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Dangerous Beauty starring Rufus Sewell & Catherine McCormack

Posted on February 18, 2011 Written by ripitup

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Dangerous Beauty starring Rufus Sewell & Catherine McCormack
Dangerous Beauty starring Rufus Sewell & Catherine McCormack. Feat. Jacqueline Bisset, Naomi Watts & Oliver Platt. Image via cinemanow.com

Marco (Rufus Sewell), a handsome and fun-loving guy from an established Venice family. And life is going just fine for him – especially after he falls in love with his sister (Moira Kelly)’s friend Veronica (Catherine McCormack).

Veronica and Marco are crazy about one another. But their happiness lasts only until Marco’s father reminds him that he has to marry according to his station; that is marrying to a girl with parents with the right background. Marco accepts this, devastating Veronica.

Veronica is intelligent, beautiful, modern and elegant. She is also a poet and a romantic. But since her pen wouldn’t feed her or her family, her mother (Jacqueline Bisset) comes up with the most shocking career option: being a courtesan. Although she is outraged by the idea, sleeping with men for money sounds better than living in a convent. So after some training, Veronica turns into the perfect seductress

Of course Marco is shocked and he is disappointed, especially when he is one of the very few men in Venice who is rejected by her – the other one being his own cousin Maffio (Oliver Platt).

Now, Marco is stuck in an unhappy marriage, still madly in love with Veronica. Veronica still isn’t over him and as events unfold, they will find it impossible to stay apart. But Maffio has sworn for revenge and when war strikes, Veronica might just lose all the power she has and witness the whole country turn against her, except for Marco…

The movie is a lovely, romantic period drama with wonderful performances from both Rufus Sewell and Catherine McCormack. Oliver Platt is always fun to watch, even when he plays the jerk.

Naomi Watts has a supporting role as Marco’s wife. The scenery, costumes and the art direction are simply beautiful. It is romantic and thought-provoking. Catherine’s character Veronica is really inspiring. She really had the guts to question the hypocrisy of her time.

It is especially recommended for the fans of period dramas and Rufus Sewell. You might remember Catherine McCormack from her short but very important role in 1995’s Braveheart.

Also on Naomi Watts

The International starring Clive Owen & Naomi W   atts

The Painted Veil starring Edward Norton & Naomi Watts

Also on Rufus Sewell

Tristan and Isolde starring James Franco, Sophia Myles and Rufus Sewell

The British Actors We Love feat. Rufus Sewell, Colin Firth, Daniel Day Lewis

The Woodlanders: A Gorgeous Rufus Sewell in an Awful Movie

In a Savage Land with Rufus Sewell

Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence: Fun romcom with Monica Potter, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes

Vinyan starring Rufus Sewell

The Illusionist with Edward Norton, Rufus Sewell and Jessica Biel

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Braveheart, catherine mccormack, dangerous beauty, dangerous beauty movie, drama, jacqueline bisset, Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt, period movie, romance, Rufus Sewell, Rufus Sewell movies, the international movie, The Painted Veil

Chéri starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend

Posted on February 5, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Chéri with Michelle Pfeiffer. She is good. The movie? Not so much.

I didn’t like this movie. Bye.

Kidding. Well, only about the second part. I really didn’t like this movie.

I like period pieces and romantic/sexy stories. I love Michelle Pfeiffer. Director Stephen Fears made Dangerous Liaisons in 1988, starring John Malkovich Glenn Close and Michelle, a movie I adored. So I was expecting something spectacular from Stephen again. Well, the magic is just isn’t here. Of course that cast included the-ever-amazing John Malkovich. Here, we have Rupert Friend. I had previously seen him in Pride and Prejudice in a small role and he had done alright. Now, even “alright” would be overstatement.

The story:
Michelle plays Lea- a glorified prostitute who is near her retirement age. I am saying glorified, because we are talking about times where some prostitutes had power, money and more style and grace than any other woman in society. She is the godmother of Chéri and this young man has started to concern his mother Madame Peloux (Kathy Bates), an ex-prostitute herself. Chéri’s life consists of sex and booze and she’d rather have him mature under the wings of her old friend Lea. But this maturing period lasts longer than they all expected. After 6 years, they are still together. But according to Madame, it is time for his son to get married. She finds the girl and makes all the arrangements. Chéri still would like to have an affair, but Lea doesn’t want to be him after he is married. So they break up, which sends both lovers to different types of depression. They try to get on with their lives, but 6 years of passion and love are not easily forgotten…

chéri with rupert friend and michelle pfeiffer
Chéri with Rupert Friend and Michelle Pfeiffer

Not a story we aren’t used to but hey, it will do. The costumes are fine and Michelle Pfeiffer is still very pretty. But the movie doesn’t work. I easily got tired of Kathy Bates’ over the top character. I was annoyed by almost everything about Rupert Friend’s Chéri. I failed to see what might have been so appealing about him. He has a pretty face I guess, in a weird way but I half-expected him to announce he was actually gay throughout the movie. He walks, talks and acts funny. He has this weird fascination of pearls and if a guy isn’t gay, his wanting to borrow pink pearls can’t be endearing. I failed to recognize the slightest level of testosterone from him. His personality? There was nothing good or charming. So how am I supposed to believe a “love” story when the guy has nothing to offer? Youth can not be the answer, she has seen many of young men before. I guess we can explain that as shit happens. But surely, a girl finding Chéri as annoying, spoilt and gay is not a good sign?

And the ending is disappointing too. I am not saying it is happy or sad. I didn’t really care either way but it was just a pointless ending to a pointless story.

I watched it because as I said: 1) Michelle Pfeiffer

2) Stephen Frears

Don’t watch it unless you love period pieces no matter what the story and find Rupert Friend cute.

Also with Michelle Pfeiffer:

Wolf

Tequila Sunrise


With Kathy Bates

My Sister’s Keeper

P.S. I love you – plays Gerard Butler’s mother-in-law

White Palace – plays James Spader’s boss

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Chéri, drama, Kathy Bates, Michelle Pfeiffer, movies, period movie, romance, Rupert Friend, Stephen Frears

When adultery is okay,part 2: The English Patient

Posted on July 5, 2009 Written by ripitup

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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
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
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
Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient

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

Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient.
Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient. My both favorite and least favorite scene of the movie.

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
Naveen Andrews as Kip,pre-Sayid/Lost era
Juliette Binoche as Hana
Juliette Binoche as Hana
William Dafoe in The English Patient
William Dafoe
Colin Firth as the "wronged" husband


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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Colin Firth, drama, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scott Thomas, movies, Naveen Andrews, period drama, period movie, Ralph Fiennes, Revenge, romance, The English Patient, The Scarlet Letter, William Dafoe

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