Arnaud Desplechin's "Kings & Queen" – Classic or Dud?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Upon viewing it last night, I thought most of it was marvelous. At first I thought Desplechin was letting scenes run too long, especially the ones in which Ismael (crazy second husband) was indulged. IIt's still about 15 minutes too long (the suicidal girlfriend in the loony bin was cute but a bit much), and the epiphany between Nora's son and Ismael wasn't written or shot with the finesse the scene demanded. Then as I got accustomed to his rhythms I relaxed.

The mixture of tones most impressed me, even when Desplechin strained by using jump cuts and intentionally elided transitions; an American version of this kind of novelistic film would have too many cute ironic moments. The performances were good. Emmanuelle Devos is exhaustive and exhausting (Desplechin forces her to cry too often); Catherine Deneuve is dry and self-amused; Maruice Garrel as the father was quite moving.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 16 March 2006 19:39 (eighteen years ago) link

No one's seen it?

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 16 March 2006 23:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I saw it. Eric H. loved it, and I didn't quite know what to think.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 16 March 2006 23:19 (eighteen years ago) link

This is stupid, but had I known it would ultimately be so revered, I probably would've thought more about it at the time. Instead, it was the movie I went to with my dad because he had a free pass for a film at the Music Box. Saw it, then had Thai food afterwards. I admired a lot about it, and thought Amalric's performance was quite good, but I did long for it to be shored up somewhat (even if its patience with letting scenes play out was one of the things I admired).

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 16 March 2006 23:22 (eighteen years ago) link

I wish I had been able to see it on the big screen; it definitely loses a lot at home, surrounded by distractions.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 16 March 2006 23:37 (eighteen years ago) link

(even if its patience with letting scenes play out was one of the things I admired)

Weird. I had the opposite impression. It's been nearly a year since I saw it, but I remember a lot of scenes being extra spry and that there were a lot more of them than in most movies.

I loved it, but my love is sort of guarded with this movie. I don't like talking about it with people. I'm much more comfortable enthusing about Cannibal Holocaust and Dave Chappelle's Block Party and such.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 17 March 2006 00:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I liked it, but I didn't think it was quite as amazing as the lady in Salon seemed to. It felt a bit like Betty Blue actually, but that's a much better film IMO.

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 17 March 2006 00:58 (eighteen years ago) link

i wish i liked desplechin, but i really don't.

amateurist0, Friday, 17 March 2006 01:50 (eighteen years ago) link

i i was pleasantly surprised, it felt more urgent than i'd expected. i always like amalric though. devos is indulged a little.

Real Goths Don't Wear Black (Enrique), Friday, 17 March 2006 09:53 (eighteen years ago) link

I've only seen this and Esther Kahn, but I think odds are good at this point that I like Desplechin.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 17 March 2006 10:39 (eighteen years ago) link

'ma vie sexualle' is the only other one i've seen. it's ok, a bit more niche than 'kings and queen'.

Real Goths Don't Wear Black (Enrique), Friday, 17 March 2006 10:43 (eighteen years ago) link

oh yeah almaric is great. actually i like alot of desplechin's "troupe." i just don't usually enjoy the cumulative experience of watching his movies. some of the scenes in his films are totally brilliant, and i like--in theory--the range of acting styles he employs within each film. but they just seem too...hyper...goofy...for ne.

did anyone see "esther kahn"? sort of his film maudit i guess. well no that was "leo en jouant 'la compagnie des hommes'" which i saw in paris and which i found to be completely awful. but anyway "esther kahn" i thought was interesting but i don't remember it much now, except that ian holm was good and summer phoenix was sort of bleh.

amateurist0, Friday, 17 March 2006 11:27 (eighteen years ago) link

"leo..." has a sdtk by paul weller which is as bad as you'd expect, and is employed in a disruptive "avant-garde" way. cahiers du cinéma loved it.

amateurist0, Friday, 17 March 2006 11:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Cahiers not including Femme Fatale on their '02 list = dead to me. (Tho I don't read French, so I guess they were never birthed to me, either.)

Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 17 March 2006 12:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Ian Holm and Summer Phoenix?!?

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:30 (eighteen years ago) link

I remember a lot of scenes being extra spry and that there were a lot more of them than in most movies.

You could be right.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:31 (eighteen years ago) link

yeah it was the relative sprightliness that struck me, for a film of this sort.

Real Goths Don't Wear Black (Enrique), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:33 (eighteen years ago) link

ie, French?

It's either age or I see too many movies, but I don't even remember Deneuve being in K&Q!

Esther Kahn: having a terrible actress play a terrible actress = terrible film.

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:39 (eighteen years ago) link

not french, but... well, yeah, french, a bit. french film about dad dying at that.

