Set in Paris 1912, this is the first movie about the intrepid and adventurous young journalist and novelist Adèle Blanc-Sec. We first see her in Egypt trying to find a particular mummy that she needs to bring her sister alive, victim of an accident when she was younger. At the same time in Paris, a Pterodactyl eggs mysteriously hatches and the animal starts attacking people…

What didn’t work for me? Well, many things actually. First of all, Adèle. In the comics she is supposed to be an arrogant and politically incorrect young woman with a dry sense of humor who permanently harbors an annoyed look in her face. Louise Bourgoin, despite her best efforts, couldn’t bring the real character alive. Her jokes were flat, her acting seems forced and the way she mechanically delivers her lines is almost tragic… I couldn’t see any Adèle Blanc-Sec in her and that really spoiled the movie for me.

I read that the director, Luc Besson, didn’t think that the Adèle from the comics (the arrogant and tough gal) would appeal to the feminine public, so he decided to give the character a more tender and feminine side. It seems that strong women continue not having their place in cinema. This certainly makes me think twice about watching Besson’s upcoming movies.

Most of the other secondary characters were boring cliches who didn’t hold any appeal. Except for Dieuleveult, the creepy Egyptologist played by Matthieu Almaric, who gives us a great performance. It’s unfortunate that his screen time was so short.

The original story was changed and not in a a good way. The dark and cynical atmosphere was completely forgotten and we were given another “Amélie” (but a bad version of it), an entire different world from the one in the comics. Everything that appealed to me was either changed or ignored by Luc Besson. Again. I could look pass this if, despite its differences with the original series, the story was strong and captivating or even funny. In the end, for me, it was a complete failure.

I cannot say that I hated the movie, but it came very close. If you are a Tardi fan, this is not for you. If it’s your first Adèle Blanc-Sec experience it might (but I even have doubts) be a pleasant Saturday evening movie but nothing memorable.

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A few weeks ago we talked about Bertrand Tavernier’s new movie, The Princess de Montpensier. The movie was presented a couple of days ago at Cannes and earned many positive reviews becoming one of the favorites for the “Palme d’Or”. The release date in France is scheduled for the 10th November and meanwhile we wanted to share some excerpts:

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Adapted from a short story by Madame Lafayette, La Princesse de Montpensier is set in France during the War of Religions in 1562. This is the story of Mademoiselle de Mézières who, despite her love for the duke of Guise, was forced to marry the prince de Montpensier. Soon the beautiful young woman becomes the love interest of four men: her husband, the prince de Montpensier, her lover, the duke of Guise, the duke of Anjou (futur Henry II) and the count of Chabannes.

The Princesse de Montpensier is directed by Bertrand Tavernier (The daughter of d’Artagnan) who chose beautiful locations for his movie like the castle of Messilhac or even Blois. Mélanie Thierry, Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Lambert Wilson, Michel Vuillermoz, Jean-Charles Malclès, Julien Guiller and Mathieu Lourdel make part of the brilliant cast.

The movie will be presented at the Cannes Festival (12-27 May) this year.

Images from Le Figaro and allocine.fr

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The Countess is the story of the Hungarian Elizabeth (Erzebet) Bathory, the renowned countess who supposedly killed and tortured thousands of young virgins to maintain her beauty.

This movie completely escaped our attention in 2009 but in Paris, right now, there’s movie posters everywhere so we thought to post some trailers for those, like us, who didn’t know about it and might want to see it. A little note, the music in the following trailers is from the soundtrack of  The Village by Night Shyamalan.

Directed and interpreted by Julie Delpy, this project had also the participation of William Hurt and Daniel Brühl (magnificent in Good Bye Lenin!).

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496634/

Images: allocine.fr

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The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-sec is one of this year’s upcoming movies we are curious about, so we wanted to share another teaser until the release of the movie in April.

France, 1948. Alexandre Dumas is a widely admired writer. During 13 years he and his collaborator Auguste Maquet wrote together many successeful novels as D’Artagnan, Queen Margot or even The Count of Monte Cristo. When Maquet meets the young and pretty Charlotte, he wants to make an impression and lies to her presenting himself as Dumas. After a confrontation, the two friends dispute the authorship of their books. Which mind was truly behind their stories? Dumas or Maquet’s? Meanwhile, the Revolution of 1848 is slowly rising…

Adapted from the play Signé Dumas by Cyril Gely et Eric Rouquette, this movie is directed by Safy Nebbou and displays an impressive cast: Gérard Depardieu, Benoît Poelvoorde, Dominique Blanc, Mélanie Thierry, Catherine Mouchet, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Philippe Magnan, Florence Pernel.

Release date (in France): 10 February 2010

Official site: http://www.lautredumas-lefilm.com/

Images from Cinemovies (http://www.cinemovies.fr/fiche_film.php?IDfilm=17388)

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1912, Paris. The young Adèle Blanc-Sec is an intrepid journalist always after an unusual story. This time a mysterious creature is terrorizing Paris! When all those who saw the animal suddenly disappear, Adèle is convinced she needs to seek the truth behind this incredible story.

Directed by Luc Besson, the movie is adapted from a famous French comics series named also The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec written by Tardi. For those who could be interested by the comics, you can find more information here.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec will be released in France the 14th April 2010. We’ll leave you with the French trailer.

Official site: http://www.adeleblancsec-lefilm.com/

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179025/

We saw this movie years ago when we were big fans of Musketeers movies (actually, we still are!) and after re-watching it a couple days ago we thought that a review was absolutely necessary.

The story begins in 1654 in a convent of the South of France where Eloïse, daughter of the musketeer d’Artagnan, lives since her childhood. After witnessing the murder of her mother superior by the mysterious Lady in Red and the cruel Duke of Crassac, the young woman senses a conspiracy against the young King Louis XIV and promptly goes to Paris to gather the help of her famous father and his companions, now retired from their duties as musketeers.

D’Artagnan’s Daughter (or The Revenge of the Musketeers in the U.S. and we’re still wondering why this choice of title)  is one of those adventure movies we always like to watch no matter what, even if the story is not the classic tale by Dumas. But after so many adaptations, this one can still bring a little something that makes it special.

The stars of the movie are undoubtedly Sophie Marceau and Philippe Noiret.  The relationship father-daughter is very real and there’s complicity between them that makes every scene enjoyable.

Sophie Marceau is a delightful and may we say radiant Eloïse. Fiery, witty, passionate, sometimes reckless and with a rare talent to put herself in the most awkward situations, just like her father at the same age when he arrived in Paris to become a musketeer. From the first scenes at the convent, where she was not able to mingle with the other young woman and the nuns, we sense many good stories to come. She is the light of the movie!

Those familiar with French and European cinema must known how talented Philippe Noiret was. He could play anything and always capture the essence of his characters. Here it’s no different. He embodied the aging d’Artagnan with such class and confidence. Twenty years have passed and you can still feel the fire of the young man who, along with his friends, terrorized the Cardinal Richelieu’s guards.  Exceptional performance, as always!

Bertrand Tavernier directs this adventure movie with an irregular pace but the humor and witty dialogues are a pleasure to follow and will make up for some script holes here and there.

While not extraordinary, D’Artagnan’s Daughter is a perfect movie to revisit the swashbuckling genre that never really grows old, at least not for us.

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IMDB: http://french.imdb.com/title/tt0109798/