Ninette

Ninette (2005) by Jose Luis Garci boasts a good cast , such as: Elsa Pataky , Carlos Hipolito , Enrique Villen, Fernando Delgado , among others. Entertaining and amusing film with great players , sympathetic situations , and smart mood . Set in the Fifities, this is an attractive and charming comedy in which a dowdy Spaniard (Carlos Hipólito) , goes to Paris on holiday, hoping to meet a pretty French girlfriend . A friend of his who lives there sets him up to stay with a Spanish family. Armando (Enrique Villén) provides him accomodation at a boarding house inhabited by two Spanish Republicans . His wishes may come true after meeting Ninette (Elsa pataky), his landlord's sensual and possessive young daughter. Their parents (Fernando Delgado, Beatriz Carvajal) are communists and atheists self-exiled in France after the Spanish Civil war. Andres then falls for the young haunting and possessive daughter of both.

A passable and polite comedy with subtle laughs and acceptable direction and in which the splendid actors provide nice acting . It isn't quickly filmed , but slowly shot , and excessively talkie ; nevertheless , containing a witty and sparkling dialogue at times. However, this Jose Luis Garci film is quite uneven, in reality it is a play filmed in interior settings without exteriors that would have helped a little to enhance the story. The movie feels overlong, heavy and somewhat boring with half an hour less in its duration the film would have been much better. The picture is partially saved thanks to the interpretation that is displayed by a notable main and support cast of the best Spanish actors. The two main ones: Elsa Pataky and Carlos Hipólito give decent interpretations, however due to the continuous, empty and uninteresting dialogue, their performances end up being scattered. There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast playing eccentric characters make cosy fit . An agreeable , and attractive and charming film, standing out Carlos Hipólito who delivers an adequate performance as the single man who decides to trip Paris with unexpected consequences, as well as Elsa Pataki giving a sensual acting as the young girl who falls for him . She is really wonderful and imitating the French accent . Support cast is frankly awesome , such as Fernando Delgado and Beatriz Carvajal as the old and odd couple of Republican exiles .Furthermore, Illustrious supporting characters in brief appearances, such as: Mar Regueras, Miguel Rellán, Carlos Iglesias, Eduardo Gómez, Jorge Roelas and María Elena Flores . Most part takes place indoors , at the French apartment , and shot at studios, without even showing some brief exterior shots of the magical city of Paris. Besides, a few roles and some incidents seem artificial , and implausible, as when Andres arrived in the apartment and , quickly , he falls for Ninette , kiss each other and go to room . However , the developing of the film is finely paced and as a result , it is amusing , fun and funny . Being adapted from a play by the popular writer Miguel Mihura , a prestigious author whose books and stories have been very rendered such as Melocoton en almibar , Solo para hombres, Maribel y extraña familia , Puente para la paz , Bigote para dos , La hija del penal , Castillo naipes , among others .

The motion picture was unevenly directed by José Luís Garci. He is considered to be one of the best actors/directors of the Spanish cinema . Garci directs good and successful movies as his first trilogy formed by Asignatura pendiente, Asignatura aprobada and Las Verdes Praderas. José Luis Garci is without a doubt one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film in Spain and perhaps the best known writer/filmmaker in the country . Garci won one Academy Award for ¨Volver a Empezar¨ or "Starting Over". Although Garci was not the first Spanish director to win that award . Luis Buñuel had won the prize in the same category "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" , but this film was really a French entry . After his Oscar win in 1983 for Best Foreign Language Film with Volver a Empezar (1982) , he received three further nominations in that category with Sesión Continua (1984), Asignatura Aprobada (1987) and El Abuelo or The Grandfather (1998 ), making him the most-nominated Spanish director in that category . He has left a distinguished talent in his successful movies throughout the years , as writing as shooting , such as : La Cabina (1972) , Las Verdes Praderas (1979), Sesión Continua , and his big hit: Volver a Empezar (1982), And Special mention for his 'Film Noir' trilogy The Crack I, The Crack II with the great Alfredo Landa and El Crack cero with Carlos Santos. 'Ninette' rating 5/10.

