Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

laurel21000 This is the type of film that makes you question your past admiration for a particular director before you stop and remind yourself that there are very few people whose body of work doesn't contain a few clunkers.The casting in Lelouch's films is of utmost importance because he puts the viewer into such intimacy with the characters. The actors have to bring real screen magic to live up to the intensity. Otherwise it is just hollow. None of the actors in this film had any of that screen magic, in my opinion.Jeremy Irons and Patricia Kaas fell far short as the leads. Irons is a talented actor but he was wrong for this part. Lovable rogue didn't suit his strengths. His brand of charm also hit a false note for me here. Iron's persona is too decadence-tinged to fit into a Lelouch love story.Although I would hesitate to pass up any opportunity to hear an English accent, I also think an American actor would have worked better in this role. So many of the songs that Kaas sings are so closely identified with the Americanness of the particular lyricist that it seemed kind of discordant to then have Jeremy Irons playing the love interest -- even though logically it really didn't matter. It still screwed up the flow of the movie somehow. At least for me.Of course, it would have had to have been the right American. I think George Clooney would have been great in the part. And he would have brought the screen magic in spades. Brad Pitt could also have done a really good job delivering his particular combination of charming and edgy.I was also very disappointed with Patricia Kaas. In reading about her, I've learned that she has a hugely successful career as a singer and many fans, so what do I know, but I found her screen presence as a singer very boring. She was actually a much better actress in her speaking scenes than she was a singer in those scenes in which she had to interpret and sell a song. Nothing she sang moved me. She was pleasant but bland.In contrast, someone like Kate Hudson, who is not a professional singer and has only voice-coach French still would have handled this part a million times better. Not to mention all that stunning French talent out there that could have been tapped into. It was wrenching watching Patricia Kaas take up screen space when there are so many charismatic French actresses who could have been cast instead. The music was so important in this film, it could not really work without the music working. And since Kaas delivered so poorly in this respect, the movie never really had a chance.Lelouch sealed the fate of this movie when he cast Patricia Kaas. JMO.

Susie Farrington Plenty of food for thought and honey for the music heart'n'soul. The story of this weary master thief and a disillusioned (with love)jazz singer meeting,finding common ground and falling 'for each other' is age old. However, their common ground is quite unusual and a bit of a stretch (but hey...it's a story). Where they meet and how the story plays out, is an unexpected and interesting twist. To my mind, the acting and Morrocan setting are great. Jeremy Irons is his usual cool and collected self and the lead actress suits the part beautifully...and can she sing!! The soundtrack, to my mind (and heart) definitely steals the show. - I love blues/jazz and I found this sound track hauntingly, thought provokingly absorbing.

Claudio Carvalho The smart and bold thief of jewelries Valentin Valentin (Jeremy Irons) decides to leave his mate and travel around the world for one hundred days in a sailing boat. In the coast of Morocco, he has an amnesia problem and comes onshore looking for a doctor. Meanwhile, the piano-bar singer Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas) is brokenhearted when her lover leaves her to stay with her beast friend and decides to accept a job in Morocco to forget the past. An incident in the hotel where they are lodged joins them and they fell attracted for each other."And Now…Ladies and Gentlemen…" is a delightful romance, with many attractions: the story is very charming; the cinematography is beautiful; the chemistry between the elegant Jeremy Irons and the lovely Patricia Kaas is stunning; and the voice of the gorgeous Patricia Kaas is awesome. This singer is completely unknown in Brazil, and I was surprised and touched hearing such beautiful interpretation of wonderful songs. Patricia Kaas herself alone makes this movie very worthwhile. It is difficult to assimilate Claudia Cardinale old, but she has a great performance in the role of an unfaithful countess. Claude Lelouch is amazing as usual, making a perfect combination of an attractive story with the magnificent interpretation of this wonderful Patricia Kaas. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Amantes & Infiéis" ("Lovers & Unfaithful")

ducdebrabant It's just too bad that LeLouch is still best known in the USA for A Man and a Woman, because he's made so many fascinating films barely known in the English speaking world. This film embodies his ongoing fascination with narrative, with contorting plot strands and time and audience expectations in delightfully clever and tricky ways. (As an apostle of the pure joy of gaming a story, he seems to be a disciple of Sascha Guitry.) But that works best in the first part of the movie, when we're being introduced to the two main characters via a marvelous series of interwoven scenes in fragmented time. When the two amnesiacs are brought together in Fez, we suddenly have a much more conventional film about a robbery which may or may not have been committed by Irons, who -- if he committed it -- may or may not remember it. A subplot about a boxer and his wife is awkwardly inserted in this part of the film. It's a long movie, and feels long, but if only for the first hour or so it should be seen -- and the more conventional parts of the movie are certainly not without their charms. The locations are beautifully photographed and the leads are charismatic. But try and catch And Now My Love, or Edith and Marcel, or La Belle Histoire or Viva la vie! for better sustained and more successful examples of LeLouch's inimitable stamp. Thierry Lhermitte and Claudia Cardinale are nice to have on hand, but their star quality is not really necessary for the parts they're given.