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Amazon.co.uk Review
Sally Potter's The Man Who Cried, like her acclaimed Orlando before it, is an ambitious exploration of identity, richly intoxicated with the sensual possibilities of cinema. Photographed by one of Europe's greatest cinematographers, Sacha Vierny (Last Year at Marienbad, Belle du Jour, Hiroshima Mon Amour), with extravagantly beautiful costumes by Oscar-winner Lindy Hemming (Topsy-Turvy) and set in the vibrant milieu of a Paris slowly building towards World War II, visually this is European cinema at its bigger-budget best. The costumes in a Parisian can-can club are some of the most sumptuous ever created, and the sombre hues in the misty Russian village of the opening sequence haunt the screen throughout the film, yet they promise an excellence and a mystery that is never quite delivered. Potter's ambition isn't justly rewarded largely because of her strange choices of lead actors. Perhaps due to the weight of a hefty budget and the perceived box-office pull of American stars, some odd casting choices were made. To see Christina Ricci as a displaced Russian peasant, not to mention Johnny Depp as a Romanian Gypsy and John Turturro as a fascist Italian theatre director, jars to say the least. Perhaps this was part of Potter's design in a film that is once again obsessed with the splintered and shimmering surfaces of European identity (or maybe the cod accents are a mark of Potter's reputedly cheeky humour?).
On the DVD: The DVD itself is disappointingly devoid of extra features, but this digital version beautifully showcases the glorious craftsmanship on offer. --Tricia Tuttle
Video Description
The Man Who Cried is set in 1927 and follows the story of Fegele, a young Jewish girl who is sent overseas by her worried Russian parents to escape the threat of persecution. When she arrives in England, her identity is stripped away - she is fostered, re-named Suzie and strictly forbidden to speak her native tongue.
Ten years later, Suzie (Christina Ricci) flees to Paris to begin a new life and joins the chorus of a prestigious opera company. There she befriends Russian dancer, Lola (Cate Blanchett) and falls in love with a gypsy horse handler (Johnny Depp). As the Nazi threat intensifies, Suzie is once again forced to flee the life that she has created and to leave all that she loves behind. A powerful story of love, loss and one woman's search to find her place in a world of turmoil.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
It is always a little difficult for me to be objective, as I am an avid Johnny Depp fan, but I must say that I was spellbound by this film. The atmosphere is enchanting and the photography is outstanding. Additionally, the cast are all high caliber and deliver quite outstanding performances.
As another reviewer commented, the actors didn't all get a chance to develop their characters, but then the film is about the experiences of Suzie, the young Jewish girl played very convincingly by Ricci, with other characters being milestones -though important ones- in her journey. If you cry easily then you probably will. Not because the film is soppy in any way, but the storyline is just very sad, and you get to feel what the characters are going through.
Johnny's role reminded me a little of his part in Chocolat, i.e. gypsy outcast, but here it is a much more tragic and intense character.
Overall an impressive film, and I can certainly recommend it.
As another reviewer commented, the actors didn't all get a chance to develop their characters, but then the film is about the experiences of Suzie, the young Jewish girl played very convincingly by Ricci, with other characters being milestones -though important ones- in her journey. If you cry easily then you probably will. Not because the film is soppy in any way, but the storyline is just very sad, and you get to feel what the characters are going through.
Johnny's role reminded me a little of his part in Chocolat, i.e. gypsy outcast, but here it is a much more tragic and intense character.
Overall an impressive film, and I can certainly recommend it.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I watched this movie recently not expecting too much. I actually had planned on going to bed when it came on t.v. but I was captivated by it. The whole story is brilliant. Ricci is wonderful as the jewish girl, who sets out across the world to find the father that left to make a new life for his family in America. Before he can send for her though, the war breaks out and they are separated for what seems forever.
There are wonderful performances all around, and Cate Blanchette is fantastic as Ricci's friend. Johnny Depp makes an appearance here too, as a gypsy. He meets Ricci and they eventually fall in love. It's a delicious film although Depp hasn't enough screen time for my liking, but there is something so simply wonderful about it that I would definately recommend it.
