Starring: Giorgio Albertazzi, Nicky Amey, Stanley Baker, Gilda Dahlberg, Ignazio Dolce Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Kino Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: September 26, 2000 Running Time: 222 minutes Theatrical Release Date: June 04, 1965
Amazon.com: Elegant and lush, and filmed in Venice, Rome, and rural Italy, Joseph Losey's Eva (released in the U.S. and Britain as Eve) is a cold, cruel film about crippling insecurity and sexual manipulation. Burly Stanley Baker simmers as a swaggering but self-loathing Welsh author happily indulging in the continental high life, covering up a devastating secret with braggadocio and sneering machismo; Jeanne Moreau has never been icier as the cruel, manipulative, high-rent prostitute Eve who becomes his obsession. They never become more than fascinating enigmas, but they send off sparks in an indulgently fatalistic film that wallows in human weakness and emotional self-destruction. Beautifully filmed and elegantly scored, with Billie Holiday tunes weaving a sad sense of loss through the picture, Eva became a showcase for Losey's arresting visual style and electrifying direction, and the springboard for such later, more restrained masterpieces as The Servant, Accident, and The Go-Between.
The producers recut Losey's final version of the picture by 16 minutes, redubbed it, inserted lines, and changed the music (they "destroyed the rhythm and the comprehensibility of the picture," accuses Losey in an interview). The DVD includes both the release version and the 119-minute director's cut, mastered from the only surviving copy, an English-language Scandinavian print with Swedish and Finnish subtitles. It's frustrating that Kino didn't use the tools of digital technology to marry the two prints, using only the necessary footage from the subtitled version, and instead the director's cut is marred by subtitles throughout. Nonetheless, it's an important preservation of director Joseph Losey's vision. --Sean Axmaker
2 stars for Lissi in a small role. Only die-hard fans of French New Wave need to trouble themselves with this interminable moldy oldie. Made in 1962, this film may have been an interesting look at the underbelly of La Dolce Vita, but it has definitely corked and soured with time. This is a very drippy, wet movie in the worst way; from the canals of Venice, to drizzly Rome with water fountains, to the leading man excusing his infidelity with lines like "that's the way I am, Baby." Cool man, cool. Crazy. Cool. Jeanne Moreau plays the empty souled sex kitten like a second rate Brigitte Bardot. Her acting (at least in this decade) was posey, coy and irritating. Since she was usually playing the kind of woman that men want to slap around, I guess she succeeded in what her Directors wanted. In fairness, it is the work of an actress who was not directed very well, attempting to be interesting in the extended, endless times where there is no dialogue and she has to fill the time. Today's actress would just "be," but you can hear the Director yelling "Do something different." Don't just go to bed, roll on the floor and pull the blanket off the bed! She's trying so very hard to get attention, and she all ready has a camera on her! Contrast her here with one of the all-time classic screen beauties, Virna Lissi, who does a quietly fantastic acting job here as the wronged Fiancee - even her final actions are off screen - so that it becomes very hard to see why Tyvian (Stanley Baker) would look at Moreau twice. Even in small scenes, you can see Lissi evaluating things she does and does not say - inner life. There is a secondary male character who looks so much like Baker as to be a shorter twin and you have some unnecessary visual confusion in this mannered 60s vie boheme. One could assume the confusion, the canals, the endless archwasys are supposed to represent Tyvian's inner life. The main stand out here is the interesting camera angles, which sometimes turn this into a cinematic equivalent of an Escher picture. Too bad the rest of the film is not as interesting as the camera angles. This film makes it obvious why Hollywood picked up Lissi and not Moreau. (Thankfully, Moreau has aged beautifully in many respects.)
Incredible I had never seen a Jeanne Moreau film before. Her reputation precedes her; apparently even her fans were put off by this film. I don't know why. The only time I'd seen Stanley Baker was in "Zulu", which Michael Caine said was the most embarrassing film he'd ever made; but Stanley Baker was memorable (actually, so was Michael Caine). Virna Lisi has her own reputation but her part in this film is small, though pivotal. All in all, it's a striking film and the music is GREAT. This is from back in the days when a woman in a murky spa-bath was sexier than naked on a beach, and a man dropping his pants, shown from the knees down only, was hotter than a full frontal. If you prefer a more subtle approach to some topics we deal with more graphically lately, then this is a great movie and 100% thoughtful and enjoyable.
........MORE about EVE ...... OR RATHER LILITH? [Mrs. Adam # 1?]... yes, she is probably just a little too cold - with her Billie Holiday Records, her haute coutoure, those delightful pointy shoes and perky poitrines, and the ever-present cigarette dangling from those sensuous, disapproving lips and the tired eyes ...... Oh, yeah, this dame has it in for both sexes and totally annihilates our brawny hero, the very overlooked Stanley Baker - this time the ex-Welsh coalminer [another sordid story] turned screenwriter - in of all places Italy, complete with a devoted, virginal and stunning VIRNA LISI as the mutual love-interest.
In many ways this one ranks with the later "Last Tango In Paris", "NightPorter", "Crimes of Passion" etc .... but the 'err, 'deed' is never done here, instead we experience magnificent villa interiors, great photography of Rome [early morning] and not forgetting the spectral vapourousness of beloved Venice ...... dreamy or nightmarish?
Highpoints? Moreau alone in her flat with her records, booze and cat ....Baker leaving a wedding party for the nightmarish tryst with Moreau, and naturally Baker ala buff in Moreau's bedroom being rejected and humiliated ....
Great stuff!
Downpoint - those damn subtitles in the extended version - like watching Ingmar Bergman backwards!
BUT, Bravo Kino - a Perfect find!
[Interesting to muse how MELINA MECOURI would have tacked 'Eve"]
A GREAT DVD for a very interesting film. For anyone who has seen "The Servant" or any other of Joseph Losey's films, Eva is a must-see. Losey is at his most playful while still delving into the "Loseyesque" level of emotion on proud display in the brilliant "The Servant", his most famous. Jeanne Moreau is simply fabulous and an absolute treat to watch--easily the highlight of the film. The other remarkable issue is how frank the sexuality is. Some of the scenes actually play quite shockingly, even though there is minimal nudity and they play off different standards of the day. The disc comes with 2 versions of the film, a theatrical release and a director's cut which is 15 minutes longer. The transfer for the theatrical release is as good as you can hope for. Very nice. The director's cut poses a problem, but not where the DVD is concerned. The only print in existence is one with Swedish subtitles, so it detracts from the film. Most of the film is in English, but there is some important scenes in Italian, so in this version you don't know what the characters are saying. What I recommend is watching the theatrical cut, then skimming through the director's cut to see the differences--apparently, Losey wasn't happy with the theatrical cut at all, so it's nice that Kino at least included both so we get a rare look into the mind of a cinematic genius.
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