Friday, July 18

• Leonard Maltin's Online Hidden Gem

  

  

  Leonard Maltin Says:

  On a recent episode of Secret’s Out, I featured two French films: one just out on DVD called Girl on the Bridge, and one that’s now playing in theaters, Tell No One. I confess that I’m a sucker for French cinema, and maybe that’s why I enjoyed Vatel, which didn’t get great reviews when it opened in this country.

  The magnificent Gerard Depardieu plays what you might call the ultimate party planner who’s given his most demanding assignment when his employer, Julian Glover, announces that King Louis XIV himself is going to visit. Uma Thurman plays a lady-in-waiting and Tim Roth is an underhanded aide to the King in this story of multiple intrigues set against a sumptuous backdrop, with Depardieu as the man who gives so much of himself to his job that he sacrifices his own happiness in the process.

  
  

  Posted 07/18/2008 by reelz

  Tim Roth | Uma Thurman | Julian Glover | Gerard Depardieu | Vatel | The Girl on the Bridge | Tell No One

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• mary b

  07/21/08 05:20 AM

  I am glad an important critic like yourself is recommending VATEL. This movie was a masterpiece to me--it had excellent acting, a wonderful, opulent mis-en-scene and had an interesting storyline. It was even very good history-wise as it depicted a real event. I feel it has gone down in film history as a bomb but it was a big hit in France--3 million paid admissions there alone-- and it also had good sales in Spain and the rest of Europe. I feel the film was mis-marketed here in the US--it only played in 2 theaters briefly to qualify for the Oscars. It should have been marketed like Dangerous Liasions. The film is still great on DVD( the European version/region 2 is even better) and it just needs to be rediscovered and publicised by critics--who knows, maybe one day it will be considered a cult cl***ic instead of a bomb. It certainly is a worthy film for anyone who likes costume drama, food history or royalty or even upstairs/downstairs type of dramas or the great Gerard Depardieu who is excellent here.

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