Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Psychedelic fantasy..., 2 Jun 2005
By A Customer
Made in 1968, this weird and wonderful movie has a psychedelic soundtrack by 'Beatle' George Harrison (also features Eric Clapton)This really is a tripped-out look into cool 60s London, the fashions, sexy energy & psychadelia aplenty. So much going on that you really need to watch more than once. An eccentric professor (Jack MacGowran) discovers a hole in the wall through which he can see into the apartment of Penny (Jane Birkin), the beautiful young model living next door. He becomes completely obsessed by Penny and her bizarre world - fashion models, photographers, parties, drugs, sex and music. You may know Jane Birkin as the famous voice on the 'Je t'aime' song...
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good atmosphere, great colour, poor story-line, 2 Dec 2007
The plot for this film is very basic: eccentric, loner professor (Jack MacGowran) living in ultra-cluttered home spies through hole (later holes) in the wall on swinging, psychedelic household next door and fantasises increasingly about Penny Lane (Jane Birkin), the girl living there with her boyfriend.
As a product of swinging London in the 60s, I bought this film expecting to be transported back to those wild, delicious times. It didn't happen much. There are certainly a number of authentic touches: psychedelic cars, flamboyantly-clad models, Penny Lane's brilliantly decorated and furnished flat (that's extreme - and bang on!), and a predominance of fashion photographers. Accompanying all the extravagant visuals we have George Harrison's soundtrack, dominated by the wailing sitar and reminiscent in turn of Revolver or Magical Mystery Tour, though sadly never as melodic as either.
Our cameo portraits of the 60s are glimpsed as the prof presses his eye to the wall, where he witnesses exactly what you'd expect for the time: drugs, sex, music, models, photography, plus the usual boyfriend-girlfriend dramas. However, don't expect to see people tripping out on LSD or having wild, explicit sex - there's none of that. The prof's episodes of voyeurism are interspersed with fantasy sequences, increasingly of the prof getting together with Penny. These sequences are sometimes amusing, sometimes visually striking, sometimes pointless. Jane Birkin usually provides the eye candy, and without her you're left thinking that the fantasy sequences would often be pretty tedious.
The film does give you some tastes of the 60s, though 'Blow-up' and 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush' evoke the period far better. The strongest thing about the film is the striking use of colour. The weakest thing is the lack of a decent plot: Jane Birkin and Jack MacGowran are both fine actors but are not given enough material to work with. The thinking was presumably that creating a psychedelic 60s atmosphere would be enough to carry the film, but the best films of the era all have far stronger story lines. If you're a dyed-in-the-wool 60s fan, you might feel you want to own it; if you're not, you won't.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complete loss of plot? Ah yes! I remember it well., 22 Mar 2008
Sorry! But I can't agree with Geoff Parkes. It has taken me three attempts to sit through this film and it's definitely third time lucky.
Yes, the acting is pretty dismal at times and there is hardly any plot; if you were with us about the time this film was made you might recall that's just how the latter half of the decade was - no plot at all - everything was extemporised, ask the government of the time they were certainly winging it. Good old sixties all form and no substance.
I'm sure any audience for 'Wonderwall' was probably supposed to be whacked out of their skulls, it's certainly a sugar lumps, whacky baccy and oil projector type of experience. I'm far more likely to take it down off the shelf more frequently than 'Blow-up', and I prefer it to 'Les Bicyclettes de Belsize' - now there is one wierd but evocative movie.
As a prelim' to watching, try slipping Floyd's 'Relics' on the turntable, clamp on your headphones and wind the volume right up, you should then be in the proper frame of mind for viewing.
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