The Man Who Cried (2001)

Fans of the testudinate pace and art-house vibe of writer-director Sally Potter's other works (Orlando, The Tango Lesson) will likely enjoy The Man Who Cried. Fegele (Christina Ricci) is a Russian Jew separated from her father as a child. Raised as "Susie" by an English family, she makes her way to Paris, where although the city's multiculturalism is vibrant, the Nazis are already on the rise and the secret of her origin becomes increasingly dangerous. The cast of The Man Who Cried is excellent; Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, John Turturro, and Harry Dean Stanton all do fine jobs in what could have easily degenerated into an accentfest. Depp and Ricci do very well with minimal dialogue--both go through the entire movie almost without speaking. The film moves at a leisurely pace and is beautifully shot. Not a film to show to a roomful of action movie fans, but it's well suited to people who like their films a little more European in flavor. --Ali Davis Amazon.com

Something Lacking/Missing to Make This A Great Movie

Just so-so film overall..... I think the acting was fine in this movie, the cinematography great and the essence of the story was a good one.... However, something was lacking/missing that left me wanting more from this film.

I just felt that more depth could have been added to the main character and her overall early beginnings with her adoptive family.... Plus more on how she went about finding her father in America. The ending of this movie left one wanting to know more answers....

Sure Susie was eventually reunited with her biological father, but was it a happily ever after one?? Knowing more about what her biological father had been up to while in America with a bit more detail, would have been great too. Did Cate Blanchett's character make it big in Hollywood? What did Christina Ricci's character end up doing with the rest of her life? And so go the list of questions. July 24, 2008

Quick ship - Perfect Condition

A classic movie. The depiction of The Pale in the beginning of the film was very realistic, with Cossaks burning villages and killing Jews rampantly. Actually, the entire film kept close to history. The directing and acting were superb! Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci gave Oscar performances. A very different World War II movie! July 10, 2008

The Man Who Cried

I am a Johnny Depp Fan and this is just one of a few movies I did not have. I thought the movie was very good. His perfomance along with Cate Blanchett, John Turturro and Christina Ricci made for a exceptional film. And it was another side of Johnny Depp I have not seen. May 11, 2008

Nice movie, really

I enjoyed this film, it was nicely shot. Great acting by a great cast. It is simple, yet entertaining. If your a Ricci fan you would appreciate her wonderful acting in this film. Depp Turturro and Cate B, did well in their roles.

It was kinda dark, I liked it.
April 13, 2008

Blanchette and Depp shine in tedious, depressing film

In this one Johnny Depp portrays a gypsy. With long hair, a thin moustache and a Romanian accent, he is sly, seductive and sultry. He appears in about 22 sequences. Cate Blanchette is over the top but so is the character she's playing. Set in the decade between 1927 and the rise of Naziism in Paris in the late thirties, the plot follows the life of a young girl whose father has left for America and who is separated from her family and friends by a pogram. Ricci plays her as a trauma victim, quiet and depressed through most of the film.

This is the problem - the center of the film, the girl herself, is so boring, so uninteresting, that we find it hard to believe that the charming, man-hungry Blanchette befriends her and that the seductive Depp falls in love with her. It just doesn't make sense. She remains a child throughout the film, silent, hardly talking, occasionally singing. She never becomes a woman emotionally so the interest of others in the narrative doesn't ring true.

The score is truly lovely, weaving some lovely arias around original scoring. The cinematography is good, darkly atmospheric - her world has little light in it.

The story itself is as depressing as it could be. Hiding her identity as a Russian Jew in Nazi-occupied Paris, she is lusted after, betrayed and finally shipwrecked in her attempt to get to America and reunite with her father who believes her to be dead and who has gone on to father a second family.

The film's title is meaningless and hardly one to attract audiences. The only man who cries in the film is Depp during their last night together, but since no point had been made before that he doesn't cry, the scene is meaningless. ALso, one would think a title would refer to a main character, not a supporting one. Even GYPSY LOVER, bad as it is, would be a more apt title.

To sum up, a depressing film about a depressing girl, made bearable by Depp's sensual performance and Blanchette's exuberant one.

November 12, 2007

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