Noticias

No Man of Her Own: Vigne’s Classic Medieval Identity Drama Resurrected

In the early 1980s, French director Daniel Vigne seemed poised to be one of his generation’s noted forerunners with his celebrated sophomore film The Return of Martin Guerre (1982), a medieval period identity drama based on the true account of a French peasant who claimed to be a prodigal community member who had disappeared from his village under mysterious circumstances years prior. Comparable to favored film noir tropes, this compelling case study is gently relayed as a period melodrama and courtroom thriller, featuring standout performances from leads Gerard Depardieu and Nathalie Baye, not to mention a stellar supporting cast, many of whom would go on to be fixtures of French cinema.…...

When it comes to stories about medieval identity theft in France, the tale of Martin Guerre’s life has to be the king. Based on true events, the story has been told in books, plays, opera, and two films. So it clearly resonates, and is not going away anytime soon, but the best telling is still undoubtedly Daniel Vigne’s 1982 film “The Return of Martin Guerre.”

The movie tells the story of a soldier who returns to his small town after a brutal war and displays more wisdom and compassion than he had ever exhibited in the past. While he can recall intimate details from his life, his small town has a hard time believing he is the same Martin Guerre they once knew. His wife and family begin to suspect that he is an imposter, and he is taken to court for theft of identity.

It also comes with a bit of film trivia,...

Writer, actor and director to receive Lifetime Achievement Award.

French writer-director-actor Jean-Claude Carrière is to receive this year’s Efa Lifetime Achievement Award.

He will be honorary guest at the 29th European Film Awards Ceremony on 10 December in Wroclaw.

Carrière started out writing short novels based on the films of Jacques Tati. Through Tati he met Pierre Étaix with whom he made several films, among them the short Happy Anniversary (1962), which won them an Oscar.

Together with Luis Buñuel, the Frenchman wrote the screenplay for Diary Of A Chambermaid (1964), in which he also played the part of a village priest. This started a 19-year-collaboration on the scripts of almost all of Buñuel’s later films, including Belle De Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie for which they won the BAFTA for Best Screenplay.

He received another BAFTA for The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), which he co-wrote with the film’s director Philip Kaufman, and a French...

The Imposter Indomina Releasing Director: Bart Layton Cast: Frédéric Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly Dollarhide, Charlie Parker, Nancy Fisher, Bryan Gibson, Bruce Perry, Philip French, Adam O’Brian, Anna Ruben, Cathy Dresbach, Alan Teichman, Ivan Villanueva, Maria Jesus Hoyos Screened at: A&E, NYC, 7/3/12 Opens: July 13, 2012 Admit it: You’ve sometimes imagined what it would seem to be like someone else; to have Bill Gates’s money, President Obama’s prestige, Tom Cruise’s popularity, Brad Pitt’s looks, Angelina Jolie’s lips. But how often have you wished to actually Be someone else? There are precedents. in Daniel Vigne’s movie “The Return of Martin Guerre,” a man leaves his family and friends for the war [ Read More ]...

Sometimes the most interesting thing about a film is that it is an intelligent remake of another film from another culture. Last week I wrote about Daniel Vigne's The Return of Martin Guerre, which can be said to belong to European art cinema because of its ambiguity. This film was remade by Hollywood as Sommersby in 1993 and an examination of the film shows how Hollywood tailors European cinema to suits own purpose. Where European art cinema explores the fluid nature of human identity and character Sommersby celebrates character in a way that only American films can...

The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) is a brilliant film set in fifteenth century France and tells a story partly related in flashback. Martin Guerre, who belongs to a rustic, land-owning family, is married early to a young woman from the same village. The marriage remains unconsummated for several years and Martin becomes the butt of ridicule. Magic is however resorted to and Martin's wife finally becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. Martin Guerre is however still unhappy (perhaps because of his resentment towards his domineering father) and he departs one day without notice, not to return for nine long years....