Worst movie I've ever seen
That was the most pretentious s**t I've ever seen. Horrible film.
shareSee it again without the ganja. Better yet, don't. Stick to the stuff you usually enjoy.
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MovieChat Forums > Hiroshima mon amour (1960) Discussion > Worst movie I've ever seen
No, this is a great film. If you want to see something pretentious see Last Year in Marienbad. A good film but only for the nice cinematography and the mood.
shareI second that, cpf27.
Last Year in Marienbad has got to be the most pretentious film of all time.
"Dry your eyes, baby, it's out of character."
--Notorious
Grow up. As if anybody is going to take you seriously on a board devoted to the film. My advice to you is to simply avoid world cinema and stick to something you enjoy. They don't make em much better than Hiroshima mon Amour, so if you're disappointed I don't think you'd be impressed with any other foreign films of that decade.
You might consider some of the great American films, Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now and Raging Bull (among others) but you'd do well to avoid stuff in the same vein as this.
Last film seen: One Wonderful Sunday 6/10
Unfortunately I need to defend gangajas (just a bit) for his opinion. He should have been a bit more subtle (OK, a lot) in his feeling about the movie, but I do think this is the kind of movie, like a Mondrian painting, that no one feels brave enough to say, "Sorry, but I didn't really like it."
To say one doesn't like this movie brings on the attacks of the true artistes who confuse those for whom the movie just wasn't their style with those who have no style at all. Yes, the lovers of cheap Hollywood trash won't like this movie. But the converse isn't true: disliking the movie is not a sign of having no taste at all. And people should be able to say that out loud without being attacked (likewise, gangajas could find a more mature way of stating his opinions!).
So, as you might guess, I wasn't crazy about this movie. I appreciated much of what the director was saying, and it well shot and very poetic and lyrical. But for me it was TOO poetic and stylized. I felt like I was trapped in a 2-hour poetry reading. For those who like that style, this movie would be a lovely experience. For me, it wore a little thin after a while despite all the positives of the film.
So really you don't agree with the OP. This movie isn't your taste, but you at least consider it a piece of art that others would like or even love. gangajas made no effort to justify his/her wild accusation and it wouldn't be totally impossible that he/she doesn't have any taste.
P.S. I kinda like Mondrian and not because I feel any pressure to. I know almost nothing about the history of (or meaning behind) De Stijl, but I find cubism interesting.
if you like that great. if you don't, *beep* off.
simple as that.
rdhaun,
That was the most intelligent statement I have ever read on a message board. And you're right, there is no reason why someone couldn't have legitimate reasons for disliking this film. Thank you for being a reasonable human being in an environment where so many people choose to be a gaggle of douchebags.
P.S. I did enjoy the film
This is a really good post! For real!
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Do the internet a favor and proof read your posts.
I love world cinema but found this movie obnoxious and dull. It almost redeems itself with cinematography and flashbacks but
cannot avoid slipping into the doldrums of narratives which are always a bit too garrulous. It isn't really as deep as you
want to pretend it is. No matter how much you love to inflect meaning and supplement the unstated. What's with recommending
a bunch of films everyone already knows about and have nothing to do with this film ? Just an extra, irrelevant sentence.
'Dim X as Integer = 0'
I found that after reading the following comment, my appreciation for the film skyrocketed. Perhaps you saw it the wrong way? If you want boring perceived as 'art' try Renoir's Rules of the Gameor Godard's Breathless. Those are supremely overrated films.
"Hiroshima Mon Amour" is one of the few films that I can say actually changed my life. I just watched it tonight, but already I understand and have faced one of my deepest fears: that of forgetting, forgetting things, forgetting places, forgetting love. And this movie has taught me not to fear it, but to learn to live with it. Time is here, time does not move but in our minds, as past and present are never individual unities: they combine and reshape each other, redefining the "real" events we have experienced and making it impossible to take our whole life and analyze it. Everything remains alive even when it's gone, for it subsists in our memory, which is impossible to share. She says she has seen and understood Hiroshima, almost felt it (through pictures, through monuments), but He could never express the extreme pain of the event itself, of the loss he had, of the destruction of mankind. For in a sense, every war kills the whole of mankind every time.
