Kristin Scott Thomas | pinartarhan.com

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: Gorgeous, Entertaining & Heartfelt

Posted on July 1, 2012 Written by ripitup

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen starring Ewan McGregor & Emily Blunt. Image via movieposter.com.

Plot

Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) is a fisheries expert with a respectable academic position in a dead marriage. He is stuck in his routines, and when he hears about the “insane” idea of the Yemen Sheikh (Amr Waked) through an investment company, he is sure that they have all gone mad.

The idea is to introduce “Salmon Fishing” in the Yemen. However he’s blackmailed by his boss into doing it, and his boss was blackmailed into it by the Prime Minister’s press secretary Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas.) She sees this as a crazy yet wonderful opportunity for good press.

The investment company representative, Harriet (Emily Blunt) is also extremely hopeful about the project; and along with the Sheikh’s (Amr Waked)’s unlimited resources, Alfred starts to find himself enthusiastic.

As Harriet and Alfred form a friendship with the Sheikh and each other, Alfred starts to loosen up, become full of life and get drawn to the emotional and natural Emily, who is the exact opposite of his wife. When Harriet’s soldier boyfriend Robert (Tom Mison) is lost in action, it’s Alfred’s turn to provide Emily with support and enthusiasm.

And while Harriet had spent a wonderful couple of weeks with Robert, can it really beat the connection two people find through a shared dream, friendship and the experience of a lifetime?

Then there’s the question of pulling the project off despite the lack of cooperation from the British fishermen and the Yemen Rebels….

Should You See It? Definitely! Here’s why:

1) Swedish director Lasse Hallström. Apart from a movie that I didn’t really care about (Dear John), Hallström has directed movies that filled me with warmth, lust for life and hope. They usually include a decent sense of humor, full of interesting characters, good actors and engaging emotional story.

Some of Lasse Hallström’s films:

His What’s Eating Gilbert Grape starred Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis and Mary Steenburgen, bringing Leo an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Chocolat starred Juliette Lewis, Alfred Molina, Peter Stormare, Lena Olin, Judi Dench and Lena Olin. An deven though I don’t like half of Depp’s movies, both Hallström- Depp collaborations ended up as Depp movies I loved.

Casanova starred Heath Ledger, Jeremy Irons, Oliver Platt, Sienna Miller, Charlie Cox, Lena Olin.

Hachiko: A Dog’s Story feat. Richard Gere and Joan Allen

2) The actors: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas were made for their roles, and so was Amr Waked.)

3) The two lead characters are just relatable, entertaining and sweet. I also loved the cultural empathy they display both towards the Sheikh, and the Sheikh to them. His “subtle comments” on Alfred and Harriet’s relationship are priceless.

4) The transformation of McGregor’s character

5) The lines. Especially the Sheikh’s use of British English and slang.

6) The project’s transformation.

7) The scenery, cinematography, the music

I’m not a huge Ewan McGregor fan. I think he is a very good actor, but he usually doesn’t pick my kind of stories. However I really enjoyed Big Fish and The Ghostwriter, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen became my favorite McGregor effort, as well as one of my fav. Hallström.

Emily Blunt is lovely, Kristin Scott-Thomas is hilarious- especially with her relationship with the prime minister.

Still, it might not be for everybody:

This movie will probably relate more to romantics and dreamers, people who emotionally and professionally put themselves out there to find success and happiness, and self-actualization. It’s also a lovely story about friendship and love, with the project providing the chances and the platform for it.

Currently at 6.9 on IMDB, and I do find it highly underrated. After all, it makes you laugh, smile, think, believe and dream.

Based on the novel by Paul Torday and adapted to screen by Simon Beaufoy.

Leaving starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Yvan Attal & Sergi Lopez

Posted on July 17, 2011 Written by ripitup

Leaving starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Yvan Attal & Sergi López. Despite its characters, a strangely watchable film. Image via sinemag.com

Leaving Plot Summary: (Original Name: Partir)

Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is an English woman who has lived in France for a very long time. She has married the French doctor Samuel (Yvan Attal), left her profession (reflexology), had two kids and lived a suburban life.

When she decides to go back to work many years later, her husband agrees to build her an office in their house. They hire a small team of workers, and Suzanne gets along especially well with the originally Spanish Ivan (Sergi López). When circumstances, and their mutual easy-going nature, make them spend time together, an affair inevitably pursues. But when Suzanne realizes that she loves Ivan enough to leave her husband, she definitely wasn’t prepared for his reaction.

