calvinnme John Gielgud stars as an old, dying, drunken writer, who spends a sleepless night thinking up his next novel's story in between bouts of pain and self-reflection. Most of the film is his imagined story, with a haughty lawyer (Dirk Bogarde) who has recently lost a case against a soldier (David Warner) who has committed a mercy killing. The lawyer's wife (Ellen Burstyn) brings the soldier home after the trial, and there is much back-biting and threats of adultery. The lawyer himself is also having an affair, with an older journalist (Elaine Stritch). One of the complicated factors in the film is that the writer has envisioned people from his real life as his characters: his sons are the lawyer and soldier, his daughter-in-law the unhappy wife, and his own deceased wife as the lawyer's mistress! Also in the story-within-the-story is a lot of background action involving young soldiers rounding up the elderly and placing them in concentration camps, as well as the threat of terrorist bombings.This film is a brutal and honest study of the creative process. Gielgud was one of the English language's greatest stage actors, but filmmakers never seemed to use him very well, at least not often. Here he has arguably his finest role, and even if just for his delivery of the film's final line, I would say he deserved an Oscar. Bogarde as well is fantastic, and just as deserving of accolades. The film also boasts some truly remarkable art direction and set design. I'm not sure how many of the exteriors and interiors were sets and which were locations, but they looked exquisite, even down to some H.R. Giger paintings on the wall in one scene. From what I've read, this film was poorly received here in the U.S., but was a great success commercially and critically in Europe. Recommended for the more adventurous film goers.

lasttimeisaw At the age of 90, Alain Resnais' new film YOU AIN'T SEEN Nothing' YET (Vous n'avez encore rein vu 2012) has continued to stun the Cannes this year, although ended up empty-handed, which reminds me a cruel matter-of-fact that Alain has eluded my watch list completely, so as a starter, PROVIDENCE, his 1977 experimentally maturer work may suit the case, plus it's in English.So conspicuously, Resnais' opus is quite difficult to chew, the film charts an aging writer's one sleepless tormenting night with his imagination world of a plot mingles with his closest relatives, profoundly literary and surrealistic. The interrelation among its characters are not being unveiled until the last episode of a real world luncheon for the writer's 78 birthday, when his two sons and one daughter-in-law arrive, there is a pure revelation in this paragraph, no matter how irreverent or symbolistic its previous segments are, Resnais did manifest that the deepest humanity underneath a well-protected hypocrisy, an individualist rumination.The film might be uneasy to watch since the performances are flaky (David Warner is rather awful and hollow in it), the structures with their implausible consequences are never quite straightforward enough to be participated enthusiastically. Dirk Bogarde and Ellen Burstyn are less-exploited reckoning on their knack, so only Sir John Gielgud's soliloquy of a pain- molested night is a substantial career-defining work, but the sway is too marginal to lift the whole film. For me, watching the very first work of a maestro is always a tentative challenge, as it hardly gives any trace of characterization or personal antics there to dig, but I smell somewhat of a bourgeoisie blasting and sarcasm which I don't quite comprehend yet whether could be pigeonholed among one of Resnais' trademarks or not, but the film's heady otherworldliness surely invites me into a distinguished world of Alain Resnais, hope PROVIDENCE is not the best he is able to bestow.

SixtusXLIV Since so many good comments have been written here, mostly on the psychological side of the characters, and they are all excellent, I decided to comment upon a very present entity and that is WINE.Notice that, until the last scene, everybody drinks white, mostly CHABLIS, an acid one. But on that last scene Resnais shifts to RED. It is no accident, it has in my modest opinion, a way that illustrates a very fundamental change in the feelings that occurred in that lunch.Criticism and over-analysis, ever present till that event, give way to peaceful acceptance of the characters by the father, Without hypocrite sensibility, that he refuses, but with warmth and tolerance.Well, I do believe, by some 55 years of experience, that white wine (dry, European style) makes one restless and sometimes bitter.Red wine makes one more relaxed and happy.I do not know which kind of wine Resnais prefers, but since he is a Breton I would not be surprised, that it is WHITE. Maybe that is the reason why His movies are so difficult to decode. They are also some of the most magnificent works of cinematic art..

moonmobile This is my favourite film of all time. I first saw it many years ago, and it still remains my favourite. A masterpiece of subtle humour, irony, surrealism and commentary on what is real and what is fiction with a fantastic score and wonderful imagery. It also features some of my favourite actors - Dirk Bogarde, David Warner.Like another reviewer here I also frequently check to see if it has been released on DVD and am disappointed and puzzled by its continued non release. It is not as though it figures an obscure director and actors and it is Resnais' only film in English!I would also like to agree with other reviewers who says that it manages to capture the interior process of how a writer or creative artist works. There are very nice touches. As the writer (John Gielgud)gets progressively more sozzled on white wine, we see the characters he is imagining all standing around in the most improbable of settings with glasses of white wine in their hands.