Christabel Bielenberg’s historical memoir, “The Past Is Myself,” looking back on the years 1932-45, was the source for this depiction of life in Germany during Hitler’s rise.

Daughter of middle-class English-Irish parents, Christabel became a German citizen in 1934 when she married German law student Peter Bielenberg of a prominent Hamburg family. The couple raised their two sons amid Germany’s shifting political climate. In 1939, as the situation became acute, Peter joined a military organization planning to remove Hitler from power.

Dennis Potter chose to dramatize their story because, “One, it’s a celebration of married love, and, two, it’s the perfect answer to the idea of collective guilt. They were confronted with this raving maniac and yet managed to emerge without doing anything degrading.”

File Name .........................................: Christabel - BBC, adapted by Dennis Potter (1989) [VHSrip (DivX)].divx
File Size (in bytes) ............................: 983,095,474 bytes
Runtime ............................................: 2:27:15

Video Codec ...................................: DivX 6.2.5
Frame Size ......................................: 384x288 (AR: 1.33)
FPS .................................................: 25
Video Bitrate ...................................: 800 kb/s
Bits per Pixel ...................................: 0.289 bpp
B-VOP, N-VOP, QPel, GMC.............: [B-VOP]

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https://nitro.download/view/3FCACE26A0CDE54/Christabel_-_BBC,_adapted_by_Dennis_Potter_(1989)__VHSrip_(DivX)_.divx

Language(s):English
Subtitles:None

The post Adrian Shergold – Christabel (1988) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Ruiz, in an a propos to the film: ‘Above all this film should not be seen as a biography of the painter Gustav Klimt (what these days we call a ‘biopic’). It is indeed a fantasy or, if you prefer, a phantasmagoria, a fresco of real and imaginary characters revolving around a single point of focus: the painter Klimt. You see images in the film as if it were Klimt himself who is seeing them. Or rather who is dreaming them. Because this film will be a daydream: exuberance of colours, distortion of space, extreme complexity of camera movements. It would take too long to explain the processes I intend to use in order to record this era, one of the richest, most contradictory and most disturbing in the history of humanity.’

A virtuoso homage to an artist and his life, the film is set against the rich historical tapestry of the fin de siècle. The plot centres on Klimt’s passion for Lea de Castro, his struggle for artistic freedom, and his life-long but platonic relationship with Emilie Flöge. His close friendship with Egon Schiele forms the narrative voice of the film. Ruiz focuses on Klimt’s eternal search for perfection, eroticism and love, his tireless hunt for a new form of expression, his rejection of the social and artistic zeitgeist, the turbulence of turn-of-the-century Vienna and the demise of an empire.

2.49GB | 2h 6mn | 710×410 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/E9292F76FA84FB7/Klimt.2006.DVDRip.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language:English, German, French
Subtitles:French, Portuguese

The post Raoul Ruiz – Klimt [Director’s Cut] (2006) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A British war film released in 1997. It is directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay is by Frank Cottrell Boyce and is based on the book Natasha’s Story by Michael Nicholson.

The film made its world premiere 1997-05-09 at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated for the Golden Palm and for the Golden Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. It was awarded a “Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking” by the National Board of Review (USA) during the 69th National Board of Review Awards (1997).

https://nitro.download/view/5C9E2415F150A2C/Welcome.to.Sarajevo.1997.720p.WEBRip.AAC2.0.H.264-HRiP.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Michael Winterbottom – Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
“Savage Grace,” based on the award winning book, is the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland, heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed and charismatic, Barbara is still no match for her well-bred husband. The birth of the couple’s only child, Tony, rocks the uneasy balance in this marriage of extremes. Tony is a failure in his fa

ther’s eyes. As he matures and becomes increasingly close to his lonely mother, the seeds for a tragedy of spectacular decadence are sown.

Review:
Based on the real life story of the Baekeland family and the themes of sexuality, socialization, incest, and acceptance, Savage Grace is a richly toned film, but muddles itself in too many inconsistencies to establish what it sets out to accomplish.

The story spans from 1946 to 1972, and follows ex-actress, now socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland (Julianne Moore), who is married to Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane), who is the very wealthy grandson of the actual inventor of plastic. As the film opens in New York City with Barbara now having an infant son named Tony, she still irritates Brooks with her yearning to be accepted in the social rich class society. As the film shifts to numerous European countries and years, a now adult Tony (Eddie Redmayne) sees his parents’ relationship dissolving. Eventually, an ex-fling of Tony named Blanca (Elena Anaya) actually steals away and marries his father. Barbara turns her suffocation for acceptance and happiness to Tony, who struggles to understand his mother and his sexuality. Brooks denounces Tony once he does learn that he is homosexual and Barbara does anything to give him comfort, which includes jumping in bed with him and a bisexual art dealer. Madness and confusion ensues which leads to a tragic and mysterious story of a really challenged and wealthy family.
As one can tell by the synopsis of this film, Savage Grace has a lot of baggage and director Tom Kalin does his best to sort through all of it. Kalin beautifully photographs the film from all the different locations of the family and he does pace the film on its emotions. However, so much indifferent themes hamper the film’s melodrama, and Kalin choices become drenched as well.
Based on the novel by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson, screenwriter Howard Rodman also bashes the audience with one more disturbing concept of psycho-biological problem after another. Once Brooks takes off with Blanca, the film shifts to total focus on Barbara and Tony and it almost takes no time to get to the ‘shocking’ climax, with hardly any depth or structural roads to get there. Other choices become bleak as well, such as the drowsy voice over narration by Tony, which supposedly was crucial to the novel, but is a wasted concept in the film. The themes of the film are not for the faint at heart and not for everyone, but it is what happened with this dysfunctional family.
Julianne Moore returns to the screen with her best role in years and she masterfully holds one’s attention as the very complex Barbara. Stephen Dillane is stellar in his few scenes as Brooks, who is embarrassed by his wife and looks for an outlet with his son’s ex-flame. As Tony, Eddie Redmayne struggles with the role and his performance is nearly a cut out cardboard, when his character is the most important to the film. His climatic character discovery is neither surprising nor as effective as the script calls for it to be.
The courage of director Tom Kalin is evident in tackling a story as weird, challenging and disturbing as Savage Grace. The film is made well from a directing standpoint and has a terrific performance by Julianne Moore. However, the script adaptation stumbles and crashes trying to juggle too many elements and structural aspects of this melodramatic real life mystery.
Savage Grace has made its way around the film festival circuit; it opens in the United States on May 30, 2008 and in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2008.

	
Savage.Grace.2007.720p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-FGT.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 37mn
Size: 	2.88 GiB
Video
Codec: 	h264
Resolution: 	1280x686 
Aspect ratio:  	1.85:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	
BPP: 	
Audio
#1:  	English 2.0ch AAC

https://nitro.download/view/3288D34105BE2D0/Savage.Grace.2007.720p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-FGT.mkv

Language(s):English, French, Spanish
Subtitles: English

The post Tom Kalin – Savage Grace (2007) first appeared on Cinema of the World.