| RATING: | 100% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Amazing how such a slight and inconsequential story of infatuation could turn into such a profound meditation on the human condition and the desire to procreate, but here it is: A bone fide masterpiece.
The performances are all perfect and the continual music, by the gifted Michel Legrand, perfectly complements the emotional ups and downs of the fully-realized main characters.
The enchanted fairy-tale atmosphere and lucid colors are oddly-complemented by telling a realistic story (single motherhood & marrying-for-love or money); the familiar brilliantly-complementing the recitative delivery of the dialogue - rendered as if they were song lyrics. No-one here bursts into song since they are already singing throughout - unlike a conventional Hollywood musical.
The film reflects the fact that one cannot live in the past and yet we are constantly surrounded by things that remind us of the very thing we cannot live in. Here it is a daughter of one man being raised as if she were the daughter of another.
This is an exceptional example of a total film that never lets its grip of you relent until the very end - the kind of effect Baz Luhrmann failed to achieve in Moulin Rouge or Michael Powell (far more successfully) in The Red Shoes.
There is nothing here to dislike especially because of the realistic ending that is simultaneously sad and uplifting. A stunning example of the art cinema can be when it fulfills its own potential for greatness.
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