And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen...

The smart and bold thief of jewelries Valentin Valentin (Jeremy Irons) decides to leave his mate and travel around the world for one hundred days in a sailing boat. In the coast of Morocco, he has an amnesia problem and comes onshore looking for a doctor. Meanwhile, the piano-bar singer Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas) is brokenhearted when her lover leaves her to stay with her beast friend and decides to accept a job in Morocco to forget the past. An incident in the hotel where they are lodged joins them and they fell attracted for each other.

"And Now…Ladies and Gentlemen…" is a delightful romance, with many attractions: the story is very charming; the cinematography is beautiful; the chemistry between the elegant Jeremy Irons and the lovely Patricia Kaas is stunning; and the voice of the gorgeous Patricia Kaas is awesome. This singer is completely unknown in Brazil, and I was surprised and touched hearing such beautiful interpretation of wonderful songs. Patricia Kaas herself alone makes this movie very worthwhile. It is difficult to assimilate Claudia Cardinale old, but she has a great performance in the role of an unfaithful countess. Claude Lelouch is amazing as usual, making a perfect combination of an attractive story with the magnificent interpretation of this wonderful Patricia Kaas. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Amantes & Infiéis" ("Lovers & Unfaithful")

I was sure Claude Lelouch was 80 or 81. After all, hadn't it been about 40 years since I saw, "A Man and a Woman"? But I didn't know that Mr. Lelouch began as a child director!

"And Now - Ladies and Gentlemen" is an exciting, engrossing, intelligent, funny, cynical and symbolically thought-provoking film by a writer/director who I'm still sure is over 80 but is allowed to deduct several years due to the nature of the business.

Mr. Lelouch uses music to move the action forward. to establish time and place and (no surprise at all) to elicit emotion and, not coincidentally, to entertain. And the acting - brilliant Jeremy Irons captures each and every nuance of his demanding role. The film is worth it if you only attend to see his performance.

I can't guarantee you'll walk out singing. As a matter of fact, I doubt it. I can't even guarantee you'll enjoy the film. But I can guarantee you will be talking about what it all meant long after the New Year has dawned.

This takes me back to my childhood, when the likes of "A Man and A Woman," "Hiroshima Mon Amour," "Last Year at Marienbad," "Jules et Jim," and a host of other fine european films were part and parcel of the "film-going" experience -- where you were not only entertained but fiercely challenged to think about what you thought you had just seen!

My plea, my suggestion to you is see this film and make up your own mind. Never, ever, let anyone make up your mind for you. Experience the power of movies for yourself, whenever you can.

...and I don't know why. "And Now Ladies and Gentlemen" isn't so much the light drama it appears to be as it is a rich, ebullient, zesty feast of film fare for the viewer. Yes, there's a story in which Iron's plays an amnesiac con-man who encounters a beautiful jazz singer with a similar health problem. But, however interesting the story is, it's just the glue which binds together a colorful potpourri of film fare from jazz ballads which flow like honey to cute/clever con schemes to ocean voyages to exotic locations to variegation of cultures/languages to beautiful/handsome visages to...etc. Whether intended or not, this film is a wonderful celebration of life to be enjoyed, not analyzed. (B+)

I enjoyed this film both for it beautiful cinematography and dialog; but also for the way it attempts to deal with the deep issues of conscience, redemption, love, and reality. Following 2 people on personal journeys, brought together by events to cure a real physical problem each has. Ultimately realizing that with or without a cure reality for each is only what their own perceptions create. The very nature of perception and reality is opened up, in a delightfully playful and twisting drama.

As with most (but not all) Lelouch films, well worth watching and taking in at the next level.

Check this out on Sundance; it's all about the eyes and the music. Irons and Kass, speak with their eyes and Lelouch gets it all. Kass's voice and eyes take "lounge singing" to a whole new and great place. The non-lineal mix of fantasy and reality worked for me, as did the interweaving of Kass's songs and the Moroccan scene. As an American I enjoyed the fact that the actors spoke their lines in whatever language worked: the Italians spoke Italian among themselves, French to Moroccans, the Moroccans Arabic and French, & of course, Jeremy's French was more than passable. Were that I were as comfortable in multiple languages--it says we can all be hospitable and get beyond what we were born with.