Real Goths Don't Wear Black (Enrique), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:40 (eighteen years ago) link

I should really not comment on this anymore.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:41 (eighteen years ago) link

No one probably should anymore. Same as masturbation.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:49 (eighteen years ago) link

No one probably should anymore. Same as masturbation

A private, deliciously illicit pleasure?

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Exactamundo.

Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I got in over my head over there, too.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Did you and this movie date, jay?

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:45 (eighteen years ago) link

More of a hookup.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 17 March 2006 17:46 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

arnaud desplechin season at mine

u r all invited

I h8 meatheads (cozwn), Monday, 3 August 2009 13:18 (fourteen years ago) link

got esther kahn, un conte noel and kings & queen showing

bring own popcorn pls

I h8 meatheads (cozwn), Monday, 3 August 2009 13:19 (fourteen years ago) link

Those are the three I've already seen. Should probably get around to My Sex Life one of these days.

sir-mounter (Eric H.), Monday, 3 August 2009 13:35 (fourteen years ago) link

i haven't finished watching 'kings and queen' on the netflix yet, this reminds me i have to do that. haven't seen 'esther kahn' but will get to that next, i think.

"leo en jouant 'la compagnie des hommes'"
^^^ i liked this but maybe had a lot to do with sami bouajila looking very pretty in it

daria, actually (daria-g), Monday, 3 August 2009 13:47 (fourteen years ago) link

four months pass...

iirc i liked this, but 'a christmas tale', nooooo. it's kind of the french 'peter's friends' + awful use of music.

Dean Gaffney's December (history mayne), Friday, 18 December 2009 12:51 (fourteen years ago) link

to be fair i ejected after 55min.

Dean Gaffney's December (history mayne), Friday, 18 December 2009 12:52 (fourteen years ago) link

Man, I loved this movie.

queen frostine (Eric H.), Friday, 18 December 2009 13:07 (fourteen years ago) link

And A Christmas Tale, for that matter.

queen frostine (Eric H.), Friday, 18 December 2009 13:07 (fourteen years ago) link

ACT was attenuated in spots, but if anything it's more emotionally acute than KAQ (that first conversation b/w Deneuve and Amalric).

I know it's 2008, etc, but ACT didn't play in South Florida until February, so I may include it in a top twenty.

Hell is other people. In an ILE film forum. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 December 2009 13:20 (fourteen years ago) link

one month passes...

iirc i liked this, but 'a christmas tale', nooooo. it's kind of the french 'peter's friends' + awful use of music.

lol i rewatched "a christmas tale" last nite and was thinking it was kinda wes anderson w/better music or really i guess grown-up wes anderson. havent seen peters friends so i dont get the ref but im (stupidly?) surprised u didnt like this~~~

i think its really, really good fwiw and aside from any 'deeper' or 'thoughtful' reasons the entire aesthetic and experience is like designed to be deeply pleasing to me. the ppl and the clothes and the way they wear their clothes and how they talk to and touch each other and the house and the way the house is decorated and the records they play and the movies they watch and the sprawling pleasant place - would live itw.

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link

i do think the movie and most of the characters are emotionally closed-off theyre playing games w/us the movie is playing games w/us too. but i like its ability to give and take pleasure - revel in 'cleverness' and 'aesthetics'.

theres a shot were simon and sylvia are in the car talking and he cuts to cars exterior and u can see theyve been there a while - the windshield is lightly coated w/falling snow - and we can only here them talking. and then syliva moves to the backseat and bumps the wipers and the snow is brushed away (so cleanly!) and theyre visible to us again and its kinda a false and unnecessary moment but i still liked it a lot

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 16:40 (fourteen years ago) link

theres stuff i still havent really unraveled either like the part w/ the grandpa reading nietzsche (?) to elizabeth (who is ~amazing~) and then theres the car window sequence. i have an 'idea' but idk

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link

I liked A Christmas Tale watching the family dynamic in Summer Hours made the Desplechin movie look overwrought.

Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:04 (fourteen years ago) link

thought arnie was indulging the heck out of his actors in this.

free the charmless but occasionally brilliant Dom Passantino (history mayne), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:05 (fourteen years ago) link

*but watching

Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:06 (fourteen years ago) link

the whole movie was p indulgent (and overwrought!) - dont really think thats a bad thing

iirc summer hours kinda sucked

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link

^^ suggest ban

Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link

yep.

free the charmless but occasionally brilliant Dom Passantino (history mayne), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link

emmanuelle devos is the tits

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:21 (fourteen years ago) link

i thought christmas tale broke a lot of storytelling rules but did it in a way that made me love it... the scene at the end with the coin flipping... the act of which is never set up earlier in the film at all... but it doesn't seem to matter. that was a great moment.

I'm FINNISH!!!! (s1ocki), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:22 (fourteen years ago) link

The chat outside between Deneuve and Amalric was superb.

Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:24 (fourteen years ago) link

the coin-flipping is kinda set-up by (or least fits in to) the talk abt gambling/game-playing that happens throughout

idk summer hours looked and felt kinda shabby

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:24 (fourteen years ago) link

ya i guess, it just seemed to come sort of pre-packaged in that scene... in a good way tho

I'm FINNISH!!!! (s1ocki), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:25 (fourteen years ago) link

idk summer hours looked and felt kinda shabby

― b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, January 26, 2010 12:24 PM (33 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well duh it's about old furniture

I'm FINNISH!!!! (s1ocki), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:25 (fourteen years ago) link

and old people

Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:26 (fourteen years ago) link

h8 old stuff ---------> ˇsbˇ

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link

Hey, I'm old, and on some mornings I look and smell like a footrest.

Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:28 (fourteen years ago) link

suggérer interdiction

I'm FINNISH!!!! (s1ocki), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link

"idk summer hours looked and felt kinda shabby"

the hell

free the charmless but occasionally brilliant Dom Passantino (history mayne), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link

haha dont make me defend the stupid shit i post on ilx. i havent seen summer hours in like a year+ but im p sick and have not much to do but sit around and watch movies so ill rewatch it tonite if i can

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link

just cuz i realize u were all deeply concerned abt this

b( ۠·_۠·)b (Lamp), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link

I'll bring some chicken soup.

Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:34 (fourteen years ago) link

The chat outside between Deneuve and Amalric was superb.

rewatched kings and queen and their scenes were sum of my favorites in that

15 y.o. girls hellhole ratface (Lamp), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:45 (fourteen years ago) link

two months pass...

weird movie

Steve Sharta (cozen), Friday, 23 April 2010 23:25 (fourteen years ago) link

v.rad tho

Steve Sharta (cozen), Friday, 23 April 2010 23:28 (fourteen years ago) link

the first half or so of this was good, amalric on form and a sort of fractious energy that dissipated long before the end

nakhchivan, Saturday, 24 April 2010 00:29 (fourteen years ago) link

movie is pretty devastating. i know i liked it, not sure what it is I liked about it. it's definitely stuck w/ me. Loved A Christmas Tale, too. And Summer Hours! French families. They crazy.

tylerw, Saturday, 24 April 2010 02:16 (fourteen years ago) link

The family in Summer Hours is much more approachable, Also: I envy the French, and their insouciance about smoking (heavily) indoors.

Throwing Muses are reuniting for my next orgasm! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 April 2010 02:18 (fourteen years ago) link

smoking indoors, enormous homes stuffed with books and art. c'est la vie. I'd say that those portrayals of French family life are totally unrealistic, but my French cousins' grandparents have a house pretty similar to those depicted in Christmas Tale and Summer Hours. I think I need to move in with them some day.

tylerw, Saturday, 24 April 2010 02:25 (fourteen years ago) link

haha i nvr did get around 2 rewatching summer hours

smoking indoors, enormous homes stuffed with books and art. c'est la vie. I'd say that those portrayals of French family life are totally unrealistic, but my French cousins' grandparents have a house pretty similar to those depicted in Christmas Tale and Summer Hours. I think I need to move in with them some day

saw maren ade's everyone else recently & man srsly - umc europeans living beautifully framed lives alla fukken time.

where display names die, unrecognized (Lamp), Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link

almaric talken 2 the kid @ the museum is somethin i reflect on like weekly fwiw - love this movie

where display names die, unrecognized (Lamp), Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:30 (fourteen years ago) link

Really liked the scene between Nora's son and Ismael at the end of this. Tough watch leading up to it but it totally needs the concentration I can only get in a cinema.

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:45 (fourteen years ago) link

two years pass...

finally watched this, yea prob loses something viewing @ home, but is good. like its fwd momentum in the face of all messy family dynamics a lot, characters are v well drawn. i should prob watch 'a christmas tale' sometime

johnny crunch, Tuesday, 4 September 2012 13:40 (eleven years ago) link

three years pass...

the Criterion version of A Christmas Tale has a perfect freeze frame of Deneuve.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 January 2016 21:29 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

How was Jimmy P? I remember Richard Brody was high on it (interpret that as you please).

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 March 2016 11:48 (eight years ago) link

I didn't much like it, kind of half-baked.

we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 8 March 2016 12:20 (eight years ago) link

since My Sex Life and others are in new DCPs in this series, i assume Blurays are coming

we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 9 March 2016 21:33 (eight years ago) link

two years pass...

A Christmas Tale has become a comfort film.

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 July 2018 12:09 (five years ago) link

two years pass...

“La Sentinelle” is weird. Borgesian even. Rosenbaum supposedly compared it to “Paris nous appartient” and I can get with that.

SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 20:39 (three years ago) link

A Christmas Tale has become a comfort film.

It started as one.

On average, this critic grades 8.3 points lower than other critics (Eric H.), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link

two weeks pass...

ooooh

stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Tuesday, 15 December 2020 20:15 (three years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.