Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 17, Week 10

Like The Housekeeper from the week before, Claude Chabrol's La Cérémonie is another film built around the effects of a domestic on her employer. Based on a Ruth Rendell novel, this is one of Chabrol's darkest works and quite possibly his best from the 90s. Chabrol's digs at the bourgeoisie are present as always, and Isabelle Huppert absolutely kills as a postal worker with a shady past. The dream cast also includes Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacqueline Bisset and Virginie Ledoyen (pictured in last week's quiz with Jean-Pierre Cassel.)

Still basking in the post-election glow, I spent most of the day reading global reaction pieces, and one of my favorites is this brief one from Le Monde. For kicks, I also spent about two hours listening to right-wing talk radio with a massive smile on my face. January 20th can't come soon enough...

This week is even harder than the last, I'm afraid, though some will easily spot the link to La Cérémonie. If it helps any, one of these two actors pictured had a bit part in one of the worst films of 2007. Name the film. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[Flickhead]

For kicks, I also spent about two hours listening to right-wing talk radio with a massive smile on my face.

Turn on Fox News, they're in Code Orange "Crisis Mode," sweaty newscasters with that "It must be a mistake!" look filtering through their once-impregnable thousand-yard stares. Already blaming Obama for yesterday's stock market plunge ("The worst post-Election Day decline in history!"), they've pegged Media Bias as The Culprit that got him elected.

It's Must-See TV.

[john john]

I'm guessing we should stop holding our breath on that "Synecdoche" review!

[Filmbrain]

No, no...it's coming...I promise.

[vadim]

I don't know if you're planning to post on this, but is VIRTUE worth taking the time for? The Forum's '30s and '40s obscurities triple-bills are always kind of a mixed bag for me.

[Filmbrain]

Vadim --

Though no masterpiece, there is something quite special about Virtue. There's a certain sleaziness to it all, even by pre-code standards, including an obsession with female legs and rear-ends. Robert Riskin's screenplay elevates it above similar bad-girl stories from the era.

[Jake]

Filmbrain --

What do you think of Steven Spielberg teaming up with Will Smith to re-make your favorite movie Oldboy?

You think Hollywood will butcher it completely or just a little?

[Filmbrain]

Jake --

When I read about this over the weekend, my first reaction was that this hardly seems like material for Spielberg. Will he be faithful to the original, including the taboo-themed twist?

My guess is that, much like what he did with Dick's story, he'll turn it into some sort of mommy/daddy issue and/or bad parenting tale.

Will Smith in Steven Spielberg's Oldboy? Sounds like a bad joke actually.....

[burritoboy]

But La Ceremonie , (as Highsmith's novel does as well) precisely points out what will most likely be the great central difficulty of Obama's administration.

[Filmbrain]

Illiterate maids?

[burritoboy]

"Illiterate maids?"

That there is a scarcity of respect (or honors) within capitalism, which works in tandem with the scarcity of goods and capital.