_L'Auberge Espagnole_, _The Russian Dolls_

[sept...@millenicom.com]

Nothing much to say about these films. I saw them again because
the British/French actress Lucy Gordon killed herself. She was
barely 29. She played a fashion model and Kelly Reilly's romantic
rival in _The Russian Dolls_. Stunningly beautiful, to be sure, and
Cedric Klapisch's flattering montages of her relating her life story
to Romain Duris' ghostwriter are memorable. (The long, lingering
shots on her legs walking down the "avenue of perfect proportions"
are even more flattering, if not exactly chivalrous.) Oh, what a
waste.

But there is no real competition in the film. Reilly is such an
amazing young actress, and completely adorable in this film too.
I didn't realize that she has so much screen time in _L'Auberge
Espagnole_, as the uptight student obsessed about house-
cleaning. Maybe she'll finally get the mass-audience recognition
she deserves in the coming blockbuster _Sherlock Holmes_.

Cedric Klapisch's self-consciously "whimsical" camera and
editing effects have really not aged well, and I didn't like most
of them the first time around already. Haven't seen his _Paris_.
Suddenly it seems that many foreign films -- even those which
got a brief theatrical run in NY/LA -- are no longer released in
many DVD outlets.

Anyway, next up: _Summer Hours_ and _Secret of the Grain_.