Search

The Red Dwarf

1998, Movie, NR, 102 mins

The Red Dwarf: Review

RED DWARF, THE | LE NAIN ROUGE
starstarstarstar
Imagine a very long, clever, student-film parody of European art cinema and your fabrication might approximate Le Nain Rouge, particularly if it were complete with a run-down circus, a grotesquely lusty fat woman, an innocent child trapeze artist and, of course, a heavily symbolic dwarf. Unfortunately, Belgian writer/director Yvan LeMoine appears to be dead serious. Embittered and small of stature, Lucien Lhotte (Jean-Yves Thual) works for a stuffy French law office, penning erotic letters that the firm's attorneys use as evidence in the trumped-up divorce actions that are their specialty. A small traveling circus has pitched its tent nearby, and the lonely Lhotte befriends waif-like Isis Colombe (Dyna Gauzy), an angelic circus child whose mother died in a trapeze accident. In his free time, Lhotte builds a vast miniature replica of a circus in his shabby apartment. Lhotte's epistilatory skills bring him to the carnal attention of much-married opera singer Countess Paola Bendoni (Anita Ekberg), one of the law firm's best clients. She's currently looking to unload her current husband, the swinish Bob (Arno Chevrier), and is up for some new thrills in the meantime. While the jaded countess' interest in the dwarf is purely sexual, Lhotte imagines their relationship to be something more: Clearly no good can come of all the situation, and rest assured, none does. There are doubtless viewers succeptable to ham-fisted symbolism, who will see in this pretentious twaddle a profound examination of the human spirit. Everyone else (save those morbidly curious to see the aging Ekberg having sex with a dwarf) is advised to steer well clear: Remember, sawdust and tinsel do not SAWDUST AND TINSEL make. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
Advertisement

Advertisement

Most Popular TV Shows

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

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Morgan Freeman
  2. Tiger Woods
  3. Drew Barrymore
  4. Jake Gyllenhaal
  5. Robert De Niro
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

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

Top Videos

  1. Victorias Secret
  2. Glee
  3. Biggest Loser
  4. Desperate Housewives
  5. NCIS
more top videos