Saturday, June 25, 2005
AHHH, IF I WERE A RICH MAN!
(French: AH! SI J'ETAIS RICHE)
Featuring: Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Richard Berry
Brief Synopsis: A married couple are on the verge of divorce when the husband strikes big on the lottery. However in order not to lose the money in the settlement, he keeps his win secret from her.
Comments: It's always interesting to watch a foreign film to see how they approach old topics in this case; a comedy based on marital problems & winning the lottery. There are number of seperate explorations - the experiences of a poor man becoming rich but pretending to be poor, the exploration of different paths by the husband (Aldo) and wife (Alice) as they drift away from each other (for the man - obviously the money, for the woman - an affair with her husband's boss!) and the eternal question: does money bring happiness?
Despite this many topics, the film is straightforward in its plot with its subtle and humourous way of looking at marital difficulties. It was quite interesting as a married man and also for the fact that I had just seen Mr. & Mrs. Smith the previous week which also dealt with this topic. There is little in terms of plot complexity (although a few loose ends) and the characters are fairly straightforward but there were quite a few scenes that you could laugh aloud at; one where Aldo and his friend go to the rich man's toilet and the effects of weed on 'the never smoked it in his life before' Aldo. Quite a gentle relaxing film to watch in general.
However the most interesting aspect of watching the film was the way that the Malaysian board censored it. As it was a foreign film that was loaned out at the weekend, they obviously couldn't cut the film so when any steamy scenes came up, the man in the projector room put up a sheet of paper in front of the projector! So we could hear what was going on but we couldn't see anything! It was a bit stupid really but obviously seeing breasts or whatever would obviously pollute the Malaysian mind and cause them to do stupid things...
Thing to learn from this film: In your haste to leave to see another woman/man (that your partner doesn't know about), don't forget your mobile phone!
Rating: 6 /10
(French: AH! SI J'ETAIS RICHE)
Featuring: Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Richard Berry
Brief Synopsis: A married couple are on the verge of divorce when the husband strikes big on the lottery. However in order not to lose the money in the settlement, he keeps his win secret from her.
Comments: It's always interesting to watch a foreign film to see how they approach old topics in this case; a comedy based on marital problems & winning the lottery. There are number of seperate explorations - the experiences of a poor man becoming rich but pretending to be poor, the exploration of different paths by the husband (Aldo) and wife (Alice) as they drift away from each other (for the man - obviously the money, for the woman - an affair with her husband's boss!) and the eternal question: does money bring happiness?
Despite this many topics, the film is straightforward in its plot with its subtle and humourous way of looking at marital difficulties. It was quite interesting as a married man and also for the fact that I had just seen Mr. & Mrs. Smith the previous week which also dealt with this topic. There is little in terms of plot complexity (although a few loose ends) and the characters are fairly straightforward but there were quite a few scenes that you could laugh aloud at; one where Aldo and his friend go to the rich man's toilet and the effects of weed on 'the never smoked it in his life before' Aldo. Quite a gentle relaxing film to watch in general.
However the most interesting aspect of watching the film was the way that the Malaysian board censored it. As it was a foreign film that was loaned out at the weekend, they obviously couldn't cut the film so when any steamy scenes came up, the man in the projector room put up a sheet of paper in front of the projector! So we could hear what was going on but we couldn't see anything! It was a bit stupid really but obviously seeing breasts or whatever would obviously pollute the Malaysian mind and cause them to do stupid things...
Thing to learn from this film: In your haste to leave to see another woman/man (that your partner doesn't know about), don't forget your mobile phone!
Rating: 6 /10
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