Ninette by Miguel Mihura has been adapted several times , such as 1984 TV series by Gustavo Perez Puig with Victoria Vera , Juanjo Menendez , Ismael Merlo . And the notorious and much better adaptation: ¨Ninette y un señor de Murcia¨ 2005 by Fernando Fernán Gómez with Fernán Gómez, Rosanda Monteros, Rafael L Somoza, Aurora Redondo, Claudia Gravy, Alfonso Del Real.

This film is a masterpiece. It is hilarious from start to finish, although it is a very subtle humour and I can imagine not everyone would appreciate it. Elsa Pataky is perfectly cast and you may well fall for her as Carlos Hipólito's character does. In fact the entire cast is perfect in my opinion.

It does drag a little bit after things move back to Spain but picks up again quickly. This would be my only complaint for the entire film.

It's obvious this has been based on a play from the way it is filmed and the fact that it all takes place inside, but it is very well done and I liked the style and feel it created. It's not for everyone of course, if you are not used to this you might feel a bit confined watching it. After all it is the dialogue that holds a film together, if you don't have a good script then you don't really have anything. And this film has a tremendous script.

This movie put a smile on my face from start to finish with it's clever and witty dialogue and kept one there as the credits rolled. I want to watch it again straight away! Some have suggested this film's only redeemable feature is the fine form of Elsa Pataky, which although magnificent is just one of many reasons to watch this charming and hilarious film.

Judging from the user reviews and overall score here this is a film you either love or don't much care for. I would suggest watching it to find out, for if you love it you will have found a film you will want to watch over and over again.

When trying to find what doesn't work in Ninette many things come to my mind. They are not the predictable ones though: The unusual scenarios (all interiors!) or the choice of an actress like Elsa Pataky (imitating a French accent) work incredibly well, and the start is the best part of the movie. As the movie goes on the only flaws are probably the hyper-naive script where characters seem very artificial and implausible, especially Carlos Hipolito who disappoints a little whereas Pataky does a quite a goo job. I haven't read Mihura's works and I suppose they worked well in theatres but it don't translate very well to cinema. The way Ninette acts, the parent's ideology's caricature and the protagonist's friend (the kind of gags) are the things I reckon less attractive of this film.

But the film doesn't crash until the family moves to Murcia and an absurd and unnecessary part is added to the film. Well, I know that everything is Mihura's two work's adaptation but it doesn't justify what starts there. They appear in Murcia (where no one has a Murcian accent and they are even laistas) and the protagonist has an attempt of affair with Mar Regueras (who wouldn't, being married to Elsa Pataky) but it doesn't go on, ending with a sudden and strange outcome. The last part back in Paris is even more strange and confusing.

So I found the first part in Paris acceptable and the rest just awful. The film seems to rely on Pataky's body to succeed and that's why they released it in august, I suppose.

I saw Ninette last year, and in my opinion it was one of the best films I saw in the whole year. Humour is very intelligent and Garci knows who make you laugh in a very polite and smart mood. These film it is not for all tastes because it's not a quick movie and who wants to see the film only for Elsa Pataky will get bored, because if you only find see her naked you can download the pictures on th Internet. The film is another thing, a good story based in the plays about the character of Ninette, the performances, the cinematography...everything almost touch the perfection.Elsa Pataky makes her best performance( she was great and superb in Romasanta, Tiovivo c1950 and Beyond Re-animator), she makes you laugh, cry and now she has become a well-known actress. The other actors in the cast are fantastic. Garci has done a very good master piece, if you want to fall in love with Ninette,just watch it(her).

Andres is from Murcia (a poor region of Spain, at the 50's) and goes on holidays to Paris. There he meets Ninette, the most beautiful girl in France and they fell in love. At the end they get married, but then, her exuberant body will cause Andres to become too much jealous. At first I wanted to watch this film as it was one of the best of the year (in Spain), it was also from Mihura's text and well I do not love Garci, but he does good films sometimes... Unfortunately, it is not very good, the main Character, Andrés, results absolutely stupid and most of the time, all that is happening has no sense (for example when andres is thinking in having an adventure with his secretary... who'd do it having Elsa Pataky as wife??). The directing is correct, nothing more, and the story results boring. The only good point is the fact that we can see Elsa Pataky nude many times, which, well has any artistic value but she's very pretty... To sum up, there are better films everywhere