Struggleing to find a suitable present to give a friend for their upcoming birthday,I suddenly remembered,that I had heard a while ago about a near-forgotten remake of one of their fav films.
Quickly searching round on Amazon,and eventually getting past the endless re- releases of the original,I was pleased to finally find a DVD of the movie,which would allow my friend to have a second,different brief encounter.
The plot:
Rushing into a near by tea room to get some water to remove grit that has got in her eyes,Anna Jesson runs into Dr.Alec Harvey,who is sitting in the tea room having a drink before he has to board his train.Leaving behind any thoughts about the train,Harvey makes sure to stay with Anna until her eyes are completely clean.Hearing that the train is about to go,Alec tells Jesson that he sadly has to leave,but would be very grateful towards Anna,if she gives him the opportunity to meet her again soon.
Attempting to leave the memories of her meeting with Harvey behind by trying to get back into her routine life of working at a Citizen Advice Beaure and taking care of her husband and children,Anna quickly realises that she cant resit the opportunity to have another brief encounter with Harvey.
View on the film:
Using a number of good tracking walk and talk shots,director Alan Bridges fully shows the beautiful Winchester location and also shows the tight-knitted,"nosey parker"-ness of the village,which leads to Anna doing everything to keep her deep desire for Harvey undercover.Helping Bridges to create a sense of the tight knitted community,the late set designer Bruno Cesari brilliantly builds an environment filled with tired,worn down objects and interiors which show the spark that Anna is desperate to enter her life.
Despite the adaptation of Noel Coward's play Still Life screenplay by John Bowen featuring a number of distinctive moments which should have truly sparkled, (such as Anna and Alec warming to each other as Alec talks to her about different types of chest infection!) the unique moments in the movie sadly crumble quickly,thanks to the unexpected,disappointing performance from Sophia Loren.
Whilst Anna Jesson is meant to be living a humbled lifestyle,Loren (whose husband produced the film) makes Jesson look like someone who dreams of being a Hollywood star,with Loren wearing heavy make-up and also wearing some less then humble clothes.Along with Anna's appearance,Loren also sadly leaves the character without any of the emotions to pull the audience in to the developing relationship between Anna and Alec.(played by a likable,late replacement for Robert Shaw Richard Burton)
With the many scenes that are meant to show the warmth and nervousness that Anna has for Alec,instead turned cold,by Loren's cold shoulder performance,which leads this to being an encounter that you will want to be as brief as possible.
Quickly searching round on Amazon,and eventually getting past the endless re- releases of the original,I was pleased to finally find a DVD of the movie,which would allow my friend to have a second,different brief encounter.
The plot:
Rushing into a near by tea room to get some water to remove grit that has got in her eyes,Anna Jesson runs into Dr.Alec Harvey,who is sitting in the tea room having a drink before he has to board his train.Leaving behind any thoughts about the train,Harvey makes sure to stay with Anna until her eyes are completely clean.Hearing that the train is about to go,Alec tells Jesson that he sadly has to leave,but would be very grateful towards Anna,if she gives him the opportunity to meet her again soon.
Attempting to leave the memories of her meeting with Harvey behind by trying to get back into her routine life of working at a Citizen Advice Beaure and taking care of her husband and children,Anna quickly realises that she cant resit the opportunity to have another brief encounter with Harvey.
View on the film:
Using a number of good tracking walk and talk shots,director Alan Bridges fully shows the beautiful Winchester location and also shows the tight-knitted,"nosey parker"-ness of the village,which leads to Anna doing everything to keep her deep desire for Harvey undercover.Helping Bridges to create a sense of the tight knitted community,the late set designer Bruno Cesari brilliantly builds an environment filled with tired,worn down objects and interiors which show the spark that Anna is desperate to enter her life.
Despite the adaptation of Noel Coward's play Still Life screenplay by John Bowen featuring a number of distinctive moments which should have truly sparkled, (such as Anna and Alec warming to each other as Alec talks to her about different types of chest infection!) the unique moments in the movie sadly crumble quickly,thanks to the unexpected,disappointing performance from Sophia Loren.
Whilst Anna Jesson is meant to be living a humbled lifestyle,Loren (whose husband produced the film) makes Jesson look like someone who dreams of being a Hollywood star,with Loren wearing heavy make-up and also wearing some less then humble clothes.Along with Anna's appearance,Loren also sadly leaves the character without any of the emotions to pull the audience in to the developing relationship between Anna and Alec.(played by a likable,late replacement for Robert Shaw Richard Burton)
With the many scenes that are meant to show the warmth and nervousness that Anna has for Alec,instead turned cold,by Loren's cold shoulder performance,which leads this to being an encounter that you will want to be as brief as possible.