The premise
Based on Federico Fellini’s semi-autobiographical film of 1963, “8½”, and the Broadway musical, Nine is the account of womanising, though highly regarded, Italian film maker Guido Contini’s (Daniel Day-Lewis) efforts to produce a film for which he hasn’t even written a script.
Needless to say it’s not the best position to be in, especially as production is already underway, but Contini hopes that a combination of his charm, and past reputation, will buy enough time to save the day.
The play
While Contini’s best directing days are possibility behind him, his imagination remains as fertile as ever, though he is hamstrung by the inability to articulate a single word into a script.
The pressure from the film’s financiers and producers, and the media, to reveal details of the plot, does little to help.
His personal life is in disarray, with mistress, Carla (Penelope Cruz), demanding more of his time, and wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard), growing increasingly angry at his neglect of her.
The wrap
By way of dreams and flashbacks, Nine spins a compelling story of those who have become victims of their own success, and the pressures upon them to continually excel.
The hope remains though that not all artists do their best work before they become famous.
The premise
Film maker Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar) who also artfully writes scripts under the pseudonym Harry Caine, attempts to come to terms with events 14 years earlier, his affair with aspiring actor Lena (Penélope Cruz), her death in a car crash, and his permanent blindness in the same accident.
As a result of Lena’s death he concludes Mateo also died, and has lived as Harry since.
The play
Made by director Pedro Almodóvar, Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos) traces Mateo’s growing desire for Lena after meeting her at a movie audition, and the determination of her current lover Ernesto (Luis Gómez) not to let her go.
So great is Ernesto’s obsession, he even has his son, Ray, film her every movement while she is on the set with Mateo.
The wrap
Unfolding in a series of flash backs, Broken Embraces is a confronting, sometimes violent, tale of love, lust, obsession, and revenge.
The skillfully crafted love story that is Elegy frequently renders the not insignificant “30 odd year” age gap between Consuela Castillo (Penélope Cruz) and David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) virtually imperceptible and even irrelevant… which of course is the idea.
What a premise director Woody Allen dangles before us here. The prospect of a ménage à trois featuring Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, and then Scarlett with Penélope Cruz. A ploy to get the punters in perhaps? Well, no, not quite.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an attempt to define love, and what we want from it. And what a quest that is. By curtain fall we discover (or rediscover) that what works for one person (or possibly even a couple…) doesn’t fly for the next person.
Perhaps a plan would help? Is love (and marriage) a duty, an obligation? Or should we go with the flow and see if we can (ever) find something that suits?
And sometimes all we may ever come to know is what we don’t want.
