Like a lot of 4-to-5-hour movies, this one has a good 90-to-120-minute film inside it that wasn't allowed to come out. But even edited down to reasonable size, the plot is still too banal to be a great film. Imagine Scenes from a Marriage if none of the characters cared all that much. 3/10
As others have mentioned, the online prints of this film are generally of poor quality; they look transferred from videotape. The most watchable is here: https://rarefilmm.com/2019/02/lamour-fou-1969/
I really wish there were better copies of the film out there. This was really good-- but its extremely protracted and not all of the scenes should be there-- in fact a lot of them are edited together seemingly at random. I still found the rehearsal material fascinating and I think the tedium of the repetitious and banal exercise of reciting words written long ago, trying to make them live again, is explored in an interesting way. This is of course contrasted with the excitement and drama that is provided by toxic relationships-- and how the hatefulness and conflict that arises from them can fuel creativity and passion but also ultimately destroy a person. Recommended.
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Ray Anselmo
Like a lot of 4-to-5-hour movies, this one has a good 90-to-120-minute film inside it that wasn't allowed to come out. But even edited down to reasonable size, the plot is still too banal to be a great film. Imagine Scenes from a Marriage if none of the characters cared all that much. 3/10If you still want to chance it, there's a low-quality version with English subs on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPrlX7sOuE
Book of Sand
As others have mentioned, the online prints of this film are generally of poor quality; they look transferred from videotape. The most watchable is here: https://rarefilmm.com/2019/02/lamour-fou-1969/ucuruju
I really wish there were better copies of the film out there. This was really good-- but its extremely protracted and not all of the scenes should be there-- in fact a lot of them are edited together seemingly at random. I still found the rehearsal material fascinating and I think the tedium of the repetitious and banal exercise of reciting words written long ago, trying to make them live again, is explored in an interesting way. This is of course contrasted with the excitement and drama that is provided by toxic relationships-- and how the hatefulness and conflict that arises from them can fuel creativity and passion but also ultimately destroy a person. Recommended.