And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen

Rating:
Summary: Intensely quiet
Review: A beautifully shot piece of cinematrical poetry. An authentic fairy tale. Haven't seen something like that in quite a while. No Hollywood romance could ever come close. Sail away...

Rating:
Summary: magical and life giving
Review: A wonderfully put together film by a wonderfully put together director...amazing color, rich texture and beautiful dialogue. Every moment furthers the story, and you never want it to end. It's inspiring to see Irons act again in such a beautiful movie. The french texture, and foundation of romance is intriguing and provacative.

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Summary: mind trips
Review: An iternational heart warming twister where evryone gets what they deserve. The ultimate mind fornication

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Summary: What Is The Dream and What Is Simply A Memory Of The Future?
Review: And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen begins with the following epigraph: "Life is a deep sleep, and love is the dream." With that characterization as his point of departure, Claude Lelouch (who produced, wrote and directed this quiet masterpiece) provides an utterly sophisticated two hour cinematic meditation on all of the subtle ways reality, memory, and dreamlife intersect to create the verisimilitude of the present and a fantasy of what is to come. The narrative for this visually breathtaking excursion into metaphysics and the psychology of love centers on Jeremy Irons as Valentin Valentin (he was born on Valentine's Day), a whimsically inventive jewel thief who relies on disguise and deception to ply his trade. But a large and growing tumour of the brain is playing its own set of tricks on the master illusionist. In a parallel universe Valentin's destiny is tracked by that of a Parisian chanteuse, Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas), who also may be afflicted with a brain mass that is affecting her ability to discern what is real from what is imagined. The two cross paths in Fez at the halfway point of the film as each in their own way runs aground upon the hallucinatory shores of the primitive, light-blasted landscape which is Morocco. And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen is European cinema at its most disarming. Evocative and convincing, the film propels you on a journey you would rather not see come to an end. When Valentin's maritime tour around the world (which had been disrupted by his illness) begins in earnest just as the film is coming to its conclusion, I felt deprived to be left behind.

Rating:
Summary: A Lovely Escapist Venture
Review: Claude Lelouche has once again teamed with Michel Legrand to continue his examination of the vagaries of love in AND NOW LADIES & GENTLEMEN. There is a Gallic magic about Lelouche's view of love that is irresistible and this rather long film journey is no exception. Jeremy Irons is a thief who creates sophisticated heists of jewels by adopting disguises. He is jaunty, loves the beautiful things in life, and decides to spend his won money to sail a yacht on a long-dreamed journey. While at sea he has his first blackout which we later learn is due to a brain tumor. He is taken ashore in Morocco where he encounters a lounge singer (Patricia Kaas) who likewise is subject to blackouts and has strayed to Morocco after the end of an affair with a trumpet player. Together they plan a pilgrimage to a site of healing, but Irons' character is followed by the police for his jewel heists and is captured, is unable to remember his thefts, and finally is diagnosed as having a brain tumor. Postop he reconciles with his singer and makes amends for his life of crime.

As with all of Lelouche's films there are episodes that blur dreamlife with reality and in this film he uses this technique to perfection. Much of what really happens is left to the individual's perception. The settings for this escapade are truly splendid - Morocco has never looked so dreamy, so dramatic, so sun-drenched and inviting. The real joy of this film are the performances of Irons and Kaas and the added pleasure of seeing old (!) faces from the past such as Claudia Cardinale - no longer the beauty she once was! Patricia Kaas is a very fine singer and her renditions of old standards take on new substance in her sensitive interpretations. The only flaw in this film is that it is filmed in both English and French and the dubbing barely matches the subtitles. That is very distracting. But forgive that and you have a film that will let you take flight - lightly as with an elegant French aperitif!

Rating:
Summary: A Lovely Escapist Venture
Review: Claude Lelouche has once again teamed with Michel Legrand to continue his examination of the vagaries of love in AND NOW LADIES & GENTLEMEN. There is a Gallic magic about Lelouche's view of love that is irresistible and this rather long film journey is no exception. Jeremy Irons is a thief who creates sophisticated heists of jewels by adopting disguises. He is jaunty, loves the beautiful things in life, and decides to spend his won money to sail a yacht on a long-dreamed journey. While at sea he has his first blackout which we later learn is due to a brain tumor. He is taken ashore in Morocco where he encounters a lounge singer (Patricia Kaas) who likewise is subject to blackouts and has strayed to Morocco after the end of an affair with a trumpet player. Together they plan a pilgrimage to a site of healing, but Irons' character is followed by the police for his jewel heists and is captured, is unable to remember his thefts, and finally is diagnosed as having a brain tumor. Postop he reconciles with his singer and makes amends for his life of crime.

