I recently saw this at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival and director John Irvin was there to introduce the film. Irvin is a versatile director of drama, comedy, romance and action and has directed such films as Widow's Peak, Dogs of War, A Month by the Lake and the charming comedy The Boys from Clare County. This is the story of a wealthy gay and Jewish film producer (Alfred Molina) who is making a film based on Puccini's opera Tosca. A famous German diva (Catherine McCormack) is cast opposite a difficult English actor (Jonathyn Pryce) as filming gets under way on a famous sound stage in Rome as World War II in 1939 escalates around them threatening the film's completion. Good supporting performances from András Báalint, Niccolo Senni and Joana Scanlan. Veteran Hungarian cinematographer Elemér Ragályi does a good job here and the production value of production design, set decoration and costume design is top notch. The script and story fall a little short though with no on screen chemistry between Pryce and McCormick. It's worth a look and I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.
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johno-2118 January 2007
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barbara-kuhl14 January 2007It's not a Chinese-food-movie (you forget what you saw by the time you exit the theater) and it deals with so many identifiable issues....prejudice (adddressing the gay and Jewish population particularly), lost love, the longing for fantasy beyond day to day reality...it's set in a captivating time period (just as WWII broke out) in Italy, features FABULOUS actors who should all get NOMINATIONS, wonderful costumes and a romantic and delicious MUSICAL SCORE! As well, it's quite funny at times...bittersweet and was written by the sadly-no-longer-with-us playwright PETER BARNES (ENCHANTED APRIL, THE RULING CLASS) and directed by sleeping giant JOHN IRVIN.
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When I look back over the last 25 years, many of the best films I have seen are foreign which means in practice not made in Hollywood. Some like 'China', Catherine Deneuive, are exceptional. This film 'The Moon and the Stars' is another winner. The subject is a tricky one, an film producer who looks as if he's going to cry any minute whilst dealing with a Fascist state and its corrupt officials making a film called Tosca. All four of the main actors are exceptional and all give-of-their-best. Catherine Macormack took the honours only because I fell madly in love with her the moment she walked on screen, Jonathan Pryce was the supreme English professional in an head of Smersh sort of way.
But trying to convince the audience that he and McCormack were discreet lovers was hopeless due to the obvious great age difference. The part of the foppish young man about town, Niccolo Sinetti, should have been written out completely, or another more convincing actor given the part. Somewhere in the film I spotted the young actor who played the horrible Nazi in 'The Boy in the Striped Pajames', his talents were not really used or brought out, and it might have been best if he had been given the fops/foppish person part. The camera work made this film, and being partially deaf I really appreciated the excellent sound. The ending was wrong, I'd would liked to have seen the mythical producer Alfred Molina allowed to escape to Switzerland, and in the last scene the corrupt official and him parting as good friends along the lines of the ending in Casablanca. Why the main actor Alfred Molina in this film had to be gay was a mistake, no one really believed it nor did it add to the films soul or message. Much better he played the part of an David Selznick or Louis B Mayer than another fellow struggler heading for an death camp. Lord spare me the pathos in films, I want happy endings, clappy-happy endings not mission statements. 9 / 10. And yes its a good film and made for adults not USA children age 12.