Overlong and tedious

Jean-Jacques Beineix has made several excellent films ('Diva,' 'Mortel Tranfert'), but 'Roselyne' is a misdirected (literally) dud. Beineix has problems reining himself in as a director. He has a tendency to think every frame he shoots should be included in the finished product (see the relentlessly boring, 140-minute 'The Moon in the Gutter'). Producers have a hard time convincing him that everything he shoots is not necessarily golden. The theatrical release of his successful 'Betty Blue' was an already long 120 minutes; Beineix's cut is an intolerable 185 minutes.

In 'Roselyne and the Lions,' Beineix again shows us his lack of discipline. This is a film basically about two young people who become lion tamers, first in their home town and then progressively in the big time in Berlin. If you like to watch giant lions and tigers being trained ad nauseum, you might even enjoy it.

There are some prints of this film that go on for 180 minutes. The version I saw was about 150 minutes, and even that was an hour too long. It didn't make sense, because the storyline is weak and so are the characters. During the entire first hour of the film, nothing really happens. The director apparently thought he was working on an epic, and he was partly right: it's an epic bore.

'Roselyne' is also, unfortunately, badly dated. It was made in 1989. Not many people are interested anymore in how lions are tamed with whips and chairs.