If movies were solely about the cheap pleasure of watching gorgeous people make grand gestures in epic circumstances--because, sure, sometimes movies are--director/screenwriter John Duigan's goopy, obvious, overwrought contemplation of how global unrest really messes with your love life would be Oscar-worthy. Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, and Penelope Cruz are headstrong 1930s playthings who each discover that they need to pull their attractive heads out of their inviting behinds if they're going to play a part in stopping the spread of European fascism. Charlize is socialite Gilda, who ensnares both brooding, Cambridge-educated Irishman Townsend and Spanish rebel Cruz (who is particularly ill-defined) in a love triangle while seemingly caring not a whit for the imminent goosesteps of the Nazis. Charlize wears a lot of fabulous outfits, and she and real-life paramour Townsend do impetuous things like sport fedoras while romping in a milky-white bathtub; Cruz, meanwhile, performs a passionate impromptu striptease. Hey, there are worse ways to be entertained. Unfortunately, you don't really give a damn about any of them, and you can predict what's going to happen to all of them well before it actually does. It's an efficient, glamorous, hokey, ultimately downbeat time-killer for anyone willing to spend two hours trying to decide which of the doe-eyed trio you'd save from destruction first. --Steve Wiecking
(1 vote)
2.
In a time torn apart by hatred and violence, two lifelong lovers are forced to choose between passion and personal convictions, their fate intertwined with the painful history of a world at war. Sony Pictures Classics presents HEAD IN THE CLOUDS, written and directed by John Duigan ("Flirting," "Sirens") and starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend and Penelope Cruz.
Irish born Guy (Townsend) is the son of a policeman, on scholarship at Cambridge University in 1933. On a rainy night, his door bursts open and beautiful Gilda Bessé (Theron) enters his life. The daughter of a French aristocrat raised by her American mother, Gilda is somewhat notorious for her affairs, and quiet Guy lets her spend the night, treating her with respect and humor. Later, at a party, they become lovers, but Guy can't believe it will last. The death of her mother prompts Gilda to leave England, and Guy is amused years later when he spots her as an extra in a Hollywood film.
Gilda writes to Guy, inviting him to Paris, where she is a rising star in the art scene with her unusual photography. She lives with the beautiful, Spanish-born model, Mia (Cruz) and has a number of lovers, but soon Guy has moved in, and life in Paris seems ideal, perfect. But it is now 1936, the height of the Spanish Civil War: Guy has always supported the Republican Army, and as Franco's fascists make gains, Guy and Mia both find themselves drawn towards the conflict. Gilda does not concern herself with politics, or history: "There will always be wars," she tells her friends, "you need to get rid of the guilt." Despite Gilda's pleas, Guy and Mia leave Paris and go to Spain. He learns to fight, she is a nurse: they cross paths one night, and Mia admits that she was Gilda's secret lover before making love to Guy. In the morning, she is killed by a land mine. Guy returns to Paris, but Gilda shuns him.
Six years later, Guy is working for British intelligence, serving as a spy with the underground in occupied Paris. He is surprised to learn that Gilda is still living in her old flat – but has taken a Nazi officer (Thomas Kretschmann) as a lover. He risks himself and his underground unit to spend a night with her, but in the morning she insists that their affair is over, and she will never see him again. Stunned at her coldness, he returns to his work – D-Day is approaching, and the resistance must be ready. Expecting to meet a contact, he instead arrives at a café to find Gilda: she warns him that the meeting is a trap and helps him escape. Guy is aghast that she has taken sides, but he has no time to thank her. That night, he and his comrades destroy a rail station, but only Guy gets away.
In a time torn apart by hatred and violence, two lifelong lovers are forced to choose between passion and personal convictions, their fate intertwined with the painful history of a world at war.
Mooviees.com is not the official site for this film.
All editorial views and opinions expressed here are for entertainment purposes only.
Movie Database
In Theaters