The fact that you never actually see the German soldiers doesn't detract from the film at all. It makes it all the more poignant that you can only hear them marching, but they still come across as domineering and frightening.
If you are a true movie fan and not just a blockbuster watcher, I think you will enjoy this film.
There are wonderful performances all around, and Cate Blanchette is fantastic as Ricci's friend. Johnny Depp makes an appearance here too, as a gypsy. He meets Ricci and they eventually fall in love. It's a delicious film although Depp hasn't enough screen time for my liking, but there is something so simply wonderful about it that I would definately recommend it.
The fact that you never actually see the German soldiers doesn't detract from the film at all. It makes it all the more poignant that you can only hear them marching, but they still come across as domineering and frightening.
If you are a true movie fan and not just a blockbuster watcher, I think you will enjoy this film.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The film tries to bring together four different types of refugees. Southern Italians who migrated to Northern Italy and became mussolinians. Russian female dancers who fled away from the Bolshevik revolution and are ready to use their bodies to get acquainted with rich people, no matter what. Russian Jews, representing all Jews, running away from persecution, Russian or German, communist or nazi. Gypsies who are at home nowhere and are always shuddering in front of some danger but always fighting with their one and only family, for their one and only family, for survival. And the film covers about 15 years of European history starting in 1927. It is a very sad film with negative events and persecution adding up, year after year to a total deculturization that is imposed onto all those who do not fit - the very word used by the Welsh teacher who will teach Fegele-Suzy how to sing and who was punished for speaking Welsh in school - in the normalized society in which they live. And yet, deep in the deepest depth of one's soul there is an island or a cavern where one is what one has always been and will always be. It is called resilience and the film is a marvelous example of such resilience. One can always survive in one's mind if one believes in the power of human memory: never forget the past, just cultivate it in your mind's eye and it will come back one day. The film is also a powerful lesson of love. Love is the power to convince the one you love to run away from danger and live, though you have to stay behind and fight. And the man who loves Fegele-Suzy that much can cry all night when she sleeps in their last night together and pretend he is asleep when she is ready to go. And yet the film never gets sentimentalese. It remains extremely pure, perfect and does not waste time and energy on self-pity or pathetic schmaltzy compassion.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
not my usual film but
- actually, I'm glad I stuck with it. Stark and sumptuous by turns, the story of a Russian child's flight from her native land and her search for her father is not the usual gung... Read more
Published 22 months ago by J. Turner
Absolutely superb
In line with many others here, I have to say this is an utterly superb film. It is beautifully filmed and acted, Johnny Depp, as always, gives a thoughtful and powerful... Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2010 by crimson earth
wrong film????
Why is it that the reviews written so far talk of Johnny Depp, but the photo on the cover is of Cieran Hinds? Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2010 by E. G. Trueman
Promised much but delivered nothing - rubbish.
Purchased this item on the basis of strong reviews. Lasted about 50mins before I just could not take any more of this pointless film that was made worse by the silent, mean & moody... Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2009 by Ronwil
A beautiful and sensitive movie
A beautiful and sensitive movie about a Jewish child , Faygele (Claudia Lander-Duke) , in Russia , in 1927 , whose father emigrates to the USA , intending to send for his family... Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2008 by Gary Selikow
visually stunning gem
This kind of film will either leave you feeling moved or feeling bored. I luckily was taken with this film straight away. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2008 by L. Dorward
Thought provoking and moving
I found this film both thought provoking and moving, yet on a subtle level. It is not an intensified expose of religious and social persecution, in comparison to the harsh... Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2008 by M. James
BORING
This film has been reviewed extremely highly by others so I was sorely disappointed when I set through 50 excruciating minutes of weirdness. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2008 by K. Baker
I'm impressed!
This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Great story. Great music. Great acting. A complete masterpiece. They don't make many of these! It is utterly recommended.
Published on 5 Jan 2006 by Frankie Boy
An Emotional Journey
I wanted to watch this film for two main reasons firstly because I think Johnny Depp is extremely talented as well as beautiful and secondly I am interested in the history of the... Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2005 by P. TURNER
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