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| The Guardian - Culture: Film | | | | The 50 best films of 2021 in the UK, No 3: Petite Maman | | by Peter Bradshaw Dec 15, 2021 | | Céline Sciamma’s beautiful fairytale about a girl who meets her mother as a child in the woods is an artistic masterstroke Céline Sciamma’s beautiful fairytale reverie is occasioned by the dual mysteries of memory and the future: simple, elegant and very moving. Joséphine Sanz plays Nelly, the eight-year-old daughter of Marion (Nina Meurisse); Marion’s mother has just died in a care home. Marion and her partner (Stéphane Varupenne) take Nelly on a difficult journey to her late mother’s home, where she grew up, and the memories come flooding back – particularly that of a secret hut she built in the woods adjoining the house. Marion is overwhelmed with grief and leaves Nelly alone with her dad. Playing in the woods she comes across what appears to be a half-finished hut in a clearing. A girl waves happily to her, asking for help making it. She is the mirror image of Nelly (played by Gabrielle Sanz, evidently Joséphine’s twin sister) and announces that her name is … Marion. They go back to Marion’s house, an eerie mirror-image of Nelly’s mother’s childhood home. And there Nelly meets Marion’s kindly, withdrawn, thirtysomething mum, who walks painfully with a cane. Continue reading... | | | | | 'No one loves the extreme more than me': Neil Patrick Harris on 'dad life', desire and Doogie Howser | | by Chris Godfrey Dec 15, 2021 | | He avoided the pitfalls of childhood fame and became one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors. He discusses controversial roles, the return of the Matrix, his friendship with Sondheim – and refusing to grow up Neil Patrick Harris may be approaching 50, but to a generation he will always be the child prodigy Doogie Howser, the 14-year-old doctor he played as a teenager. “It’s a little bizarre that people – what is it, 30 years later? – still refer to me as that. People say: ‘Hey, Doogie, I like your new show!’ But hey, better than anonymity, I suppose.” It is a long time since Harris, 48, has been anonymous. He made his acting debut at 15, starring opposite Whoopi Goldberg as a disillusioned teen in Clara’s Heart, a drama about a Jamaican woman who moves to Baltimore to become the housekeeper for a rich family. Since then, he has established himself as a versatile actor in musical theatre, film and TV (most notably the sitcom How I Met Your Mother) and a host and presenter of high-profile awards shows such as the Oscars. His CV is particularly impressive when you consider how often child actors struggle to establish adult careers, or find themselves traumatised by their formative experiences. Continue reading... | | | | | 'Chamberlain was a great man': why has the PM fooled by Hitler been recast as a hero in new film Munich? | | by Alex von Tunzelmann Dec 15, 2021 | | He is seen as the appeaser who fell for Hitler’s lies. But was Chamberlain scapegoated? Writer Robert Harris and actor Jeremy Irons discuss taking on history with their controversial new film “Any country’s present,” says Robert Harris, “is shaped by its interpretation of its past.” Harris, whose bestselling second world war novel Munich is now coming to the big screen courtesy of Netflix, adds: “We have a very strong image of this island standing alone, weak, defenceless – pulled back together by an effort of will. Well, none of it’s really true.” The big stories Britain creates from its history require heroes, but they also require cowards, failures and villains. How else could we be sure that our heroes were truly heroic, if we didn’t have comparable figures who fell short? This has been the fate of prewar prime minister Neville Chamberlain, remembered for his policy of trying to appease and contain Hitler. Munich: The Edge of War is a bold attempt to change the story. But can this fictionalised film shift public perceptions of history? Continue reading... | | | | | |
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