After Fall, Winter

So honestly I thought this movie was refreshing. It is shocking to watch sometimes because of the violent sexual nature, but well worth it. The characters were well acted and believable. The story was well developed. I was never bored or disappointed. As a psychologist, I felt the character's issues were well written and accurately depicted throughout the film. I hate movies that are too "Hollywood" with the same old boring themes. This was a nice change from the typical romantic films. I don't know enough about S&M to judge the validity there, but I felt that this movie was very moving. It dives deep into human vulnerability. If you are looking for something different and interesting then I highly recommend it! It's a movie to watch when you're feeling melancholy.

Lizzie Brochere was just about perfect. With her excellent command of the English language that sometimes needed subtle correction, to her vulnerability and an inner sadness that made you want to hold and protect her, she was great. I would see anything she was in. Her counterpart, writer/director Schaeffer, was annoying. As a struggling, depressed, overly self-absorbed writer, he apparently had one extremely successful novel and could never achieve the same level of success again. Lizzie relates that she did read his novel and found it wonderful, revealing an intimate, sensitive, honest portrait of the writer. Somehow, the qualities that he exhibited back then were long gone. He was anything but lovable, happy, confident or worthy of this much younger woman's love and admiration. Also, he was broke and owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and still had the use of a dozen credit cards. The teenage girl that Lizzie was caring for was also excellent. As for the gypsy woman and her young son, they were very believable to me. If you are depressed or impatient, do not watch this movie, unless you cheer up when you see that other people can be a lot more screwed up than you are.

This is a love story about two broken people (Michael stated that all people are broken)trying to find repair (salvation, redemption, purpose, etc.) through love. However, the damages that Michael and Sophie bring into the relationship makes it difficult for them to develop a relationship.

Michael is a masochist and Sophie is a dominatrix by profession who caters to masochistic men. You would thus think they were soul mates. However, Sophie only role plays her sadistic posture in her work and is not truly a dominatrix personally. Michael is a failure with many redeeming qualities and his masochism mollifies his failures and subsequent depression. Both enter the relationship hiding something from each other, and this serves as an invisible barrier to their love.

For the first time in her life, Sophie overcomes her anxiety over intimate love and finds herself falling in love, following Michael's lead in his dependent need for her.

However, Michael reveals himself as a pathetic failure who deceived her and she leaves him with disastrous consequences.

The movie's ending is disappointing since the potential for developing a love relationship could have been actualized with time and proper honest communication.

The movie is extremely well done in all aspects except the ending. The ending could have easily been revised in different ways to make a fulfilling story.

Manuel Bonnet as Michael and Lizzie Brocheré as Sophie were both superb. For me, Brocheré's performance ranks with that of Giulietta Massina in "La Strada" as one of the best female performances.

After Fall, Winter isn't a perfect movie, but the levels it goes to examine relationships at their most delicate hits home with anyone. Schaeffer has an amazing ability to create three dimensional characters who's flaws and problems feel real. To me that is the best of After Fall, Winter - the characters and world created. We don't have heroes with "first world problems," we have people we have seen in our everyday lives, right up there on the screen. The cast did an amazing job at accomplishing this task.

A very impressive character study, I would recommend this film to anyone sick of watching rich people fall in love in NYC and live happily ever after (which I hope is the majority of film lovers).

If Fall was a romantic exploration of a love was that was not meant to be, this sequel from filmmaker/actor Schaeffer is a deeper and darker trip down the rabbit hole that may leave you thinking, in the words of The Who, "love ain't for keeping". Schaeffer takes his own character forward in time where we see him living in dejected squalor. Hope comes in the form of an invitation from friends to travel to Paris France where he once again finds love with an unlikely mate. From there, Schaeffer finds truth, humor, pain and passion by digging deep into the psychology and sexuality of his characters. It's a stunning, masterful film and one that will be with me and even haunt me for a long time.