Search

Deja Vu

1998, Movie, NR, 116 mins

Deja Vu: Review

DEJA VU
starstarstarstar
Do Henry Jaglom movies make you squirm? All that meandering, aimless talk going around in earnest circles, all those materially overprivileged sorts whining about what ails them spiritually, all those long, long shots of people sitting around plush rooms looking vaguely discontented? Well, there's plenty of that here. But surprise of surprises: There's also a rather engaging plot that takes off from the melancholy (and much ripped-off) CITIZEN KANE anecdote about the girl in the white dress -- Jaglom is a fervent admirer of the late Orson Welles -- and then makes a hard left into the twilight zone. On a business trip to Israel, Dana Howard (Victoria Foyt) encounters an older French woman (Aviva Marks) in a café; she tells Dana a sad story about the great love she lost in the aftermath of World War II. She also leaves Dana in possession of a jeweled dress clip, one of a pair made for her by her American lover. Possessed by the need to return the clip, Dana postpones her trip to London, where she's scheduled to meet her fiancee, Alex (Michael Brandon), for a pre-honeymoon vacation, and goes to Paris. This impulsive act sets in motion a chain of events that thoroughly disrupt Dana's life: She falls in love at first sight with architect Sean (Steven Dillane), then finds to her horror that he and his wife (Glynis Barber) are staying at the same guest house where she's meeting Alex. The proceedings are enlivened by gently luminous performances from veterans Vanessa Redgrave and Anna Massey as sisters-in-law wrestling with responsibility for an elderly parent. The pretentious chatter is punctuated by the occasional lovely moment, like Redgrave musing that "an illusion must be the scent of what's real, coming close," and the rich, subtle performances (Foyt, shrill and petulant, is the unfortunate exception) are a pleasure to watch. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
Advertisement

Shop

Deja Vu: Aberrations Of Cultural Memory (Electronic Mediations)
Buy Deja Vu: Aberrations Of Cultural Memory (Electronic Mediations) from Amazon.com
From Univ Of Minnesota Press (Paperback)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy New: $25.00 (as of 11/25/09 5:46 PM EST - more info)
Mondino: (Deja Vu )
Buy Mondino: (Deja Vu ) from Amazon.com
From Te Neues Publishing Company (Hardcover)
Average Customer Review: nostarnostarnostarnostarnostar
Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks
Buy New: $87.60 (as of 11/25/09 5:46 PM EST - more info)

more Deja Vu products

Advertisement

Related Websites

You might be also interested in the following websites:

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. Dancing with the Stars
  2. The Game
  3. NCIS
  4. American Idol
  5. Wife Swap
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Michelle Obama
  2. Adam Lambert
  3. Tiger Woods
  4. Kym Johnson
  5. Donny Osmond
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
  2. The Blind Side
  3. 2012
  4. Planet 51
  5. A Christmas Carol
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Adam Lambert
  2. #5 Adam Lambert - For Your En...
  3. #20 Adam Lambert American Mus...
  4. Family Guy
  5. Dancing with the Stars
more top videos