As with all of Lelouche's films there are episodes that blur dreamlife with reality and in this film he uses this technique to perfection. Much of what really happens is left to the individual's perception. The settings for this escapade are truly splendid - Morocco has never looked so dreamy, so dramatic, so sun-drenched and inviting. The real joy of this film are the performances of Irons and Kaas and the added pleasure of seeing old (!) faces from the past such as Claudia Cardinale - no longer the beauty she once was! Patricia Kaas is a very fine singer and her renditions of old standards take on new substance in her sensitive interpretations. The only flaw in this film is that it is filmed in both English and French and the dubbing barely matches the subtitles. That is very distracting. But forgive that and you have a film that will let you take flight - lightly as with an elegant French aperitif!

Rating:
Summary: A Lovely Escapist Venture
Review: Claude Lelouche has once again teamed with Michel Legrand to continue his examination of the vagaries of love in AND NOW LADIES & GENTLEMEN. There is a Gallic magic about Lelouche's view of love that is irresistible and this rather long film journey is no exception. Jeremy Irons is a thief who creates sophisticated heists of jewels by adopting disguises. He is jaunty, loves the beautiful things in life, and decides to spend his won money to sail a yacht on a long-dreamed journey. While at sea he has his first blackout which we later learn is due to a brain tumor. He is taken ashore in Morocco where he encounters a lounge singer (Patricia Kaas) who likewise is subject to blackouts and has strayed to Morocco after the end of an affair with a trumpet player. Together they plan a pilgrimage to a site of healing, but Irons' character is followed by the police for his jewel heists and is captured, is unable to remember his thefts, and finally is diagnosed as having a brain tumor. Postop he reconciles with his singer and makes amends for his life of crime.

As with all of Lelouche's films there are episodes that blur dreamlife with reality and in this film he uses this technique to perfection. Much of what really happens is left to the individual's perception. The settings for this escapade are truly splendid - Morocco has never looked so dreamy, so dramatic, so sun-drenched and inviting. The real joy of this film are the performances of Irons and Kaas and the added pleasure of seeing old (!) faces from the past such as Claudia Cardinale - no longer the beauty she once was! Patricia Kaas is a very fine singer and her renditions of old standards take on new substance in her sensitive interpretations. The only flaw in this film is that it is filmed in both English and French and the dubbing barely matches the subtitles. That is very distracting. But forgive that and you have a film that will let you take flight - lightly as with an elegant French aperitif!

Rating:
Summary: Simple, Complex, Delightful
Review: I'm sorry this film disappeared from the theatres so quickly. I wanted to see it again and take my friends. The story is a new twist on the old theme of the erudite jewel thief. The balanced mixture of French and English languages was stimulating and pleasing for me. I felt the love story was just the right blend of disappointment and satisfaction. The location shooting in France and Morocco entertaining. Jeremy Irons' acting was superb. The story and dialogue over all was multi-layered and mysterious - an experience worth repeating.

Rating:
Summary: Stella by Starlight
Review: In the past Claude Lelouch ('A Man and A Woman') has been known to go overboard with lush, swoony, gauze-light love scenes with the appropriate music uuuhhing and ahhing in the background. But now Lelouch has gotten a little more realistic about Love and Romance in 'And Now Ladies and Gentlemen' starring Jeremy Irons and Patricia Kaas. Michel Legrand is around once more to write a simple yet beautiful score incorporating classic love songs, some of which Kaas performs in the film.
'ANLAG' is all about le longuer: people who have had it with reality and are looking for something or someone to take them out and away from the drudgeries of their lives; though I would imagine that Irons role as a jewel thief has too much action and not enough drudgery in his.
Director Lelouch must walk a very fine line here between romance and parody for this type of film to work and he manages to keep the production on the right side of that line. Irons and especially Kaas come off very well and as is necessary in this type of film, we care for them deeply.

Rating:
Summary: Stella by Starlight
Review: In the past Claude Lelouch (�A Man and A Woman�) has been known to go overboard with lush, swoony, gauze-light love scenes with the appropriate music uuuhhing and ahhing in the background. But now Lelouch has gotten a little more realistic about Love and Romance in �And Now Ladies and Gentlemen� starring Jeremy Irons and Patricia Kaas. Michel Legrand is around once more to write a simple yet beautiful score incorporating classic love songs, some of which Kaas performs in the film.
�ANLAG� is all about le longuer: people who have had it with reality and are looking for something or someone to take them out and away from the drudgeries of their lives; though I would imagine that Irons role as a jewel thief has too much action and not enough drudgery in his.
Director Lelouch must walk a very fine line here between romance and parody for this type of film to work and he manages to keep the production on the right side of that line. Irons and especially Kaas come off very well and as is necessary in this type of film, we care for them deeply.