main character, more than carries her share of the plot. Christopher Walken is not to be missed; he plays the comedic nature of his character to the hilt. What is amazing is the way director Charlotte Bronestrom manages to balance perfectly comedy and tragedy, to play off the serious message underlying the plot with the absurdity of human behavior. She doesn't miss a beat and gives us a film that is funny and sad, frivolous and serious at the same time--much like life itself.

Rating:
Summary: STARING BLANKLY AT THE SCREEN.
Review: There is a scene towards the long and tedious movie A Business Affair where the character Vanni Corso (played by the often stylish Christopher Walken) is seated with his Italian mother at the dinner table, and for a minute or so he stares blankly at the camera. One senses Walken has had enough of this piece of romantic schlock by now, enough of a meandering and befuddled script, enough of Carole Bouqet's weak attempt at a French accent. No doubt the Video/DVD cover will pitch a different caper, may even describe this tripe as "comedy", but I fail to see the comedy after having paid [money] in a second hand store for the DVD version. I knew in my heart why this was only [money], and yet, I am a sucker for a bargain, and wanted to be consoled by the store attendant ("Christopher Walken looks so young!") when I knew I had bought a lemon. There is nothing funny, nothing at all that warrants the association with any "feminist" viewpoint, and not even a decent soundtrack (spare me the French accordian music please). I fear that if that was my last [monry] and I may be eating the video cover this came in, scribbling over the title and hocking the DVD as a blank CD-R. Stare blankly, longingly at this one, but don't stare for too long at your purchase, or you will regret and be forced to find another buyer like I am doing now.

Rating:
Summary: AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER...
Review: This is a marvelous movie with wonderful performances by Christopher Walken, Jonathan Pryce, and the exquisitely beautiful Carole Bouquet. It is the story of a woman (Carole Bouquet), who is married to an egotistical, self absorbed Englishman (Jonathan Pryce), who is a well known writer and highly acclaimed literary figure. Christopher Walken plays the part of an Italian American publisher who is looking to sign up some English authors for the American market. He wines and dines Pryce, who ends up signing with him.

Meanwhile, Pryce is suffering from writer's block, while his long suffering wife is typing out her own manuscript. Pryce speaks to his wife contemptuosly about her effort. She gives her finished manuscript to Walken, who likes it and agrees to publish her book. This angers Pryce, who actually tells Walken not to publish it, so enraged is he by his wife actually having a thought that does not evolve around him. Walken meets with the wife and sees her as the beautiful, warm, intelligent, and articulate woman that she is.

Delighted to be treated like a normal person, rather than an appendage of her husband, Walken and Bouquet begin an affair that culminates in divorce from Pryce and marriage to Walken. She finds out that once married, however, Walken basically expects her world to revolve around him. In essence, Pryce and Walken are basically one and the same. She ultimately leaves Walken, writes another book, and becomes a best selling author in her own right and a woman of independent means. She comes into her own as a person, and is no longer another's doormat. This is the story of her liberation as a woman.