Les fantasmes de Madame Jordan

To say this movie is weird, is an understatement. But that's what makes this great character study of a film, intriguing, with just the right amount of sex and nudity, complimented by an intriguing weirdness and stylishness. You gotta give it that. Though it's that early pier scene, that stays in my mind, the great Anspach who just commands the screen, with each scene she's in, plays an insanely bored rich little wife, who husband's neglect has worsened to the point of making her completely tipped over. Her frustration is something we really sympathize, if painfully witness, where she goes to some scary lengths, two illustrate her upset. Getting in a bit of strife at the airport, where she's separated from hubby, and ending up with some "not your typical but exciting immigrants", she happily embarks on a rejuvenating adventure with some pretty saucy scenes, some you can well tell, have been toned down. The bizarre yet tragic ending based on fact, is the high point of this whole film, which if far from perfect, but one movie experience, you must indulge once, if even just for the great Anspach. Indulge

This is a nihilist black comedy about the emptiness of success and riches.

Susan Anspach is an American housewife, 40ish, married to a rich Swede, and living in a palatial Stockholm seaside residence. She's bored and frustrated. Her father-in-law is 80ish and auditioning wives. Her children are helping their grandfather with the auditions. Her husband is always out of town, and when he's in town he won't sleep with her. Gradually, her behavior is becoming more and more erratic.

When she is denied permission to board a plane to Brazil (because she tried to carry oversized gardening shears on board), she falls in with some struggling Yugoslavian immigrants, and is attracted by their zestful, lusty craziness.

This movie is completely nihilistic. All of the characters are painted in very broad comic brushstrokes, ala Dr. Strangelove, and the sets and situations border on the surrealistic. (There's even a dysfunctional clock homage to Dali's "Persistence of Memory")

This is one odd movie, but I liked it a lot. One cannot expect the characters to behave as people really would, but the movie is energetic and hilarious in sections, erotic in other sections, and the production values are impressive.

This was made in 1981. The director never really made a brilliant movie, but he should have. There is so much talent in evidence here.

An hilarious and weird sex comedy from Dusan Makavejev, about an bored, neurotic American woman married into an insane and yet strangely uninteresting Swedish family, who finds release in a group of randy, freedom-loving (if scruffy) Yugoslavian immigrants. Makavejev's take on modern Europe and modern life in general seems just right to me. Susan Anspach makes the most of her leading role, and is better than I've ever seen her before. She never quite broke through as a major star, and her work in Montenegro will leave the viewer wondering why.

The movie is rather captivating in the way it teases you with the sexiness of the main character. From the airport search to the way she is approached by the young girl. i got a feeling of Cabaret during some of the dance scenes. The rawness of the sexual encounters seemed to exemplify the statement the officer at the airport said, "There is plenty of food in this country". It made me feel as if I was an immigrant dealing with the restraints of a modern country. The sex scenes were tasteful for an early 80's film and the lure of the folk like style of the people displayed the fact that she was less naive then they were. The last part seemed like a joke that sealed the blackness of the film. It seemed unnecessary but the statement rang through. How all of the decadence of her real life was totally repulsive to the viewer and the lead. I watched it with my wife and found the tension of what they would do to the lead character as she went deeper into their world almost unbearable. Little did I know it was the opposite.Great movie that holds up well through time.

From the director of Sweet Movie and The Coca-Cola Kid, this English-language film is very reminiscent of the latter (which was made four years later). It's just a very odd, quirky comedy. It also contains bits of blistering, hilarious eroticism. It's hard to make eroticism humorous. The film's most memorable bit involves an exotic dancer dodging a remote-control tank armed with a dildo. The story involves a wife (Susan Anspach) who tries to catch up with her husband (Erland Josephson, RIP) as he boards a flight. Unfortunately, she packed garden shears, which gets her taken to a small, back room for searching. There she meets up with a Yugoslavian immigrant, with whom she attempts to catch a ride home. They get sidetracked, though, to a settlement of other Yugoslavian immigrants, where her adventure begins. Meanwhile, Josephson returns home, not knowing what happened to his wife. The film is very airy and enjoyable. It doesn't equal out to much at the end. I'd rank it a ways below The Coca-Cola Kid, but it's well worth checking out.