andrea-prodan

François Truffaut seems to stray from familiar ground here, and for this very reason his only film in English (and first film in , striking, colour) is intriguing and odd.

Few children, few women, eerie English accents (the Director didn't speak the language!), and abstract Architecture, all point away from his signature style.

A huge Hitchcock fan, Truffaut here indulges in quite a bit of very English tongue-in-cheek wit and irony, punctuating his characters ambivalent behaviour. In fact we already know that The Firemen set fire to books and suspicious old homes, instead of extinguishing them, but above all THEY are the ones who secretly don't respect the rules they enforce!

It is said that Truffaut didn't find the peace of mind he envisaged on the set of this film and therefore didn't enjoy filming it at all. He came to detest Oscar Werner, his leading thespian in the rôle of Montag. Arguments plagued the shoot, and his casting of Julie Christie in a dual rôle, was considered by many, including Ray Bradbury who wrote the book, a tragic mistake.

But the film has enough bright ideas and 'futuristic' revelations to make it enjoyable and spooky as the years go by. Giant TV screens in the homes are the protagonists of daily life, and any creative or individualistic concern, except for Sporting fitness, is severely discouraged.

This is the third time I've come back to this film,and despite its flaws it is a pleasure to contemplate.

Art crosses language barriers!

Dino Risi has directed many Italian classics, but here he is young, but in no way does he seem inexperienced. Taking over the helm from Luigi Comencini, he brings on board a 'power trio' like Loren-De Sica- Sordi. The original script was partially written by Franca Valeri Who remains the true protagonist of this Italian caper set in the early fifties,in Rome.

Italian Cinema is full of minor films that rattle along with energy and wit, and this is one of them. Here Alberto Sordi Is repetitive alongside DeFilippo, and although the cast is choc full of great actors like Tina Pica, the script is repetitive and convaluted, stumbling on the déja-vu, especially with Sordi and DeSica as con-artists of sorts.

Franca Valeri injects a mixture of quaintness and dreamy self-delusion as Cesira (a character she had already invented for her popular TV sketches) but she brilliantly never lets self-pity crush her energy. Her pretty cousin (Loren) attracts men like flies, but Cesira Is convinced that she too will pull it off.

This is not the case and she will always be proved wrong. Manipulated or ignored by all men, she is the only one who winds up alone in the end. Or will she have another chance, as her sooth-sayer acquaintance guarantees? Resilient she is!

Not, maybe, a great film; but certainly an early showcase for a number of standout Italian actors.

Allow a Director to shoot whatever he wants...and the chance is he'll come up with something like this.

Why on Earth Vincent Gallo as the fugitive killer 'Mohammed'? Couldn't a real Arab do the job???

And Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner being conveniently deaf and dumb?! For a One-Day rôle ??!

And US contractors smoking crack in Israeli Desert (posing for Iraq) ??!

And thoroughbred white horses given as a gift, (along with designer winter coats and boots) to a total stranger...dying, and armed.

I mean... Just how stupid does Skolimowsky think viewers of his oeuvre are?!

It's like HERZOG gone Gaga.

The part where prisoners are put through the US ARMY 'programme' á-la- Abu Grihab was promising enough...but soon the whole film stumbled along to it's pseudo Arty conclusion, just like dope-faced Gallo, stumbling around amidst branches and snow.

A sorry waste of time, and money.