Colin-235

MANY YEARS AGO I bought a bottle of wine 3 or 4 times the price I usually paid. Expecting something akin to the gods' nectar I got just wine, very disappointing at first then I gradually realised I could drink this for the rest of my life and it would always only taste of wine, but always as a renewed experience, never tiring on the palette. Since then I have had the privilege of drinking comparable wines from France or Italy and grown tired of wines from elsewhere that shout ''I will astonish you' ' yet forget they aught to taste of wine. After Va Savoir I remember I watched a film. Was there direction or camera or cutting? Disappointment at first and wanting 'astonish me', instead I got Film; pure perfect film. By the end I felt very grown up. At the end I wished it had been somewhat longer: The first half hour took an hour the subsequent two hours took half that time!

Having difficulty understanding other reviewers, including major film critics, description of the film. The central sexual encounter is a violent rape by the stepfather - not incest. At no point do we see any incest or I would suggest any hint of incest. Brotherly love we do see, but in such a way as the bigoted may well encounter incest in there minds. As is the incest is in the eyes of those who cannot read the film, as it is in the peasants who cannot tolerate the intruder. A perfect image of misreading occurs when we have silhouettes behind a sheet, cleverly implying a sexual reading, only for us to be brought short when we realise it is the pegging out of the washing. What we do see is male violence to women. We learn that the half-brother is much affected by nursing a girl who had got pregnant " I had to nurse her, the baby was stillborn, But she disappeared" Owes a bit too much to Bela Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky, and these bit come over as mannered. Given better fortunes in the making of the film the pacing may well have been better considered. and the overly beautiful camera better integrated into the story, a story which was rescued in the making.

It is probable for this film to work you may need some sort of connection with the society it portrays. The random violence and random morality of the current society contrasts with the logical functioning of the old society. All the characters, even D.I. accepted its warped certainties. it's the consequential effects on the personal relationships that upset them. The acting is variable with some rather strange lacuna as if the actors had taken a day of from acting now and then. Mari Törõcsik has no such problems, apart from some awkward corners arising from some improbabilities in the script. There are signs of conflict in intention between director, co-producer and editor. Overall it is an intelligent, thoughtful and beautifully shot film that kept me awake all night pondering its meaning.

A small provincial Opera House asks a great conductor to put on his ideal production of the work which meant most to him. The result was a landmark in performance of this Opera that few were able to attend, but those that did were very privileged. The staging under Peter Stein is subtle and clever; It's realistic in the detail, acknowledging its 19th century foundations, yet set in a beautifully realised symbolic decor. The cast looks good and sounds good. Samuel Barkey as Yniold brings of the most challenging role for a child soprano in all of Opera. The only let down is that this is a transfer of a TV recording and the video quality is not of the best. The sound quality however is fine.