A Excêntrica Família de Antonia

This is a wonderful movie that shows how one woman and the people around her find happiness while rejecting the roles that society would force on them. There are good men such as farmer Bas and Simon, and perhaps even the priest in the end. This movie is not primarily about them however. It is about Antonia and her line of descendents: Danielle, Therese and Sarah. By rejecting stereotypes about the mentally ill, gay or other marginalized groups and accepting everyone for what they are, this family was able to find happiness in the face of hardship. Despite the despair of crooked finger, they prove that life is worth living. It is a complex movie. In the word of one of Therese's suitors, life is an intersection of relationships. The many relationships portrayed in this movie, most loving, some not, are what give it life and give the lives of these characters its meaning. I am a male and opponent of excessive political correctness. I was not offended in the least by this movie. The characters in it are wonderful. They happen to be mainly women, which is a refreshing change in a world where so often the female characters are only there as props for the male stars. I give it fourteen thumbs up!

What a wonderful, gorgeous, beautiful creation. Antonia's Line is a bittersweet embrace of life in all it's manifestations. It's one of those rare movies that is just as incredible as a great book. A true work of art. I've seen it four times, and would see it again.

This film was like taking a trip to an alternate universe and being given the gift of living a full, rich, and rewarding life there. For the most part, everyone is redeemed &/or fulfilled, although no one escapes tragedy, and some definitely have it worse than most. There was a line from the narrator, something to the effect of how "timed flowed into itself and wanted nothing more than to do so," (I am paraphrasing), and that, to me summed up the lovely slow pace of this film. The characters were real and quite sympathetic. I didn't find it to be agenda-driven like the previous commenter did. I simply thought it was a movie about Antonia, a kind and realistic woman, and those whom she loved.

Rarely does a movie embrace life as fully as "Antonia" (also known Antonia's Line). It was the deserving winner of the Academy Award for best foreign film in 1995. Quirky, unexpected, funny, frightening, and ultimately beautiful, Antonia's line is a portrait of hope that successfully escapes being saccharine. There are moments of violence and despair, but beauty endures. It portrays 3 generations of independent women, and the matriarch of their unusual family, Antonia. Antonia left her small village before WWII and returns years later with her grown daughter. Antonia has an opinion on everything, and smiles as she points out the colorful village characters to her cosmopolitan artist daughter who is amused by everyone from the town busy-bodies to the tradition of drunk men peeing on the church wall. However, Antonia manages to carve out a place for herself by embracing love when she finds it, and opening her arms to the needy outcasts and oddballs that are victimized by cruel villagers.

This film also offers a wonderfully refreshing depiction of love in all shapes and sizes-- connections between mentally handicapped loners, romance between women, elderly romance. It does not sensationalize these unusual couplings, rather it highlights the giddy delight that is two human beings connecting. This is truly a movie about self-made "family," lonely souls that find each other and live together with loyalty. However, one graphic rape scene and a few other (naratively essential) scenes of violence make it inappropriate for young or sensitive children. It is overall, however, not gritty or depressing. Rather it is a portrait of hope made more real by addressing the presence of shadows.

Both "My life as a Dog" and "American Beauty" are reminiscent of the kind of beauty and humor you can expect from this film.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)

This is an incredibly seductive movie with a strong sense of the spirit of Demeter and Dionysus throughout. There's no Hollywood glamour here. Instead we have an unabashed celebration of life ("This is the only dance we dance") in which love, community and simple hard work prevail. The simple are seen as the equal of the gifted, and everybody (except for rapists and hypocrites) are appreciated for their strengths and forgiven their faults. Intellectualism is seen as quaint and unsocial (as in the person of Crooked Finger) possibly leading to a morbid cynicism. And brain power (as in the person of the prodigy Therese) is just another talent, like being able to laugh or to bale hay or to have lots of children.

This is the Dionysian view of life that doesn't allow for Apollo, and there's a lot to be said for it. But I couldn't help but reflect that during the time span depicted in this movie--five generations in Holland during the twentieth century--Europe experienced some of the most horrific events known to humankind, two world wars, genocide, concentration camps, poison gas, fire bombings, political repression, and the death of millions of people. But perhaps that is director Marleen Gorris's point, to see life at its most elemental, locally and without the horror of war and the delusions of generals and politicians.

What's not to like about that? Well, not to rain on anyone's love-fest, but we have vigilante justice here and a murder, seemingly justified and certainly agreeable to the audience since the victim was a brutal rapist. Men are not exactly banished, but they are put in their place, serving or (literally) servicing women. What is banished is orthodox religiosity in the form of a hypocritical cleric who (with his disciples, we are told) goes to town and becomes a social worker (!).

This is also an ode to feminism and a deliberate tear-jerker that manipulates the emotions of the audience. Yet, somehow Gorris, who also wrote the script, manages not to offend my sensitivities. I think it is because the movie amounts to a very effective sermon against prejudice of any kind, and because of the gentle humanity of her tale.

You'll forgive me, however, if I say that my favorite part was the handstand! It was just perfect.