Sept. 18, 2002 - 2:10 am
a.k.a. The Horseman on the Roof. this is entry number two for tonight. i was looking over Juliette Binoche's film credits a few weeks ago and noticed this film. i can't remember why exactly that it sounded interesting to me. i guess the title just makes it sound like a good adventure. i was a little scared off when i saw that Olivier Martinez was the lead, but decided to go ahead with it.
it takes place in Provence (southern France) in 1832 during an outbreak of cholera. Martinez plays an Italian expatriate gentleman/soldier on the run from Austrian henchmen. he eventually stumbles upon a marquise (Binoche) who is searching for her husband. because of his gentleman's upbringing he can't allow her to go off searching alone during this very uncertain time in the French countryside. there's also a sort of romantic element to the film but it's well hidden by the performers. because of his self-editing manner, the soldier hardly ever expresses himself and because of her married state, the marquise does not ever completely give her heart to the colonel.
i kept thinking the whole time that this is a story that it seems like i would have been reading my sophomore year of high school. it's just a captivating adventure with complicated characters and there's a lot of great symbolism in the text. something that the kids can enjoy, but it still has some value when you look at it beyond just entertainment.
the performance by Olivier Martinez was better than i was expecting. he was actually fairly good. definitely he has his faults, especially when it comes to more physical acting, but i guess i'd say "satisfactory."
my one thing i just can't believe about the story is that the soldier just never got cholera. what, is this guy invincible? and he was never wrong about anything. every decision he made, comment he made, etc. never wrong. this man is amazing. welcome to fiction land.