The bad thing about leaving your popular and well-connected husband for a penniless ex-con is that he can make sure you suffer from poverty. Suzanne is determined to win this war, but can a war like this have any winners at all?

Cons

Did my plot summary sound a tad dramatic? Well, the movie is a drama. Well, it is a romantic drama to be exact, but it is dramatic parts are more effective, as unfortunately for the most part, the romance was lost on me. Here is why:

1) The Other Guy is So Not Sexy! : I don’t want to sound superficial here but I can’t for the life of me can’t see what she saw in Ivan. Yes, as it turned out he was a really nice guy (well, apart from being an ex-con and having no problems sleeping with a married woman), but we didn’t really know that until after she left her husband to be with him.

Fun Note:

I just read this cruel review on Larry Crowne where the reviewer called it a painful experience watching an older Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks. While Tom Hanks was never especially cute, his Larry Crowne self is still a lot more appealing than Ivan. And that is saying something.

2) The Lover Won’ t Be A ” Lover” for Decades!: Give Ivan 20 years of marriage and we’ll see if he is that sexually and emotionally intense afterwards. Yes, her husband seemed like a tool but really, has she lived with Ivan for 20 years?

3) Cheating is not romantic! I am a romantic who is intrinsically against cheating. I am more of a leave- your-spouse-first-and have-sex-with-somebody-else later kinda gal.

Still, I have been known to suck it up when the lover was awesome and the husband was an jerk. For instance? Revenge with Kevin Costner.

However, here, the lover was anything but awesome. He wasn’t even remotely intriguing. Or sexy. Or …anything.

4) The Protagonist Can Give Feminists a Heart Attack! People gave Twilight hell because they thought the female protagonist was just against everything feminism stood for. Bascially, they were judging a17-year-old character for falling for a pretty rich & handsome dude who will live forever, and who will always be hot? Who will risk his life to save her? Hell, she might be emotionally dependent on the guy, but it is not like she stayed at home for 20 years, didn’t make or save a penny on her own, jumped the bones of the first non-attractive stranger, and left her obsessed husband to be with this stranger?

If we are talking anti-feminist, you need to condemn Suzanne way before Bella.

5) 3 Stupid Characters: Oh, and the characters are beyond weird and stupid. No one in the film seems to possess half a brain cell.

Why the hell did I enjoy watching it, then?

Because despite all its cons, the movie is entirely watchable. You gotta hand it to the director who shot a movie in French, evolving around weird characters. And you have to slap the actors on the back who make you curious even though you don’t respect/admire/like any of the characters!

Leaving has interesting scenery, an an OK pace. It is currently rated 6.3 on IMDB, and it has a lot to do with Scott’s terrific acting and charm along with the director’s.

Should you Watch It?

I won’t lie to you. The movie is not to be watched for eye-candy, or a sexy love story. It is more about the lengths a husband will go to make his wife’s and her lover’s lives miserable, and the incredulous lengths the wife will go to defy him, and secure her lover’s freedom.

Watch it at your own peril. You might very well hate or enjoy the experience. But all you want is a passionate love/sex story with pretty (or at least prettier) leads, you might want to see:

The English Patient. This movie is incredible. It has a beautifully told story where we get love, sex, passion, obsession, infatuation, war, compassion, betrayal and immense loyalty all at the same time. The movie has 9 Oscars, the man being cheated on is Colin Firth, the cheater is a much younger Kristin Scott Thomas and the other man is the highly charismatic and intense Ralph Fiennes.

Revenge. The cheaters are Kevin Costner and Madeleine Stowe. The husband is Anthony Quinn. The director is Tony Scott. Aren’t you curious already? From 1990.

The Scarlet Letter. In all defense, Demi Moore thinks her husband is dead when she was sleeping with Gary Oldman. Their problem was that it was the 17th century, the dude was a psycho and Gary Oldman was a reverend…

Verdict:

Watchable and likable, but not likely to leave a lasting impression, other than how stupid all the main characters were.

P.S. If you really want to watch a French movie where Kristin Scott Thomas is brilliant and the story is truly heart-breaking, watch I’ve loved you for so long. If you want a movie about cheating where you will lust after and/or empathize with the leads, watch one of the 3 movies above.

