Head in the Clouds (2004)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Perfect cast and a good story

Expected more

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I love this movie mostly because of two scenes. This might be a spoiler, so here is my fair warning. One scene is where Guy thirstily lifts Gilda's skirt to give her oral sex. Gosh that was one of the best sex scenes I ever seen in a movie. Totally turned me on. The other scene was where Gilda taught that sado-masochistic man, who hurt her friend, a harsh lesson, by administering him a taste of his own medicine. That scene kind of turned me on also. I didn't really like the ending because I feel like whoever wrote this movie punished Gilda for living life to the fullest and making herself happy. That's not right. I loved Gilda's modern lifestyle, and I think she should've gotten a happy ending for having the courage to live for herself.

This film has wonderful possibility, but never transfers the scope, romance and moral depth the writers and producers so clearly believe it has to the audience. Although it spans more than a decade, the film shows us no metamorphosis in the characters: even Theron's Gilda is still the same hedonist, Townsend's Guy remains a love-struck, quiet and principled student and Mia -- well, her fate arrives halfway through the film, so such an assertion may be cheating -- but she's still the foil for both of them (and yet, such a straightforward mixture of both characters). Despite the occasionally wooden acting, (mostly) gratuitous sex and clichéd plot twists, this lack of character is precisely what makes the film self-defeating. There are some lovely touches: the inclusion of the Spanish civil war in the plot, when to modern audiences it is overshadowed by WWII, the treatment of Gilda by the ordinary French civilians and particularly the ending, but the dialogue and the actions of Gilda and occasionally Guy just subvert every positive. This is especially prevalent as the over-long film draws to a close. I note that several previous reviews mention the ending: it is obvious that the writers wanted to show the darker side of the "liberation" and how this turned those who actively hated the occupation against almost everyone else, but the mechanism of having Gilda - a Resistance agent well known to SIS/MI5 - executed doesn't work - it's one coincidence too many. The final "problem" with the film turns out to be its one redeeming feature: Thomas Kretschmann. He quietly munches up all available scenery, as the saying goes, in every second he's even slightly in view of the camera. This wonderfully understated acting (see other reviews for details), as well as the most interesting and complex character by far, simply outshines the leads. It made me highly frustrated that Gilda didn't just ignore the drippy idealist and run off to Germany with the Hauptsturmfuhrer/Major. That refusal really underscores that she doesn't change at all: patriotism is fun and exciting only when she is in minimal danger, ultimately just another rush in her Epicurean life. In summary, just fast-forward until Guy arrives in Paris. The director finally wakes up and uses clever camera-work and more-than-decent actors. Hopefully you will too.

I always liked movies movie about mafia, war, si-fi. But this movie is something else, first i thought that it is boring romantic movie, which are very populary in these days. But believe me this movie is not boring always is something happening. It almost make my cry. But i am a grown man!!! This is the most unhappy story of one couple which meet each other at collage, and ended a lot years latter, when they are not young, full of life like on start. It ends really tragically, and they can't start all over. :( What a sad story, today they live in dream spending all time together, living in nice part of Paris, having fun. But tomorrow they are in war, sacrificing for each other and thinking about past days, and about love which she never told him what does she feel.. This movie must be in top 250!!! Everything is perfect! If don't now should you watch it, i say you must watch it, but you will feel very sad for about 5 days!

(Spoiler) Apparently this is a Theron, movie I missed, and with Penélope Cruz at that, shame on me. I'm glade I caught it. Although by the number of ratings I wasn't alone, but many didn't like it quite as much as I did. Do I love them both so much that I was blind; Gilda was to a T to me? I liked it ?? Not for the romance? I don’t like romance that much. Nor for the flesh? She is beautiful though. Maybe just for the war movie? No ?? OK, maybe it’s the dirty little secret of the resistance bothered people? Too often we killed our best resistance people with instant street justice. That’s what you get for being good at what you do, don't blame the French. Or then maybe the director’s cynicism bothered other people too, you can be sad without being cynical. I do like some cynical symbolism though, “The world turned upside down”, from Spain to Iraq. What do you think? Oh well, I’ll just put this as one of Charlize Theron’s better movies and forget why. It was just a more than good romantic war-spy movie, and as war often does, it ends sad, but why not just leave it at that? Maybe someday I'll change it to a 9, or maybe a 7?