Julliette Binoche and new talent Rafi Gavron in Breaking and Entering
OK: UK 1 – Denmark 1
Here is film number 3 entering the list of films with top ratings, one you simply have to see:
Breaking and Entering
[rating:5/5]
That was the short version.
If you want the longer version, including reading how it was to attend a Q&A with Anthony Minghella, director of this film and of films like Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley and the fantastic The English Patient, how incredibly inspiring it was for me to hear him talk about his work, and why I loved this film so much – well you know the drill. Clicketyclick.
Oh just one funny coincidence, both After the Wedding (Denmark) and Breaking and Entering (UK) have Sigur Ros on their soundtrack. Both beautiful songs, and both suiting so well into the atmosphere of both films. Of course you all know that the magical song in The Girl In The Cafe is by Sigur Ros too. If not – go and do your homework. Tssk.
Breaking and Entering is a beautiful humane and warm film about London. About the nice things in London, and about not so nice things in London. About breaking things and trying to repair them, about looking for love and finding it where you left it ages ago, you just hadn’t looked properly or forgot that you had it in the first place. About London being a big melting pot of cultures and about immigrants. About autism and getting the pieces together.
Jude Law gives an extraordinary performance, and so does Julliette Binoche. There is smaller part for Martin Freeman too, he gets all the laughs, he is lovely. This is a film for a grown up audience, it grabs you and makes you wonder if you shouldn’t go and break something yourself. Good things might come out of it.
After the film there was time for a Q&A session with director Anthony Minghella. Not only was he the nicest man, it was also fantastic and so inspiring to hear him talk about the film making process, how he first writes the whole story by hand in notebooks (I love that) and how he described the editing process as creating a sculpture (the film) out of different chunks of clay (the shots).
The Camden Lock area is very much represented in this film, all very recognizable which was lovely to see for me as I start to like this area more and more. But if you don’t happen to live in London the film is still very recommended, it is a universal story being told here.
Tomorrow I’ll do a similar thing. A film called Scenes of a sexual nature. A title like that, shot on Hampstead Heath with Ewan McGregor in it? Count me in.
It’s the last sneak of the London Film Festival for me. And sessions like today have made it a fantastic festival.
Julliette Binoche
Oh! My weak, weak knees.
I guess there is no way around it then, you need to see this film. She is great in it.