Film Review
Together, the iconic actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and popular director Philippe
de Broca made several hugely successful films, notably
Cartouche (1962),
L'Homme de Rio (1964) and
Le Magnifique (1973).
Amazone, the sixth and last of their collaborations, proved to be
a spectacular failure. Attracting an audience of barely 70,000 in France
it was Belmondo's least commercially successful film by some margin.
Belmondo's popularity had been on the wane for over a decade and this flop
was the last straw - he immediately gave up cinema altogether to devote himself
entirely to his stage work. Francis Huster managed to coax the actor
back nine years later to take the lead in
Un homme et son chien (2009),
another commercial disaster, but effectively this was the end of Belmondo's
screen career.
And what a sad end it was too. It is hard to find anything positive
to say about
Amazone. Its puerile plot might have been salvaged
had the performances been up to scratch or if de Broca had been able to show
at least a fraction of the flair of his glory years. But no, everything
about the film reeks of total amateurishness and complacency, and even Arielle
Dombasle becomes unbearable after a few minutes (the script does her absolutely
no favours at all). Belmondo looks like an actor who knows his time
is up and he doesn't even try to make a go of what he must have known would
be his swansong. Some bad films can turn out to be enjoyable because
they are so bad, but
Amazone is not in this category. It is
just irredeemably bad.
© James Travers 2016
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Philippe de Broca film:
Vipère au poing (2004)
Film Synopsis
Edouard, a misanthropic jewel thief on the run from the authorities, seeks
sanctuary in the Amazon rain forest. Here, he comes across
a strange young girl, Lulu, who explains that she is an alien from another
world many millions of light-years away. The vessel that brought Lulu
to Earth has aroused the interest of the French secret services, who send
a commando mission led by astronomer Margaux to locate it. Edouard
and Margaux soon run into each other, just before Lulu drops her bombshell.
It appears that the extra-terrestrial has mislaid the pills that prevent
her from ageing. Without her medication, Lulu will age to death within
a few hours...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.