Product Description

Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 08/19/2003 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53342 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2003-08-19
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

From The New Yorker
At the age of ninety-two, Manoel de Oliveira has directed a wonderful, spare rumination on death. His alter ego, Michel Piccoli, plays a French theatre actor, who, after delivering the final speech of the dying monarch in Ionesco's "Exit the King," learns that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident. In an oblique yet effective way, Oliveira doesn't show us Piccoli's reaction, but rather the fretful cluster of his fellow-actors. This is a film of long glances, where the moments are held for extra beats, as though the director is reminding us to look. He's also carefully documenting the quotidian joys of the café table and a new pair of shoes. Piccoli's performance is a multifaceted portrayal of dignity-in the morning, in the evening, and at the wrong end of a mugging. The sterling supporting cast includes Catherine Deneuve, Sylvie Testud, and John Malkovich as an American film director who whispers "cut" as though it's a curse. In French and English. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

From the Back Cover
Hailed by critics as one of the finest films of the decade, this funny, humane and heartbreaking statement is the masterpiece of internationally acclaimed director Manoel de Oliveira. Successful theater actor Gilbert Valence (Contempt's Michel Piccoli) learns his wife, daughter and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident. Over time, his life regains a semblance of normalcy as he takes care of his orphaned grandson, strolls the streets of Paris, frequents his favorite cafe and returns to the stage. But when an American film director (Dangerous Liaisons' John Malkovich) casts him against type in an English-language production of James Joyce's Ulysses, Valence struggles to master the dialogue and his own emotions. Irresistible in its poignancy and charm, this radiant wonder also stars the legendary Catherine Deneuve (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and features stunning footage of the City of Lights itself.

Customer Reviews

A magnificent offering from a man as old and as wise as cinema itself....
This is a gentle, simple, calming film. Manoel de Oliveira, the director, was 93 when he made this film. He is the world's oldest working director. The film is one of the most unhurried, serene films I've ever seen. Many will say it's too slow and boring. I prefer unhurried. The takes are long, the conversations are quiet, yet it seems like a lifetime happens. The story unfolds in a unique, disquieting way. There is a scene in a cafe where you see Michel Piccoli enjoying an expresso, and talking to the waiter, but all you hear is the traffic outside the cafe. De Oliveira makes very interesting and fascinating choices throughout this film. The way the film ends is unique. The film just ends. The main character (Michel Piccoli) just goes home at the end of the film, and that's it. No wrap up, no conclusion. That's probably the point. I don't like to analyse these things too much, so I won't go into symbolism and what have you.

This is one of De Oliveira's most accessible films. It is also one of his few films that has received almost universal critical praise (which is not always a good thing). It is perhaps because it's not really as heavy as his other works can be. Manoel's films are very challenging and many critics complain about his work, saying it's too dry, too intellectual, talky, and pretentious. While de Oliveira's films are talky and intellectual, it's not a bad thing. I find them fascinating.

I'm Going Home, despite not being as "heavy" as other de Oliveira works, is still a wonderful film, and it should be seen by everyone. Only a handful of Manoel's films are available in the US, but you should check them all out. Kudos to Michel Piccoli and John Malkovich for excellent, understated performances. Just one small complaint. The DVD cover makes the film look like some sappy, overly sentimental film about a man and his grandson. It isn't at all.

There are some very good special features on this DVD. Watch the interview with Manoel. He was 93 at the time, yet looks 30 years younger. The commentary by Richard Pena, director of The Film Center at Lincoln Center, is surprisingly light and informative. It's not the typically pretentious film professor like commentary. Manoel is still making interesting, great films. He's an inspiration to all...

THE BEAUTY IS IN THE DETAILS
A relatively short bitter sweet movie about an aging French actor, Michel Piccoli, who is nearing the end of his distinguished career when a tragic accident takes the lives of most of his family, except for one little boy whom he undertakes to look after. Catherine Deneuve has a minor, but not a cameo, role of little significance.The American actor John Malkovich has an important supporting role as an English speaking movie director. The tale embodied in the movie is very simple and predictable but the charm of the film is in the brilliant photography and sounds. It is a great little artistic work. Wonderful clear shots of sights and sounds of contemporary everyday Paris but the beauty is in the details. The Portuguese director, Manuel de Oliveira, is obviously a very good observer of everyday human traits, Aren't we all? But he incorporates them into his movies as nobody else does. The importance of the habitual table, for one specific character who has nothing otherwise to do with the main theme of the film (he is listed in the final credits as "Client with Le Figaro"), at the place where he regularly get takes his petit dejeuner and reads his daily newspaper headlines; the organ grinder, men's shoes as a setting for a conversation, the significance of an old semi-dilapidated town house of faded elegance where the actor dwells, etc, etc. All but the last 15 minutes of the movie are in French, most of the last being in English , for reasons which will not be revealed here but will become obvious to the viewer.