The Man Who Loved Women details
| Format: | 15 DVD |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Nelly Borgeaud, Nathalie Baye, Brigitte Fossey, Charles Denner |
| Director: | Francois Truffaut |
| Genres: | Comedy - General, World Cinema - French |
| Studio: | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
The Man Who Loved Women |
15 Feature |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 1 hour 54 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 04 Aug 2003 |
| Main languages: | French |
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Most helpful review
Truffaut's take on a Casanova
By RustyT from Dorset , 25 Aug 2004[Highly rated reviewer]
I read a number of reviews before I saw this film, from 1977, which told me that this was a sleazy and self-indulgent film.
I found it honest and well told as a story. Bernard (Charles Denner) is a womaniser, and goes from one woman to the next with effortless ease. There is a flavour of fantasy - it affected cinema at that time - nearly all the women are susceptible to his charm, they're all pretty, and none of them are in established relationships. Most unlikely!
We understand that Don Juans are secretly woman-haters, or possibly inclined towards their own sex. That wouldn't apply here: Bernard occasionally gets his marching orders, but usually he manages his love life very well.
A score of women come to his funeral - which is at the beginning of the film.
So what is his appeal? At first he reminded me of Mr Oily, but by the end he'd grown on me a little bit.
His girl friends are interesting and well portrayed against a realistic and pleasant background.
Over-stylised, but worth watching.- Was this review helpful to you?
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All reviews
(12)Emotionally subtle and complex
By erp (67 reviews) from Manchester , 29 Oct 2012[Highly rated reviewer]
You probably won't like this if you don't like talky French films. I do and I found it a touching and haunting portrayal of the loneliness and yearning of a man whose love of women, born of the need to fill the void left by an emotionally starved childhood, is both an unbalanced, perhaps destructive compulsion and a generous sensitivity.
Much is in the words, but much is also between and behind them. The last image of the hero that we're given is unforgettable because it's so rich in symbolic reverberations.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Sex and Talk
By Leni (179 reviews) from London , 06 Mar 2010This film had to do battle with a number of handicaps: a colourless leading man, dialogue that could have emerged during the ramblings of some hideous encounter group, a lack of wit (let alone a sense of humour). I have to say - none of these handicaps were overcome.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Charming if dated
By Proactive (24 reviews) from London , 03 Jun 2009A lot of peolple misunderstand the main character in this film. He is another alter ego of the director Truffaut and is therefore a semi autobiographical film just as the Jean Pierre Leaud character was in Truffauts early films. This man genuinely is fascinated by women not as a Casonova or Lothario but someone who finds women mysterious and tantalising. Truffaut himself admitted the analogy of loving one women was like trying to pick one tree from a wood. How can you choose? Having said that the film is dated and the actions and interplay between the man and the women seem very old fashioned by todays high tempo pressurised society. I dont think he would get a look at from todays women !! Nevertheless a charming film- Was this review helpful to you?
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Delightful
By a customer from Cambridge , 23 Jun 2008Truffaut's films have a sentimental romanticism that looks at the relationships between men and women with a gentle irony that is far from the Hollywood priapic norm. This film is not really about Bertrand Morane (Charles Denner) and his love of women, although as the narrator of the autobiographical book he is writing it might appear to be, but rather about women and why they love men. The editor (Nathalie Baye) who advocates the manuscript at his publishers should have chosen as a title, Why Women Love Men.
It is delightful.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Customer Review
By a customer from UK , 23 Jun 2008This film could only have been made by the French, and then only in the 1970's. It would be easy to dismiss it at first glance as a chauvinist celebration of political incorrectness; indeed, when the Americans tried to remake it in 1983 by casting Burt Reynolds in the Charles Denner role, that is exactly what it became.
However, here the story is in the hands of a master. Truffaut's deft directorial touch poses myriad questions about the nature of the relationship between men and women; about love, commitment; physical attraction and sexual politics. The film begins with the funeral of Betrand Morane (Denner), attended only by women and then tells the story of his relationships with most of them. Interestingly, he really does love the women - he can't seem to help loving them. He is not a philanderer, nor is he interested in conquest or sexual gratification: the film is, in fact, strangely asexual.
He decides to write about his experiences, the book is dismissed by the male reviewers but his manuscript is accepted by the sole female with whom Morane inevitably falls in love. As the story moves forward and, in doing so, flashes back, one grows to like Morane more and more; he is a sweet, bewildered character who is also a man loved by women. This film will not be for all: if you are the Hollywood blockbuster type; if you hate subtitles; if you like your films with nice, neat endings then this is not for you. However, for lovers of the European school of whimsy, this is a must; not Truffaut's best - but even his second best is better than most.- Was this review helpful to you?
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