Nathalie… (2003)
Picture: C
Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C
The love triangle is an age-old story, or is that several
ages. Either way, even if it becomes
crazier when a married woman (Fanny Ardant) puts another woman (Emmanuel Béart)
to pretend to be the mysterious title woman to find out why her husband (Gérard
Depardieu) is not intimate with her anymore.
Is he having an affair? Is he
having performance issues? Is he going
gay?
Well, this is more of a drama than comedy, but worst of
all, it is tired, predictable and even with co-writer/director Anne Fontaine
trying to put a “female” point of view into the common story, it really offers
no insight into the women, the man in the middle or anything else. Part of the problem is that this is a big
star vehicle and is just so obvious and overly manicured that it falls
flat. I even like the leads, but they
are given minimal things to do and after the first half-hour, you could care
less what happens next. Oh, the
problems of the rich and beautiful. It
is commercial, obvious, and better passed on.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is surprisingly
pasty looking, with a flattened appearance form lack of detail and color that
looks blotted down. This also looks
like it was shot in Super 35, but is rather generic in appearance just the
same, as shot by cinematographer Jean-Marc Fabre, best known for Fast Food,
Fast Women back in 2000. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo has Pro Logic surrounds that sound good, but it is too bad
the film was not here in its theatrical DTS, because the recording is solid and
the highlight of the film. Michael
Nyman’s score (see 9 Songs elsewhere on this site) kept me from falling
asleep. Extras include a making-of
featurette and original theatrical trailer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
