La Loca de Chaillot

Lots of good comment already made except for some confusion over interpreting and understanding allegory. This is one of the best examples. Much has been said about the waste of talent by big name actors in this film. This play gives point to the old adage that there are no secondary parts in a play. This play demanded and used TALENT, hence the outstanding cast of true professionals. I was disappointed that there was no credit or reference made of the musical score. It is excellent. I'd buy a copy if I could find it. This music is haunting and will live with you for a long time. This is one of those movies that makes one wonder why it is not more prominently marketed. Maybe too cerebral?

It all depends how you approach this film. DO NOT expect a linear plot line, either by story or history. Do not expect it to explain itself for, like 2001, it leaves more questions open than it answers. This is a truly odd duck of a film and once you open up to what it SAYS about life and liberty, you can appreciate it. I disliked it at first view a long time ago and for the obvious reasons - the plot is a pencil sketch of the first order. King Arthur whacking limbs off the Black Knight makes more sense. But scrap that and listen to what the actors are SAYING about life and liberty and THEN it makes sense, for this is an allegory of a film. The closest I can find elsewhere is OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR which uses allegory just as well. Danny Kaye is always a treat, but Hepburn is in glorious 1913 costumes and owns the show, and remember this is 1969. The same year as THE LION IN WINTER for an entirely different performance. So you have to junk many standard film rules aside and THEN you will find this a very good treat of film. Have it with good French Bordeaux and cheese too. Then go outside and see if you can smell a cafe in Paris serving their unique nuclear coffee. Who knows? You may wind up there too.

A wonderful fable I happened to stumble across. The inimitable Katharine Hepburn as the title character conspires with other eccentrics to save Paris. Warm, funny, delightfully non-sequitur and deeply poignant, this film has messages about love, greed, happiness, fear, hope, dreams. . .life. Excellent performances by all, including some wonderful dramatic acting by Danny Kaye. I highly recommend this movie.

You have to see this movie twice. The first time I saw it, I was disappointed. With such a fabulous cast you would expect something more than talk-politics-symbolism, but the second time I watched it I discovered I really loved it. Its theme is timeless and the film is of course, full of great performances.

The wonderful Katharine Hepburn carries the burden of this entire fiasco, and under any other actress's supervision, this would simply not have survived. It is not at all an easy thing to make this whole wacky plot stick together, and somehow she does it. If she has trouble at sometimes, it is certainly not her fault. The part is incredibly challenging, even for one of Hollywood's most brilliant actresses. (I'd like to see Meryl Streep try to tackle this one!) Brynnor, Gavin, Kaye and the rest all do good jobs, but the spectator can't help but ask, what are they doing in this movie? Richard Chamberlain is delightful and he and Katharine Hepburn really are the driving forces.

Yes, the themes are overdone, the film is talky, a little confusing, and even boring at times - but it still works and is well worth watching.

The first hour of this film amazed me, it's a visual treat, especially the cafe scenes with Brynner, Pleasance et al talking weird, and Chamberlain and the whacky bomb-plot; towards the end it does tend to get a little bogged down in meaningfulness, the trial scene loses some impact from being overindulgent, but overall the Madwoman is a fascinating look at sixties idealism with eye opening performances from some top stars and enough zany weirdness in the script to keep a David Lynch fan happy. Well worth a look, in my book.