The Girl from Monaco. The "typical" lightweight French sex comedy brought up to date with strands of drama. A lawyer, in Monaco to defend a woman accused of murder, is guarded against thuggery by a man who was once the lover of the lawyer’s amour. Light but not featherweight. (8/12/09)
Quiet Chaos. Nanni Moretti, an outstanding figure in Italian film, celebrated almost everywhere but the U.S., plays a man suddenly bereaved of his wife who seeks solace in the being of his ten-year-old daughter. Moretti is an extraordinary actor who affects us deeply by what we know he is not revealing. (8/12/09)
Seraphine. An exquisite biopic--about a household drudge who slaved away at menial jobs and, in her room at night, painted by candlelight. After her death in 1942, some of her paintings were acquired by museums. Beautifully directed and acted. (7/1/09)
Stanley Kauffmann is the film critic of The New Republic.
By Stanley Kauffmann