After war (during war also, for those that dare not to understand what is going on, like Her in her twenties, falling for a German) the world is forever uncertain, as is the pain we felt, the pain that we carry with ourselves, and the love the rest may offer us. All that is certain is oblivion, the anihilation of love, harmony and happiness. All things must pass. Everything passes, time passes. All will crumble to dust and yet it shall remain, breathing, living in our confused and uncertain memories. My name is San José, this is the setting of my tragedies, the place for my crying. It will also fade away someday, but did it ever exist? When I leave, it will remain intact. "Hiroshima Mon Amour" makes the world unbearable and endlessly fascinating at once. A masterpiece of world cinema.
Last film seen: Elephant 9/10 share
elephant is a 9 out of 10? (insert laughter here).
'Dim X as Integer = 0'
I can't think of another film that shows violence with that level of realism and that level of horror. Not pleasant, and I certainly won't be watching it again, but it is, to say the least, a powerful statement.
That said, it still suffers from a director trying to make it overtly 'artsy' instead of focusing as closely on the subject matter. That really was my only qualm with the film.
Last film seen: Thirst 4/10
"Elephant" is a brilliant film, and the director was never too "artsy." He was simply engrossing us into the atmosphere of a boring high school life. And it's amazing how he can create such a slow-pace, during a modern timeline. Truly amazing.
Last Films Seen:
Equilibrium(2002)- 6/10
Fear(1996)- 6.5/10
elephant is not 'truly amazing'. You got me effed up..
'Dim X as Integer = 0'
I really dislike it when a person says that an expressive and beautifully shot film like this "isn't really as deep as you think it is" because it sets up the supposition that in order to like a film you have to read into its ambiguity a variety of "deep" meanings. I don't have to read anything into this film except what it presents me with and yet still be floored by its beauty. I can like it aesthetically, and I can like the themes that it presents. I can use it as a base for free association of meanings and interpretations that aren't locked into the usual narrative frame of the average movie. I don't have to read deep and unwavering meaning into this movie to enjoy it.
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As if anybody is going to take you seriously on a board devoted to the film. My advice to you is to simply avoid world cinema and stick to something you enjoy. They don't make em much better than Hiroshima mon Amour, so if you're disappointed I don't think you'd be impressed with any other foreign films of that decade.
That is a horrible advice... I absolutely hated this film and love many late 50s early 60s films of world cinema, some of them French New Wave even... share
I'm afraid I'll have to agree with gangajas. This may be the worst French film I've ever seen. The first 15 minutes were amazing. Then it just plunged into one of the dullest love stories I've ever witnessed. 3/10
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If you think *this* movie has a dull love story, then you haven't seen "H Story"...
Seeing the Pink Panther with Steve Martin doesn't qualify you as an expert on french film. No matter how much you thought beyonce gave the performance of a lifetime, this does not change the fact that you are a tool.
shareThat was the worst statement I've ever seen. Horrible how everybody feels free to pretend to be movie critics.
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It's ok if you didn't like this movie, but to call it the worst movie ever is a bit childish.
"I collect blondes and bottles" - The Big Sleep
I have to say I agree that the film was horrible. I had to watch this for my History of Film class. I loved every film that we had to see in the class, except for this one. Maybe I just didn't get it, but I can't understand how people can think that a film that has the main characters travel from cafe to cafe just to have the exact same conversation three or four times is a great film.
shareI think we can simply ignore the opinion of the original poster as it does not offer any further explanation. It just sounds like 'I hate Picasso paintings'. Or 'I dislike beans and potatoes'.
Neither is Sms231 very helpful in offering an explanation for his/her discredit of the movie. Loving every film they had to see in class, except this one, does not supply any material for comparison.
This film was produced more than half a century ago and is not your typical Hollywood flick. It deals with the pain people suffer from the scars of war. Not just war, but also the divides between the conqueror and the conquered, the taboos dividing them, the horrors of mass destruction, the inability to forget, to start a new life, their helplessness to deal with their memories and what is facing them.
Try watching this rare movie again with different eyes. Don't expect a happy end, because that's not what you get after an A-bomb or a Nazi regime oppression or any kind of war. Try to see this is not pure entertainment but an attempt at painting a picture of how wars affect people's lives.
Well, here's why I thought this movie was tedious beyond belief.
It was utter plotless. It was about two characters having existential issues in bed, at the café, in the bar and then in bed again. The movie didn't even bother to string its themes on even the vaguest of plot contructions, it was just a self-indulgent musing on two deeply scarred character's fears and pain, that I never cared about because it was so OBVIOUS.
