Has anyone else seen this film. It was released last year and mostly made during the pandemic. What did you think of it?
The film has a very strong theme, the object of desire drives the whole film. It's a very good lesson in screenwriting to establish this very clearly and early in the story. Everything then follows the journey to obtaining the object of desire, which in this case is the dress.
Interesting snippets from the Q&A with Director Anthony Fabian, Actress, Ellen Thomas (Violet), Editor, Barney Pilling. There are some spoilers here. - Made some errors and I have updated the details
It took 10 years from start to finish.
Angela Lansbury played in the TV adaptation in the early 90's
The script took 5 years to write. Anthony started the writing, then brought on another writer and took it as far as they could go, then a third writer and finally a 4th to complete the screenplay.
Set in 1957 to coincide with Dior's 10th anniversary collection.
Dior took two years of heel dragging only agreeing after Isabelle Hupert was cast.
All of the dressed in the fashion show are vintage Dior dresses from their archive. Dior replicated them in house, except for the three main dresses that were designed by Oscar winning Jenny Beavan who was asked to out design Dior (which she originally said she wouldn't do)
The producers required an A-list lead. Everyone they suggested turned the script down. Only capitulated after Anthony was allowed to send the script to the right actresses who could pull it off, and agreed to greenlight the project after casting Oscar nominee Lesley Manville.
Shot mainly in Hungary due to Covid, as they had a much lower infection rate allowing cast and crew to fly in and out.
Editing was done over Zoom calls between Barney and Anthony. They did not meet till after the film was finished.
Barney had never seen the whole film in a cinema till tonight's screening due to a close bereavement.
There are three books in the trilogy. The next book is Mrs. Harris Goes to New York. (Anthony couldn't be drawn on whether he would make the next book).
Anthony Fabian spent his early childhood in Paris and did not want to portray a cliched Paris.
The strikes in the film are not in the book, they help with the narrative of 'The workers uprising'.
All the actors who are French are played by French actors, unlike the Angela Lansbury version.
Actress Ellen Thomas' father was in the RAF (Royal Air Force).
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Never heard of the film. sounds interesting. Is it being streamed?
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In the UK, it's on Amazon Prime.
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I haven't seen the movie, Greg Wong, but I also think "desire" is a very strong theme for a film. And it's a theme a lot of people can relate to. That's something I keep in mind when picking themes.
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Maurice Vaughan It's a very good film. The goal is clear and some really good humorous moments. They gave Ada Harris some very British dialogue, maybe a bit unbelievable, given no one really speaks like her today, she's a domestic in the late 50s. Nonetheless, she's charming, thoughtful and driven.
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Awesome recommendation. You're absolutely right.
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Im interested at how the director financially survived 10-years from start to finish, 5-years to write adaptation. Someone had to pay $ for book rights.
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I've seen this film! Absolutely loved it. So amazed at how long it took to make and everything that went into it. Worth it though.
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Greg Wong Hi Greg, my wife saw it on the flight to Sydney last year. She said it was a lovely film and beautifully shot. She didn’t know who the Cinematographer was, but it was definitely her kind of film and not mine!
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Geoff Hall I'm sure your wife knows you better! The DoP is Felix Wiedemann, I'm not familiar with him. It is a lovely film, has strong emotional elements, well written, a story that is driven forward, little to no dead scenes, good setups and subsequent payoffs. Even if you don't like these types of films, it's a good study of how a story can be written.
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Greg Wong hahahaha!