Suite Française

Suite Français was on TV and its plot seemed interesting. A romance between a married French woman and a married German officer during the occupation of France. How, I wondered how can a woman fall for a man like that? Regardless of his personality, the position he is in wouldn't allow any feelings to develop unless the woman in question has an unhealthy mind.

I was wrong. It is a beautiful story that worked for me on every level. They immediately recognise each other as kindred souls (he is actually a composer and she studied music in school) but the circumstances are never undermined or swept away. They lose their minds for a minute but never have sex (they were going to but both were rudely awakened before they even got together). I would have liked this story anway but the lead actors were both very good. Michelle Williams is not someone I care for but she always comes through and Matthias Schoenaerts is the same. This guy is interesting in the fact that he is a good actor but I think his career is held back by his physiqué. He is very tall and the camera doesn't really love him. But he is great in the part and I liked him everytime I watched him (fave performance Rust and Bones).

The story of the novel is even more chilling. The writer Iréne Némirovsky was an Ukranina Jewish woman who actually died in a consentration camp (Auschwitz) in WWII. I was already feeling too much after the film and finding out (neatly explained right before the credits) how it was written and how the author died before completing it (apparently she wrote only two novels of a planned 5 novels of the story) affected me. 

Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby got a new dress in this TV mini series adaptation. I love the novel, I like the original film (and love Mia Farrow's hair in it) and this one didn't do a bad job updating the story. It was entertaining. 

The Land Girls

The Land Girls on TV only attracted me because it was in English film and I, fondly, remember a novel I have read years ago about the land girls. Women who go to farms to replace the men who went to war in WWII. Anyway this one appealed more to my mother than myself I suppose. 

Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 turned out to be really entertaining and emotional. I have shed unexpected tears over it. Highly recommended.  

Petals in the Wind

Petals in the Wind is this what people call serendipity? I had finished the novel and didn't think of seeking out the sequels but I saw this Lifetime film adaptation of the sequels.

Spoilers

At the end of the novel the children managed to escapte the attic with one casualty and they decided not to go to the police with the evidence of their mother's attempts to murder them using poison. (yeah)

Apparently they had a stroke of good luck when a housemaid finds them and takes them to her employer who likes them so much that not only he takes them in but adopts them and send them to good schools (the kids are all smart). We learn all this in the eulogy for the guy before even the credits end. Anyway the kids now have a chance to a normal life but they have been messed up badly and the elder brother and sister continue incest, the younger sister is unable to resist bullying and turns out to be have sexual issues (she is ok with boyfriend of her elder sister to fondle her and actually encourages the guy) and they still want to talk to their mother who refuses to speak to them. Anyway more horrors await due to the messed up nature of the kids who don't seem to respond well to the now changes life full of good opportunities and a nice use of their talents. It doesn't end well for either. 

Flowers in the Attic

Flowers in the Attic is a novel I have read years and years ago. Since I was a child that far back then, the novel obviously flew by my head. It is not a particularly good novel (not good enough to make me want to read the sequels) but the subject matter is horrifying. A mother for whom wealth and prestige mean more than her children (born out of incest) and those children who are locked up in the attic with only an overly religious, mean grandmother to supervise them. Anyway looking at the photo I realise that the cover art is horrible. Anyway these kids were normal kids with various talents but this experience had awful consequences both for their physce and physique.

I recommend as a timepass to be horrified at places. 

Killing Words

Killing Words is a film I only purchased because it was in Spanish and cheap. It is a suspense heavy horror film with a did he or didn't he twist that we are allowed to see earlier that he

SPOILER


indeed did.  Well it was talky and I enjoyed what little I could understand (maybe a word in a sentence) Other than that it was just mediocre.