Il y a longtemps que je t’aime (I’ve loved you so long)

Posted on March 27, 2010 Written by ripitup

Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I've loved you so long) with Kristin Scott Thomas. Photo: http://smackamack.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ive-loved-you-so-long.jpg

Wow. This movie really makes me regret my previous attempts to dismiss most French films, aruging they have too much dialogue without enough emphasis on events (and causing the movie to drag forever). Well, I saw a lot of French films before coming out of it but with one movie, I snapped out of it. From now on, I am not going to be so quick to judge. In fact I decided to jump at it if it is written/directed by Phillippe Claudel.

The movie stars Kristin Scott Thomas and this is what made me want to watch the movie in the firs place. For one, she is a great actress. But I was more intrigued by the fact that she would be starring in a French movie, as a French woman. You might be remembering Kristin from The English Patient? Or Easy Virtue? Yes, she is English. And while a lot of good actors can master different accents of their languages (Hugh Laurie in House) or they can fake foreign accents impeccably (Mark Strong, Body of Lies), it is rarer for another actor to have mastered another language. Surely, Italian Raoul Bova has appeared in Hollywood movies and Spanish Antonio Banderas is a major Hollywood star. But they get to play foreigners since you can tell where they from upon hearing them. However I have so far seen really few native English speakers play in foreign films. While Kristin Scott Thomas’ character is supposed to have some roots in Britain, she is playing an essentially French character. So you end up admiring her linguistic abilities as well as her acting.

The Plot:

Juliette Fontaine (Scott Thomas) is released from prison after a 15-year-sentence. Her younger sister Léa (Elsa Zylberstein) is eager to bond with her again and help her adapt her new life as a free woman. Things aren’t going to be easy for either of them. For one thing, Elsa’s husband Luc ( is not all that willing to live with an ex-convict under his roof, where they are raising two small children. However, Léa is determined to make Juliette feel welcome and make up for the years where she wasn’t at all there for Juliette. Léa and Luc’s friend Michel is both intrigued by and attracted to Juliette, without knowing where she had been for the last decade and a half. Juliette tries to find a job, get along with government officials and to be loving again. Her cold and defensive attitude slowly is altered by her sister.

Now, the premise sounds simple and humane. And that’s exactly why it works. It is rare for a drama to arise your curiosity this much, as you are dying to know what crime she committed. It must be something awful, right? You don’t just get sent away for 15 years for self-defense. But on the other hand, if she did do something that terrible, how can Léa be so welcoming and trusting? And after you do learn about the crime, you get even more intrigued. How can she have committed that and lived with herself? What could have been the motive? Juliette never strikes you as a monster after all.

The pace, the dialogue, the setting and characters look and feel so real. What I find most beautiful about this movie is that its subject and characters are extremely universal and humane. You have a small family, a troubled sister with a troubled past, a mother in a nursing home and a live-in father they take care of. It is all about humanity, compassion, life, family, love, understanding, depression and reconnection. How can anyone not find at least one thing to relate to? Nothing is over the top and I adored the ending. Not because it is happy or sad; but because it is perfect just the way it is. And I won’t try to hide the fact that I shed a few tears. It is not a regular habit of mine, but the climax sort of explodes in your face. Any emotion you might have felt or delayed during the movie finally goes out.

You might argue about actions and the motives. What one person finds humane can be thought as monstrous by the other. But in the end, it is the story of Juliette. Not yours. And there are people who could have chosen to go down the path she did.

Final note: Kristin was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe in 2008 for this role. I have no idea why she hasn’t received an Oscar yet. While she was nominated in English Patient, she wasn’t nominated for this one.

7.7. on IMDB.

9-10/10 from me.

When adultery is okay,part 2: The English Patient

Posted on July 5, 2009 Written by ripitup

The English Patient (1996)

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche, Naveen Andrews, William Dafoe, Colin Firth

The English Patient starring Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas and Juliette Binoche

BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!

Do not condemn me morally corrupt before reading all of the post. I am a hopeless romantic in general and value loyalty above all in relationships. But yet there are movies depicting a story so well, and so impressively that you find yourself rooting for characters that you could normally despise. Or, sometimes the person who is being cheated on is such a bastard-pardon the language- and the potential lover so dreamy, you actually can not wait for your lead to start an affair. The latter is the case in Revenge and in The Scarlet Letter. However The English Patient, you can’t help but like the husband from the beginning. It belongs to the first category…So let’s get to the story,shall we?

