Juliette Binoche

Juliette Binoche is what I classify as my favorite actress. Im not so blinkered to say she is the best or that there are other actors/actresses that I might like almost as much, but when ever I need to set security questions and it asked for favorit actor I always put Juliette Binoche. In fact I have all her DVD's, well almost all, and I know no other DVD's. Its not a fixation, more of a habit I got into and occasionally i'll look at whats available and uy it. Onre of my greatest frustrations, other than the fact that I have alwaready written this review and then my web editor crashed and I lost it all and here I am rewriting it, is that I never brought Jet Lag when it was available in Tescos for about £3. Now I cant find it anywhere.

I first jot into Julioette Binoche when I saw her in 1987 in The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. To be honest, that shaped my life and thats probably one of the reasons I still collect her films. The Unbearable Lightness of being is a terminaly sad love story which makes you want to drive your truck into a paling white fade out muttering about how happy you are. There is so much in that film that is important to me, and that makes it a classic. It was based on a book my Milun Kundera, and I have rad that book and can say that both are fantastic but that they dont really compliment each other as works of art. The book is good for a lot of reasons but I saw the film first. When you read the book you sort of realise how the film developed. For example, the part where Thomas is explaining to sabrine how if he had two lives he could live one with Teressa and one with out and then compare but that he doesn't, etc etc. That was almost word for word from the book, however, much else is completely different, and they are not really the same thing. However, at a very very high level, they are the same thing, go figure.

Juliette Binoche was great in that film both because it was a great film, well made and all that, but also because she was young and pretty. Her youth carried that film, and its because of that that I liked it and her so much.

However, she has done so much else, and its that consistent pedigree that has proven her worth. Its hard to start describing why I think shhe is such a great actress. I think there are many reasons, but I think one of them is that she plays roles that are both believable, but also address the male human condition in a way that is not typical. In most hollywood films there is usually a happy ending, the hero gets the girl, but I think through out Juliette Binoche demonstrates in her roles that mostly men loose. Or that there are alot of loosers out there. Men that would love her blind.

This is dealt with almost head on in Alice Et Martin, one of my favorite films. Martin begins the film as a troubled boy who runs away, and he ends up meeting Juliette Binoche who is staying with his brother. The whole film wreaks of sadness, but Juliette Binoche somehow allows Martin to love her, and the film is about them. But its more than that and there are some great actors and underlying morallities. But she plays the role with conviction and care that makes it a memorable and enjoyable film.

Juliette Binoche consistently gets cast with great actors. They are always classic actors, great charactors. In Rendevous she gets involved with two men that both love her, but its not really a competition, again its more of an analysis of the human condition, from the perspective of the man. The dude in Rendevous is really strong, or rather his features are strong, he looks the part.

In Damage she plays a seduction role with some similarly incredible actor, and whilst Juliette Binoche is a great actor she is complemented by other amazing people, and even though they might not be well know or famous, they are obviously high calibre.

I think its fair to say that that association with high calibre actors is consistent through out her careers, she does a few films with some French dude in Mauvis Sang and Lovers On The Bridge. but her later roles have lacked the vest of her youth.

What I wrote the firt time round was quite gargled and i'll make it not better this time around, but her later roles feel less believable, more contrived. In Breaking and Entering she plays a mother of a tearaway kid who works at home as an honest seamstress. Whilst in theory its not beyond reason, I just have a hard time imagining that a woman with such inherent beauty would be in that position. To be nieve about the architects affections for her. To be honest, it seems to me that most women see desperate dudes a mile off, they live their lives in fear of desperate attempts at lost love. In her earlier films her roles were more believable because the reality was more believable, dudes were desperate for her. I think she is still trying to live a dream that died in most people years ago, a world of innocence. For me, my reality is shaped quickly, I can walk into a room, and almost instantly assess every possible human reaction possible, I could approach a girl and the whole plot has already been played, the need etc, but with Juliette Binoche she still carries out a nieve innocence that leads to her relationship with the black dude in In My Country being a surprise, the surprise of meeting John Hurt in A Couch In New York?

But that said, she still has magic. The things she does are still great. And really, if you get into watching her films you wont be dissapointed, if your into that sort of stuff. Shes a classic actor.

My top 5 films, and its not easy to select only 5, it should be a top 20, but here goes:

• The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
• Rendevous
• Alice Et Martin
• Damage
• Mauvis Sang

And not really in that order, all at number 1 please.

One film to avoid, and there could be a few others, but i'll not include those as they are not really bad films, just im not so keen on them for personal reasons, but dont bother with:

Mon beau-frère a tué ma soeur

Other than the fact that its in French without subtitles its a purile commedy that really doesn't cater for Juliettes more refined talents at all.

I never liked Chocolate at first, for years I treated it with scorn, but now I have grown fond of it. I thought it was a bit too mainstream at first and I didn't like that dude? I cant remember his name, the gypo, and I also hate gypos, but its actually a good film and I like it now. It has a classic by Sabrine from Unbearable adn they great each other and its almost as though as actresses they are greating each other from their roles in Unbearable, Terrassa and Sabina, in this film Chocolate, its amost touch if you look at it from that perspective.

Bee season sort of sucked and I dont think ive watched it too many times. I never understood why she blew the competition at the end, but thats a minor point in comparison to the fact that Juliette Binoche plays a colleptamaniac who has built a huge sculpture from things she has stolen from peoples houses. Just too weird to care for. Yes, interesting parraells to the human condition and interesting social commetry, but it doesn't make you feel. However, I couldn't put it on the dont watch list as I think its a good film, technically, its just not for me. Its more for your mum really. Its like a typical US melodrama with a few good actors and a good director etc.

I could go on forever really, talking about each film, but I wont. If your really interested in checking out all shes done there is a filmography here.