A Sunday in the Country

Rating:
Summary: One of the most beautiful motion pictures ever made.
Review: Every frame of this film is like watching an Impressionist canvas in motion. This gentle, poignant character study of an elderly painter in the early 1900s is packed with beauty, insight and three-dimensional characters. Louis Ducreux, a French stage star who made his movie debut here at age 73, is subtle, compelling and deeply moving, as are the rest of the actors. The exquisite sound track (based mostly on the chamber music of Gabriel Faure) enhances the sunny yet wistful tone of the film. It's defintely not a movie for thrill-seekers, but for those seeking a two-hour vacation in a slower, gentler and lovelier world, it's a gem.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most beautiful motion pictures ever made.
Review: Every frame of this film is like watching an Impressionist canvas in motion. This gentle, poignant character study of an elderly painter in the early 1900s is packed with beauty, insight and three-dimensional characters. Louis Ducreux, a French stage star who made his movie debut here at age 73, is subtle, compelling and deeply moving, as are the rest of the actors. The exquisite sound track (based mostly on the chamber music of Gabriel Faure) enhances the sunny yet wistful tone of the film. It's defintely not a movie for thrill-seekers, but for those seeking a two-hour vacation in a slower, gentler and lovelier world, it's a gem.

Rating:
Summary: DVD is easier to watch
Review: I'm very happy to find this on DVD. I am older, and my eyes aren't as good as they used to be: the higher quality of this DVD really makes the difference.

Rating:
Summary: DVD is easier to watch
Review: I'm very happy to find this on DVD. I am older, and my eyes aren't as good as they used to be: the higher quality of this DVD really makes the difference.

Rating:
Summary: Classic French Film
Review: Just want to corroborate what the earlier 2 reviews state and to add that on the dvd is an audio commentary track by the director, a fact I had not seen published anywhere and did not actually discover until I purchased the dvd. Lovely transfer, lovely film.

Rating:
Summary: French Family in Nature
Review: The film is breathtakingly beautiful making me wish to spend time in the country in France. In an old quaint house surrounded by nature. You can almost smell the fresh air and the appertifs they sip under the portico with the trees rustling in the breeze. The movie centers around the aging patriarch of the family. His wife has passed on and he keeps his lonliness at bay with the help of a housekeeper and his consistant Sunday visits from his ploddingly staid son and wife, two grandboys who much rather play together than be with the adult and one granddaughter who seems somewhat shy and clinging toward her mother. The daughter in law seems also somewhat ordinary with a need for chruch and religion in her life. Than in comes his other child, a daughter, quite the opposite of her brother, full of life, passion and a great desire for the country. She has brought her auto, which was a big thing. The movie is set in pre-WW1 France. I forgot to mention the main character paints, he seems to paint alcoves of the room, pieces of furniture, indoors kind of stuff. The daughter wakes him up out of his complacency, also waking up the rest of the Sunday family visitors. She gets them out of their lethargy and moves them to action. She is the first to leave but her prescence lingers. When the movie ends you have a strong feeling that the main character has made a shift from painting only objects that grace his indoor sanctuary.
Lisa Nary

Rating:
Summary: One of the best cinemagraphic movies ever for impressionists
Review: This film has sentimentality for family in both a tender and comic sense. The beauty of the filming is difficult to appreciate unless you love impressionist painting, is enjoyed even more if you are reasonably well aware of the famous pieces of the period. The larger the screen the more beautiful the show.

Rating:
Summary: A Visual Feast
Review: This is a lovely film. I warn you that some may find it too slow because it takes a very painterly look at the microcosm of this aging man's world. If you can lose yourself in the art of it though, the pace will be just right. One of the people I saw this film with in the theater found it very depressing because of the old age approaching death aspect. Although the elderly painter is certainly moving in that direction, this film is much more about how his art is integral to his life and how his family fits into this scheme when they visit him one Sunday in his country studio and home. If you are an artist or art lover, you will adore this film for the visual feast that it is.

Rating:
Summary: A Visual Feast
Review: This is a lovely film. I warn you that some may find it too slow because it takes a very painterly look at the microcosm of this aging man's world. If you can lose yourself in the art of it though, the pace will be just right. One of the people I saw this film with in the theater found it very depressing because of the old age approaching death aspect. Although the elderly painter is certainly moving in that direction, this film is much more about how his art is integral to his life and how his family fits into this scheme when they visit him one Sunday in his country studio and home. If you are an artist or art lover, you will adore this film for the visual feast that it is.