Word: maximized
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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History repeats itself, so the saying goes. That maxim plays itself out in the United States Senate, as the most exclusive club in the country submits itself to trial in the public eye again...
...part on the appealing possibilities of several settings: the workshop of an esteemed instrument-making partnership, the country home of an elderly couple, and several Parisian cafes. The restrained, somber-faced Stephane (Daniel Auteuil) is the behind-the-scenes brains of the business that he shares with the suave Maxim (Andre Dussollier), and from the outset we are assured of the contrast the former's dedicated work ethic poses to the flightiness of the latter. Maxim, Stephane tells us, "has preferences but no obsessions," hinting darkly at the fascinating demons that might lurk within his own self. But these demons...
...reserveddemeanor suggests somehow that it was there tobegin with and that he was just going along witheveryone else) and this infuriates her and leadsher to smear garish cosmetics on her face, quaff awhole bottle of gin, and make a humiliating scene.Everyone else gets irritated with his stoicism aswell, and Maxim is put in the ludicrous positionof having to punch his rival for not sleeping withhis lover. The most significant subplot involvesthe physical decline of one of Camille's agingformer teachers, who tellingly describes the youngCamille as "a smooth, hard little girl" withunderlying passions. Stephane's eventual role inthe death...
There are lots of other people's feelingsfloating around in, even splattered onto, thisfilm: we are shown various couples spatting,making up, Camille and Maxim exchanging tenderkisses, but the camera passes coldly over all ofthese as if Stephane were guiding it, and there islittle explanation given implicitly or otherwisefor this--repeated shots of his long-nosed profilesomehow aren't quite enough to justify hiscold-heartedness or make it interesting.Eventually, Stephane paws gingerly at regret, butsince we never knew what motivated him in thefirst place, it's not really compelling. Camille'soutrage at his disinterest is something of a trap,since...
Years ago, Gen. William Westmoreland sued CBS after a "60 Minutes" piece charged that he had deliberately concealed the extreme improbability of a U.S. victory in Vietnam, Dan Rather defended his network with the classic maxim. "If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck. "You can't practically perform the genetic testing necessary to confirm that a duck is a duck. You've got to go on what you observe...