I was meant to feel this was a great love affair but felt nothing, because all the characters could talk about was the SUBTEXT. Good dialogue is banal on the surface but profound in the subtext, which is what engages the viewer and lets him and her identify and root for characters. This movie had the characters state their pain out loud in the most artificially lyrical and intellectual manner, that it felt like the film was trying so hard to say something interesting about forgetting.
The characters ultimately weren't characters, but representations and symbols, and the film can't expect me to care about something as 2-dimensional as that.
Films must have a story, I honestly believe that to be true. They must have a plot to angage the viewer. Shakespeare knew this was true, and it's true today.
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"We're Sonic *beep* Death Monkey!"
i'm sorry hund2110 but movies are alot more than just plot. That's just the brainwashing hollywood did to so many..unbelievable. That's why cinema in the US is so full of *beep* honeslty. I can't dare to watch it anymore..
shareActually it's not the brainwashing of Hollywood. It's the brainwashing of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Dumas, Hugo, Miller and countless other great playwrights in the preceding centuries before film was even invented. Plot is the foundation of drama. It was true for Shakespeare and it is still true today.
However that's not to say that you're not right that movies are a lot more than plot. They are. They are visual. They are style. There's an old adage in the industry going something like "A movie isn't about what, but about how". In other words, a film is as much about how a story is presented as what the story is about.
But, and this is a huge but, if your central story isn't there, then all the visual dizzle dazzle in the world won't save your movie. The plot is the skeleton which you hang your style and characters on. And to me, Hiroshima, mon Amour is only a movie worth talking about because of its style. Its editing was pioneering and had a huge influence on the way we make movies today, but as a film in its own right it's utterly forgettable.
The problem with Hollywood is that they only see plot (and not character or style), and the problem with avantgarde and art cinema is that it only sees style and character (and never plot). In effect Hollywood movies often read like they were written by a 6-year-old on ritalin, and art house movies by a 17-year-old hipster freshman, trying to impress his prof.
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"We're Sonic *beep* Death Monkey!"
I was meant to feel this was a great love affair but felt nothing, because all the characters could talk about was the SUBTEXT. Good dialogue is banal on the surface but profound in the subtext, which is what engages the viewer and lets him and her identify and root for characters. This movie had the characters state their pain out loud in the most artificially lyrical and intellectual manner, that it felt like the film was trying so hard to say something interesting about forgetting.
Well put and true.
Their discussion felt extremely contrived - no one talks this way, except in some French art films. share
I thought it was pretty clear what was going on. The woman couldn't move past an event in her own history. While time had moved on she hadn't. The challenge for the filmmakers & the interest for the viewer stems from the way past & present are laid over each other.
I thought it was rather well done, kind of fascinating actually. Emmanuelle Riva is absolutely terrific. She's not a Marilyn Monroe sort of beauty but she is pretty & she has an extraordinarily expressive face that's used to hypnotic effect here. There's a freshness to her that doesn't seem to have dated at all.
This is an imaginative, thoughtful & unsettling film. Not for everybody's taste I agree but I liked it.
Mai Yamane! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD83P-vn5JI&feature=related
The film felt like a gigantic poetry reading, and I hate poetry.
shareI think the thing with this film is that you have to consider it in context of when it was made- true of all things "artistic" but especially of films of this nature.
I was never a die hard fan of the works that stem from the Fr New Wave but I think they are important when considered in context of the films made around that period and the emotions that were lingering in the air. There were escapist big budget films, various Noirs and avant-garde/New Wave types; all of which are directly related to the mass mindset after WWII.
Particularly, the hype of the avant-garde/New Wave stuff tends to die with its time. Let's see, if there were a devastating World War III from 1990-1994, then we'd be in the fun around now to properly enjoy a movie like Hiroshima Mon Amour.
What do you think?
The replies from these bloated, "art" movie lovers are about as bad as how they delineate their criticism.
If you don't see yourself in the same category as the audience who pay to see the mainstream Hollywood films on a daily basis, you should, because you're no different. Just a group of people who fancy their delusions about what they are supposed to like versus the group who like what they have the disposition to like.
Anyone for a cigarette?
There are a lot of people who think i'm a flake.share
Who thinks that?
Me, for one.