A saga of actors moving from taxis,hotels to a ship.

La Pirate (1984) directed by Jacques Doillon

Those who enjoy serious cinema (this is the way I describe the films I like to watch) and have some knowledge of filmmakers, are aware of the fact that Jacques Doillon is recognised as a tender, kind hearted filmmaker who specialises in poignant stories about children. This film proves that he has tried his hand at making off beat films too. "La Pirate" is one of those rare, off beat films which can only be made in France." The Pirate" is a film not about pirates as the title suggests but about people trouble by love. The sad thing is that one of these people is a married woman whose husband is giving her hell.Jane Birkin is nice as the victim whose situation is rather peculiar as she loves her husband too (played by her real life brother Andrew Birkin). Philippe Leotard is an enjoyable part of the film. He plays the detective hired by the uxorious husband. Many viewers who watched this film at Créteil Women film festival 2006 were quick to add that the Dutch star Marutschka Detmers was the real "point of attraction" of this film. This view was also shared by the leading lady Jane Birkin who said that she was enamoured by her beauty.If you have lived in Paris, you would be able to recognize some of the places where "La Pirate" was shot. For ex-I had no trouble recognizing the road near "La Chapelle" station. In 2007 it is still the same as it was in this 1984 production.

So far away from reality

Sabah (2005) directed by Ruba Nada

I saw this film at films de femmes International women's film festival at Créteil,a suburb of Paris in France in 2006 where it was the opening film. It pleased most of the viewers especially the French audiences were most impressed.For them it offered a nice opportunity to watch all the melodrama, songs and dances. However there are some serious, glaring defects in this film. First of all the portrayal of the lead character Sabah is so distant,aloof, cold and hardly convincing. Somehow one gets a feeling that she is not able to connect to others around her. This is also true of the actor who played her brother.In real life this chap is Canadian and he was asked to play the role of a Jordanian guy !! This is a gross casting error. How unusual. In "Sabah" the fun elements might please casual viewers but more serious viewers might feel that it is a kind of ruse adopted by the filmmaker in order to hide the scenario's drawbacks. If you have seen films by the master of modern English language Canadian cinema Atom Egoyan, you might be tempted to watch this film. The reason : he is the executive producer of this film.

It brings to mind Makk Karoly's classic Hungarian film "Szerelem" (love)

Depuis qu'Otar est parti... (2003)

directed by Julie Bertucelli

Since Otar has left is a humanist tale directed by Julie Bertucelli who in the past worked as assistant to great Georgian master of cinema Otar Iosseliani.This film can be likened to Samuel Beckett's famous play "Waiting for Godot" as in both these works of art the important focal element is that of patience.For those who are into serious cinema mention must be made of Hungarian classic film "Szerelem" directed by Makk Karoly.Both these films have a lot of common
elements namely protagonists who are not near their families as well as brave women who carry on with their own personal lives in the absence of a male member in their life.Some astute viewers might like to know about Georgia-France connection as depicted in the film.This comes from the fact that one of the film's characters is interested in French language and literature and for that purpose at her home,she has a very good collection of classics of French literature.The only defect of this film is its innocuous end which might appear as too deceitfully agreeable to some astute viewers. This film was chosen by legendary actress Jane Birkin as her personal choice at Créteil's Films De Femmes Film Festival 2006