For those of you who have an interest in this film, I recommend you first rent "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." This is one of my favourite films and seems to contain a lot of the character and iconographic elements to Head in the Clouds. I am a little suspicious about the originality of the Head in the Clouds.
shareI totally agree!Some ideas were stolen from "Cabaret" as well!
shareI hate to put a wrench into this theory, but John wrote this script ages ago. Also to make a comment that a film took ideas from another film is just retarded. All films like it or not with the exception of a very small fraction all use universal concepts and patterns that can be linked some way to prior releases. It is funny that you say this cause almost every Hollyweird smash are very formulaic in nature as a lot of Top 40 hits are. What the "general public" whats to see and hear has become a science.
sharedid you just post so you could sound intelligent? i dont even think what you have written makes any sense.
shareYou didn't understand that last post? That's sad. It was rather well written.
...these are open forums, you're able to come and listen to what I have to say.
um...i dont think that post was especially complex...did you not agree? were there too many words?...i dont mean to be snide but bashing someone's rather observant post because you thought he just wanted to sound intelligent seems counterproductive and useless.
shareThank you Dancing Mice for your comment. I agree that there is a certain degree of commonality in all human experiences thus movies. I think what stands out in this film is the human drama around Gilda and how her character develops due to the influence of Guy (and Mia to a lesser degree) and her love for them which made her rise above herself ultimately and redeem herself.
shareNo, it's not original. There have been a number of movies with essentially the same plot. But lack of originality is not this film's main deficiency. It's the absence of narrative tension at critical moments. If director Diugan had given the same attention to pacing as he gave to the sex scenes between Gilda and Guy, "Head in the Clouds" would have been much better than it is.
Too bad because Charlize Theron, who showed what she's capable of as the homely serial killer in "Monster," is wasted in this film as her gorgeous self.
Contains SPOILERS
Plot? I think it is more the same subject (a woman who appears to be a Nazi lover but is an undercover agent for the Allies) in a different setting.
I think the different setting/variety of characters involved show originality.
i definitely agree that pacing was a bit of a problem...the movie was beautifully shot and i liked the plot but it did seem to drag on at times to the detriment of character developement and emotional impact
sharewell the pacing was pretty much the same throughout, I don't think that was the problem. Like a previous poster intelligently stated, this movie had no real narrative thrust holding it together. It seems like Duignan just compiled ideas, scenes, characters, etc. from his favorite 1940's-1950's British and French melodramas and tried to create a movie in the same vein, but failed. This movie has some excellent costume design and the sets are gorgeous, but everything feels false and studied. The battle scenes were laughable. The "location" looked so much like a plastic studio set that I thought I was watching a land version of Fellini's "And The Ship Sailed On".
shareWell not to make excuses... but things lke acting, effects, larger scale events (battle, city scenes/sets, crew locations and so on) cost money and from the start this film did not have it. One critic nailed it right on the head... An Epic done on a small budget. It costs money to make a film with all the stops and after that more money to polish it up and then even more money to make the public want to see it... All 3 were highly limited. I agree I actually snikered at some moments but at the same time I knew what they had to deal with and John and crew were freaking magicians when I think about it, but see stuff like that the public is not make aware of.
Now on the plus side... The Costumes, Photography and Music were on point and well above and beyond their resources and many people in those area's took huge pay cuts and worked countless hours to make any major studio or big time-deep pocket producer/director give props. Some musicians hired actually cashed in their frequent flyer miles to come in and record... That is support and dedication to the team and the film.... NO PAY.. Just LOVE!
In short if their was more money things would of been done much different... But there wasn't and they did the best they could with what they had.
The only set that I found to be noticably "fake" looking was the one in France. (The locations surrounding Gilda's apartment). I'm sure if they could have afforded a better looking set, they would have gone for it, but I think they made the best use out of it. I may be reaching here, but I found the fake-looking set appropriate. The title of the movie is "Head in the Clouds" and Gilda's character is definitly one that refuses to see any bleakness in her environment and insists on living life by ignoring reality of the world around her. The set looks fake, and almost seems to be completely surrounded by clouds, as if it on the highest point from anything. (look at the scene when Guy returns from the Spanish war - Gilda walks away into a landscape of clouds and skyline)
The pace definitly needed work - when Mia and Guy were finally given the scene to connect (in the barn during the spanish war), it was so wordy that it completely took away from the characters - her funeral scene was way to melodramtic too. Penelope Cruz does the best with what she's given, but I think Mia's character was underwritten and as a result, is really underdeveloped. Think about it - if her character was completely cut out of the movie, what would change? Not much.
Charlize and Stewart's chemistry? HOT! - in my opinion, the only thing that kept this movie going and kept my attention.
Sure the movie was underfunded. It was obvious from one minute in - the very first dissolve from archive footage (in Paris) to the set (in black and white) then colouring in, that this was going to be a movie with limited resorces... but... I have seen so many small scale movies over the years that deal with war, loss and redemption that do not lose their integrity. The actors were all up against it with that script, dreadful editing and rather flaccid direction (sorry John) and so the movie hasn't my sympathy vote - if you can't cut it, don't attempt it!
shareyeah, I understood it.
Sure seems there is a tactic of online conflict where if someone writes something that you dont agree with, some will allege that the post does not 'make sense".
And I also think the core of the plot, the love triangle between Mia, Gilda & Guy was a little bit influenced by then the recent blockbuster, the Dreamers. However the Dreamers hadn't a claim as a ravishing and überfunded Hollywood Block"monster", that's why it had so much spirit and depth. However, we cannot compare them extensively since they convey a story of different periods. But even then, the Dreamers' set looked much more realistic (because it was real, unlike the L.A. Paris). Still I thought Head in the Clouds was an enjoyable picture, and not an entirely waste of time. I sure wish the ending would have been better, though.
share
It's funny that the OP should mention Philip Kaufman's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." because within the first hour or so I felt as though I was watching Philip Kaufman's Henry & June (1990) which this film heavily borrowed from, and in some cases ripping off direct visuals and scenes and from the original.