Antonia's Line (1996)

one of my absolute favorites!

Just perfect...

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The winner of the 1995 Oscar for a foreign language film has, I think, been unfairly derided on political grounds. Antonia, called Antonia's Line in English, is a Dutch feminist film and has drawn criticism just for that. Sexists love to paint feminists with one brush based on a lunatic fringe, but as a male film watcher I can testify that there's nothing about the film that should be offensive to men. A villain rapist is a man, but rapists exist in life and there are plenty of men in the film who are decent. The women in the family never marry, but many of them still love men and keep them close in their lives. What really scares closet sexists is that the women in this movie are strong characters- even if it's in a positive way, that just won't sit will with those still wishing for a male-run society. The real objective of feminism is for men and women to share power, not make females the sole power.Antonia's Line (a title that makes more sense than the original title of Antonia, because it better captures the focus of the movie), is a fine film that includes colourful, interesting characters, some funny moments and some compelling drama. For example, Thérèse is an interesting character because of her abnormal intelligence, and when the narrator announces she's been raped it's a shocking, disheartening moment (even though we don't actually see that rape). There's also some humour in Danielle announcing she wants a baby but also having a lack of interest in a husband, and in how her own mother arranges for her to get laid. There are lots of characters for a fairly short film, but most of even the minor characters have some appeal. This movie deserved its Oscar and it deserves to be seen.

"Antonia's Line" is a beautiful, poignant film which skillfully manages to celebrate life in all its fertile richness while it simultaneously throws a richly deserved counter-punch into the face of 2,000 years of arrogant, church-sponsored misogyny.When a modern film such as this one cleverly turns the tables on real historical injustice, I do not find it offensive at all. I'm a man and I found this film admirable for giving a hoot about redressing a justified, legitimate grievance. Until very recently, women were not regarded as significant beings in their own right; they were deemed valuable only as helpmates to be utilized and governed by men - significant only to the extent that they were subordinate to a father and later a husband, and they were supposed to accept this secondary status without complaint, protest or challenge. Such traditional subjugation of women is rubbish and this movie plainly says so. That's a good thing. I see no reason to be offended by such truthfulness. These are not matters of conjecture but of historical fact.This movie features wonderful, strong female characters who are people in their own right - they are not compliant appendages of domineering male characters. Strong, independent women are found in cinema with extreme rarity, and this film has five of them! There are at least three male characters who are good human beings in this film: Farmer Bas; Crooked Finger; and Simon; so you can forget the reviews falsely complaining that all the male characters are creeps. Refreshingly, this movie also celebrates sexual joy without censorship or hand-wringing. It's even quite amusing, bringing a life-affirming smile to the viewer's face despite some of the violent and somber events which occur in other parts of the film.I found Dennis Littrell's review on this web site to be excellent, because it cites the ancient mythological underpinnings of this film.The soundtrack is beautiful.I suggest paying especially careful attention to the conversations between older and younger female characters, because they contain a complex interplay of emotion, intelligence, belief and intuition - and so, just when you think you have a character pigeonholed (for example, Antonia is completely atheist), you notice a nuance pointing in another direction. Sarah's final pronouncement in the film also alludes to new possibilities, if you're listening carefully.A fabulous, unique film, "Antonia's Line" gets my highest recommendation.

No character development, characters passed through town self-righteously and gave into impulses. Characters merely made pronouncements: "I will have a child but no husband", "he is bad", and "she is good". "I want to be an artist" and she's off to art school with no worry about the farm or the costs of school and supplies. It was a romance novel in which Holland wasn't affected by WWII and serious farming involved strolling and tossing seeds from a wicker basket while the sun sets gently behind the horizon. All men are either sinister or simpletons and all are useless. Why would a story that purports to show strong women first need to geld all the males? It is never a sign of a strong women/man to need to diminish your counterpart.

Antonia's line is indeed a true celebration of life. A well crafted film.It's a film with excellent narrative and a well-woven script. Like life, which does not resolve around one problem or one conflict or in fact one person, this film too does not hover around a conflict. Conflicts are born and they die. People are born and they die. The film is not a story of a person but of a village and a family.Like life, which would be incomplete without others (people) in your life, even this film would be incomplete without the various characters in the film and their bond with each other. Marleen Gorris has proved herself as a genius at establishing characters and their relationships. All characters have their own identity and no two characters seem similar.Moreover, the film is visually stunning and emotionally gripping. A must see!