Suave old antique-dealer falls for a severely agoraphobic young woman, who has hired him to catalog her vast collection; but not everyone is as sincere as they seem. Years after Cinema Paradiso and Malena, Tornatore's voyeuristic quest to understand the female nature continues, but his efforts at metaphors (a subplot involving an automaton, constructed as the dealer gradually learns about the woman) are so obvious and open-handed, the enchanting power of his prior films are somewhat absent. Rush's acting and the skillful direction make the repetitive screenplay interesting, but I was still left asking: Why did Tornatore make this movie?
Mo says:
I saw it last year but the image of that collection never fades up from mind. more than 30 famous paintings were over there and IMDB named the paintings one by one by the name of painters.As you read in Interview some of them are original....Maybe the answer to your question would be here in Tornatore interview.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sbs.com.au/movies/article/2013/07/29/best-offer-giuseppe-tornatore-interview
"What were the origins of this story?
My method is always to work on many stories at the same time. I have many, many little ideas in my pockets and my boxes and on my computer. I develop them slowly and after a time many of them disappear, some eventually become a complete story and sometimes even a movie.
More than 20 years ago I had a little story about an agoraphobic. It was an idea I loved very much but the story was not good. I didn't love the story; I loved the idea. Many years later I had another story, another idea about an auctioneer. I love this kind of profession: the man who decides the value of the things; there's a strong allegory there. I loved this character, but not the different stories I invented. Then one day I put these two characters together and I added a relationship. The story became about a man who is unable to love and step by step he learns to love.
Why has Virgil experienced such difficulty with love?
He is a man who in his profession is able to distinguish the authentic and the fake, but not in his life. He is not able to look women in the eyes. He can only do this through paintings.
Thank you for the explanations. I guess the technique Tornatore uses is ubiquitous everywhere: picking up interesting story ideas and characters, and sewing them together into a story (isn't that what we did once?).
DeleteBut maybe the match-up process didn't work for me this time. Then again, when it comes to love stories, who am I to make a comment? I lack your expertise!
:-)
I really liked the concept he explained : A man who is professional to distinguish the authentic from the fake in the portray of ladies not ladies in real !
ReplyDeleteThat's correct.We followed the same trend once.
I remember in one of your educational link it was told : it's good idea to record or take a note of any interesting event or quote or any moment drew your attraction, somewhere.then it would be needed at the time of writing SP .I like this idea although I haven't started yet!
Yes. When it comes to romance ....u can't believe I saw a love story 2 night ago ,from 10pm to 2 am! It was kind of Jane Austen style movie , I mean it was a TV miniseries : North & South , 2004 ,based of the novel of 19th century , with that traditional cutoms design and Shakespearean language that I love the most.If u wanna try , it's in netflix :)
BTW, Mo : I just saw last night : The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989). If you didn't see ,please consider it . Nice movie , I guess you like it.
Thanks; yes, I've seen it. Michelle Pfeiffer and the Bridges Brothers. The piano scene shot Pfeiffer to stardom.
Deleteyes!it's a beautiful scene . Do u gree that #1 of her hot and breath-taking entrance to the scene is still Scarface ?wowwww !God helps
ReplyDelete:)
Among all Michelle Pfeiffer moments, I would still go with: "I am Catwoman! Hear me roar!!"
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