Les mariées

I saw this movie on June 17 '05 at the Acadamy of Motion Pictures theater in Bevery Hills. It is an outstanding movie. Damien Lewis is very good in the film. The lead actress Victoria Haralambidou (?) is also excellent. Those with Greek blood and especially those of the diaspora will find deep emotions in this film. I came away feeling that it is a testament to the strength of Greek women. I hope that it soon will be distributed widely in the USA so that it can be seen by a wider audience. There is an unforgettable scene of all the mail order brides in their wedding dresses from throughout Greece, Turkey, and Russia. As the Damien Lewis character comments, "like snowflakes in the summer".

I had the opportunity to see this last year at The Toronto Film Festival. It was definitely my favorite of the festival. The story is beautiful and a topic that has never been featured before in a movie. All these mail-order-brides from Greece, Turkey, Russia and other east-European countries on there way to the US to marry a man they only knew from a photograph. I love the romance-story between Norman Harris and Nikki Douka. The end is quite a surprise and it brought a tear to my eye. This is not a Hollywood block-buster with lots of special effects, but it is a real story about something that happened in Greek history almost a century ago. It is not only for Greek people but also for those who love a romantic love story unfolding in tragedy...

My English are not very well but I'll try. This is a movie that I really love. It moves me a lot and contains some so wonderful scenes and quotes that I'll remember for years. Of course I have the special edition of DVD and I've seen it again and again. The movie has the most powerful erotic moment that I saw in cinema for a long time now – so far from the cliché and stereotypes of Hollywood. Her shoe, his hand, their eyes! Nothing more. No sweet words, no unnecessary movements. Just a touch and a look. The performances are very emotional and the same time realistic, the direction of Pantelis Voulgaris strong and precise and the music haunts you many hours after the viewing. And don't forget that the movie tell us some true events that happened at the early of 1900. Imagine a women (700 in the movie) who travel with an old ship cross the Atlantic (when till then she never goes farther 1 km from her poor village). She's going to a foreign country, an unknown future and a stranger husband with only some clothes and the photograph of him. She is clever, dynamic and good looking, and in spite of all that marks she accepts her destiny, against to her heart and her deepest feelings, because the family and the traditional values have the first priority in her choices. After "Brides" I feel deeply grateful for the fact that I am a citizen of 21 century and in a democracy which NOW respect the women as equal as the men. I recommend you strongly this film.

Sad, beautiful, subtle, it is a strange poem about limits of love and shadows of duty. A film about sacrifice and emotions of worlds and searches. A picture of the last century, very old, small, paper cry. The people and their desire. Confuse, heavy, cold. Signs of resignation and pieces of innocent beauty. Splendid images and a delicate emotion as nimbus of confession. A parable of lost smile. Some women and a photographer. And a long travel to America. A new world, a new life and a love without bones. A Greek story. Or a story of every day in a land of nobody. It is not important. The pain, the dreams, the illusions are the same. The faces and looks are pieces of a huge game of existences, hopes and emotions. So, a sad, beautiful, subtle movie.

I have to present my respect to producers of Brides those are come from my neighbor country for this excellent movie. This movie,stands as a statue of excellency next to bullshits of Hollywood. Greaks teach to world how a romance movie is made. You can see neither voluptuous sexuality nor meaningless and artificial "love". Real life stories of real and "ordinary" seven hundreds brides who were ordered by mail, and real LOVE Norman and Niki. The question of "why a this kind of movie can not attract of attention of many of people", should be asked by every real cinema fan to him/herself. Common, leave bullshits of Hollywood, turn your faces and "brains" to real movies and world cinema. Break and destroy hegemony of American "junk culture" which effects every millimeter of life