Le Hussard Sur Le Toit
[The Horseman On The Roof] (95)

4/14/97

Juliette Binoche is deceptively beautiful. Her nose isn't particularly attractive, her mouth nothing to write home about, her eyes don't even approach Isabelle Adjani's, but the entire package is so utterly beautiful that it's hard to concentrate on the films she's in. In this film there is a man who is every bit her beauty equal. Oliver Martinez plays Angelo Pardi and exiled Italian freedom fighter. He is shockingly attractive. He keeps his composure and stays nattily dressed even when fleeing a mob by jumping roof to roof. He tries to escape the rain by jumping through a skylight. He lands in Pauline's (Binoche) house. She feeds him bread and tea and he is impressed with her bravery. A cholera epidemic has swept the countryside and those who survive are being rounded up and placed in quarantine. They will meet again and escape the disease-ridden town together. As they travel they will learn more about each other.
If you haven't guessed from my slobbering all over myself, these two leads are special. He is handsome and brave and an almost incomprehensible gentleman. She is beautiful and brave and feisty and self-assured. They find each other over and over again in some questionable coincidences. We want them to make it to their goals, hell, we want them to sleep together. But they're in a hurry to get North, where Pauline lives in a castle and Angelo can ride over the Alps into his native Italy. After seeing this film, I'm not sure I know enough about the characters to feel anything. They avoid the epidemic with apparent ease as those around them die, they ride their horses through armies, they scale walls, they appear to be able to do anything without consequence. It's as if the international quarterback and prom queen are on their way to the prom on horseback. Things come a bit too easy. The ending left me verbally begging for more, but I suppose I can use my imagination. It was nice and pleasant (even with the corpses), but I don't know why we root for the couple, except that they're gorgeous. The video I watched was 119 minutes which was less than the 130 minutes in theaters.
Oliver Martinez Juliette Binoche Laura Marinoni Paul Chevillard Patrick Medioni Philippe Guegan Jean-Francois Pages Richard Sammel Claudio Amendola Gerard Depardieu Cinematography by Thierry Arbogast Directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau
40 critics 6.9 Ebert *** Maltin **^Stack 4.0 Shulgasser **
~~Cesar Nomination For Best Picture of 1995
~~Cesar Nomination For Best Director for Jean-Paul Rappeneau
~~Cesar Nomination For Best Actress For Juliette Binoche
~~Cesar Winner For Best Cinematography for Thierry Arbogast
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Le Hussard Sur Le Toit [The Horseman On The Roof] (95)

Le Hussard Sur Le Toit
[The Horseman On The Roof] (95)