My Week with Marylin (2011)

Another film that is based on a book. It seems that awful lot of period films are based on a book. There isn't that much of plot in this movie, the title pretty much tells it all. Our main character is the youngest (if I remember well) son and also the black sheep of a wealthy British family. His dream is to become a famous director (if I remember well, to be honest it was quite a long time ago that I saw this, as part of the challenge I failed miserably...). He manages to get a job as the second director-assistant or something like that in Marylin Monroe's next movie (one of the last ones) that she happens to shoot in England. She grows to like him, and, I think needless to say, he totally falls in love with her. They spend a week together and pretty much this is what the movie is about. It  focuses on Marylin's growing addiction and her constant need for attention.

Now I must say that first I was kind of disappointed in Michelle Williams' acting but then I thought about it and realised that in each and every movie I'd seen with or about Marylin Monroe she behaved like that. So I think Michelle Williams did a great job with the role after all. I found the character a little bit annoying but it's not her fault. As I saw this quite a while ago, I don't really remember what kind of feelings it evoked but I think it wasn't a bad movie. There were some parts I skipped but then again, there are a really few movies which I can watch without any skipping so that doesn't mean that I didn't like it. I remember liking the music a lot.

(Excuse the style, I didn't really know what to write about this but didn't want to leave out either. Here's this kind of half-assed post as a result.)

Mozart's Sister (Nannerl la soeur de Mozart) (2010)

As the title suggests, the movie centres around the character of Mozart's sister. It shows approximately a year from the life of the Mozart family as they are travelling through Europe with their two musically talented children who give concerts mainly for the members of the aristocracy. The whole film takes place in France and shows the events from Nannerl's point of view. We see how she develops friendships with some members of the royal family and also how she is suffering from her father's (and society's) preference of her brother over her. She is also a talented musician but as a woman, she is not allowed to play the same instruments as her brother, or to take the same lessons (or lessons at all).

I wasn't familiar with her story. In  fact, I didn't even know that Mozart had a talented older sister. I think this is exactly the  message of the movie: had she lived in another time, or been born a boy, there is quite a chance that her character would be known world-wide today.

Since I knew nothing about her figure I expected a completely different movie. A much lighter one. I wouldn't say that this film is a particularly heavy one, but it is not a light comedy either. It is quite slow-paced, I actually found myself skipping some parts, I confess, and well, I think if I say that it's very French I said everything. It wasn't bad though. I'm not really familiar with famous composers' lives (shame or not) so it was interesting and informative for me. On the other hand, though, I must say that I was not amazed by some of the actors' work. If you look at the cast and crew list, the name Féret appears quite a few times. In some cases, especially one, it was obvious that the person was casted not exactly for their talent but because of their name.

Miss Potter (2006)

The film is based on the life of Beatrix Potter, the writer and illustrator of the most successful children books of all time. It begins with her, after a long search, finding a publisher at last, and shows the years of her life during which she became a well-known author with occasional flasbacks to her childhood.

I'm a fan of Renée Zellweger so I had been meaning to watch this movie for a long time. Ever since it came out, actually, and I'm glad that I eventually got around to doing so, as I loved it to bits and bites. I think it goes without saying that Reneé Zellweger was absolutely brilliant. Also, it was a pleasant surprise that Ewan McGregor had a role in it, he's one of my favourite actors, too. So I think we can say that the cast was very fortunately chosen.

The story was sweet, even with the sadder moments, and had the cutest love story. I don't usually find love stories cute but I can't describe this one otherwise. Another thing that must be mentioned is the scenery. Parts of the story take place in the countryside and the scenery is simply breathtakingly beautiful. The visual effects with her drawings were pretty cool, too. They were simple and cute.

This movie is absolutely worth a watch. It is one of those stories that put a smile on your face that stays there for quite a while.

(On a side note, I don't like the poster at all. It is way too cold and makes it seem like the movie is about a witch or something. I get that the clouds and the shimmer refer to her imagination but still, I would have chosen green as a ruling colour.)

Coco Chanel (2008)

Well, the previous movie made me curious of the story of Coco Chanel so I watched another one about it. Compared to Coco Avant Chanel this one seemed way more credible. I think that that one is a rather liberal interpretation of her life and career, while this one tried to be accurate. Though I cannot be sure since I don't really know much about the real story. Anyway, all in all this movie was really good. It had a frame and was basically a string of flashbacks. First I thought it made the movie kind of lame but eventually I realised that it gave it a nice structure, focusing on parallels between her present (after the Second World War) and past. One of the things put in the centre was her ability to always start anew after each and every blow in her life. She says something in the movie along the line: it's failure that gives you strength not successes; she had her share in both. There were a few things, though that I didn't like at all. It's an English-language movie, they speak Enlgish from the beginning. Seeing that most of the main actors were French (judging from their names and accents) French could have been used sometimes. Especially in the scenes from her childhood when she speaks to her parents. Of course then the integrity would have gone, since later she was in France as well, why speak English? I don't know how it could have been done better but I found it a bit annoying, the use of English with a heavy French accent all along. Bottom line: it has its flaws but is definitely worth a watch. After watching this one, I wouldn't recommend Coco Avant Chanel. Only if you're an Audrey Toutau fan.

Coco avant Chanel (Coco before Chanel)

As the title indicates the film focuses on Coco Chanel's life previous to the foundation of the Chanel brand. I didn't really think into it before I started watching the film so I was a bit disappointed. It really doesn't show much of how she and her brand became what they are today, which I expected to see. Rather it focuses on her personal life (mainly in her twenties) and on how she got in touch with the upper classes, which eventually helped her career. Anyway, after taking a closer look at the title it completely makes sense as this was the aim of the film after all. Another thing that has to be mentioned in connection to the movie (in my opinion) is the resemblance between the actors and the people they portray. After finishing the film I looked for some pictures and on the basis of what I saw it's clear that the creators made an effort to find actors who somewhat resemble to the characters they portray. In my view it is a plus, I've seen movies where it was obviously not a factor. I think it goes without saying that Audrey Tautou was great as Coco Chanel, I always liked her acting, natural yet powerful; the other actors did a great job, too. Although it wasn't exactly what I expected, I really liked the film.