Jezabelle Amato Movies
Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, better known in the literary world as George Sand, not only took a man's name, but trotted around wearing pants and smoking cigars in public. No great shakes today, but in the 1800s she was perhaps the most famous (or infamous) woman in the world. One of the first original celebrities, aside from her garb and literary output, she was known to inspire many duels and broken hearts among other famous hedonist artists. One character describes her in Impromptu, as "that graveyard." The film engages in a sexual roundelay among Sand's (Judy Davis) many friends -- Eugene Delacroix (Ralph Brown), Alfred DeMusset (Mandy Patinkin), Franz Liszt (Julian Sands), and Frederick Chopin (Hugh Grant). The entire crew heads off to the summer estate of the Duke and Duchess d'Antan (Anton Rodgers and Emma Thompson), invited there by the culture-vulture hosts. Sand takes a bead on the sickly Chopin and spends her time throwing herself at him. Also on hand is Liszt's mistress Marie d'Agoult (Bernadette Peters) and Felicien Mallefille (Georges Corraface), Sand's recently jilted lover. Mallefille is jealous of any of the other guests who glance in Sand's direction and continually challenges them to duels. Marie, on the other hand, is enlisted by Sand to deliver a note to Chopin. But Marie, jealous of Sand, delivers the note substituting her name for Sand's. And as the weekend continues, the sexual merry-go-round continues at full tilt. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, (more)
- 1992
This slapdash comedy is the first in ten years featuring the chaos-provoking talents of the Charlots, who, according to legend, are a group of men who came together while on military service together. In fact, they are a group of comics responsible for at least four other silly movies which (along with this one) fall into the "guilty pleasures" category. In the story, Antonio returned to Portugal ten years ago with his lovely (and quite thin) French wife. She has since become quite a hefty specimen of womanhood, and his eye has lately been wandering to others. When his strong-tempered wife catches him with another woman (their neighbor), she bonks him on the head. In order to avoid further embarrassment, he pretends this has induced amnesia. He does so well in his pretense that his worried wife calls his old Parisian buddies (the rest of the Charlots) and asks them to come and help revive his memory. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Les Charlots, Guy Montagne, (more)