WWII. Julitte Binoche plays a nurse who is taking care of a badly burnt patient (Ralph Fiennes). He is in tremendous pain. We get to see what happened to him through flashbacks: a story about love,passion and obsession beyond anything and everything else that engrosses us. Did it sound too much like a tagline? Sorry, how his tale made me feel…

Ralph Fiennes, The English Patient. The desert.

The patient is Count Laszlo de Almasy, a Hungarian map maker. Along with other explorers he is working at the Sahara Desert.Among the people he met are a British couple Katharine and Geoffrey-played by Scott-Thomas and Colin Firth. Almasy is instantly taken by Katharine and he actually treats her badly as he becomes more attracted. He is also as opposite to her husband as one can get. Count is distant,quite,mysterious and ranges from overly polite to excessively rude. Her husband is polite,friendly,nice,loving and modern.So much that when he needs to leave for a mission for a couple of days, he is trusting enough to leave his wife among a bunch of men on a desert.Despite Almasy’s suggestions that he shouldn’t.Witnessing this,Katharine is sure that this weird man despises her. But during the time her husband is away, she sees through Almasy. Discovering the inside of caves together and being stranded on the desert during a sandstorm change things. Also, Katharine gets to read his journal where he has put his fascination with her into words.

The connection and attraction are undeniable. When they get back, they have sex. Although it seems more about obsession and lust, the intimacy afterwards is sincere and affectionate.

The second time also doesn’t seem romantic at all. It is quick,impatient and rough. But then there are these moments where they look like high school kids in love.

And then she finishes off. She is feeling guilty already. He doesn’t take it well. He gets into a jealous fit. She also doesn’t know but her husband actually did see them together. The way Ralph Fiennes can turn Almasy’s charm on and off is very impressive. He gives you many reasons to not to sympathize with his character. He has an affair with a married woman, and seems to have a clear conscience about it.But then it all changes,at least in my eyes…

Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient

The husband tried to crash his plane into Almasy.Almasy dodges the attack,

but Geoffrey is already dead. And what’s worse is that Katharine was also on the plane and she is severely injured. As Almsay carries her towards the cave, we see his painful expression. When Katharine says that she has always loved him, he is in tears. And well so is most of the audience. This is the second and only other film I got teary. You feel his pain. You feel his love. The questions you might have had about the nature of their relationship and their feelings are gone. The husband you felt so sorry for, has now become the guy who (almost) kill his wife. And the guy who seemed more obsessed than in love, takes care of her in the cave on the desert. He decided to do impossible. He walks through the desert for three days, so that he might get to take her out of there and help her survive. But he faces all sorts of misfortune, does everything he can and gets back. Bu when he arrives, she is gone. This time he carries her out of the cave,tears of desperation flowing. The expression on his face is so painful and so powerful that it has stayed with me.And I saw the movie when it first came out…

Of course it is wrong to cheat on your husband. Of course it is dispeakable to cheat on the guy you willingly married and have been friends with and who has treated you just right. But then it is worse to try to kill your wife, yourself and try to kill her lover in the process as well. You wish that Almasy could have gotten a happy ending. His love for Katharine is so strong that you just feel that kind of love is above any rule or principle.And I would probably prefer to love and be loved like , over living a long,yet passionless life.

Of course there is more to the movie than the adultery.

The scenery is amazing. Written and directed by Anthony Minghella has done an amazing job. The movie has won 9 Oscars and I disagree with none. I think Ralph should have gotten best actor. His performance is amazing both as the healthy and horribly burnt Almasy. This is the first time I saw Naveen Andrews-his pre-Lost era- who plays the love interest of Hanna-the nurse Binoche is playing. Dafoe’s conflicted and interesting character adds mystery. This is the movie that made me a compulsive Ralph fan. Colin Firth plays the plain yet loving husband wonderfully- so wonderfully that I had no idea I would later consider him as a hearthrob, starting with his role in Bridget Jones. Is this a movie to be enjoyed by everyone? No. It might seem too long or like a sentimental piece of crap. It might seem just OK or like a master piece. You just have to check it out if you haven’t seen it already and decide for yourselves.

Buy The English Patient

Naveen Andrews as Kip,pre-Sayid/Lost era

William Dafoe in The English Patient — William Dafoe