I'm referring to the film, by Phillipe Claudel, which I finally got round to when it's only on in the evening at Cineworld, but worth the visit and the late return onthe DLR. I think Jem said she's seen it in the Cambridge Festival.

Talk about nerve-wracking, though. I'm still not sure that I agree Kristin Scott Thomas is really acting much - she mainly has to look cool and snooty, although she does get a couple of warmer bits with a delightful Vietnamese child - cf the characterless one in 'Sex and the City' - and one other testing scene but I won't say too much in case people haven't seen it. What finally happens, the key to what's kept you wound up all through the movie, is really important not to know about in advance.

The bits I like best, apart from the cafe scenes, was the wonderful public swimming baths , where the two sisters swam round in a circular pool. I must check the location in case I'm ever in that town.

It's a very engaging story.

I loved the little girl. And the Granddad! I think it's translated as "I've Loved You So Long", though.

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if I've got the title wrong, although I think I googled it. I didn't look at the French one.

I didn't quite believe in the always amiable and silent grandfather, nor the 'happy-families' gathering that the French seem to like so much but which is so often underminded by dark secrets. I don't quite believe, either, that the heroine would have remained silent. After al, why cause such additional alienation and suffering? My husband thought it credible but he always argues for the verisimilitude of the unlikeliest tales. I think I saw it coming while I watched the film but dismissed the thought on the grounds that it couldn't have remained a secret. Wouldn't some of the evidence have come to light? Maybe not.

I think you'd like 'Summer Hours', another French family film that's about to be re-released. It has Juliette Binoche.

Sheila

Yes, I saw it. More family dinners!

Think I'll go and see 'Brideshead' tonight. I think that mafia film you mentioned is about to be released. Was it called 'Gommorrah'? It's in the London FF too. My husband likes anything mafia-related so I expect we'll go at the weekend.

Sheila

There was an interview with the guy who wrote Gomorrah on which the film was based in one of the Sundays.. Apparently he lives under armed guard now. It's quite terrifying. I'd give Brideshad a miss, personally. The TV series has been on the TV - still is I think and we caught the first two episodes we'd managed to remember to record earlier this week. ABsolutely amazing. I can't imagine what they've done to the book to condense it to under 2 hours. The 2 episodes we saw were two hours and they hadn't even got out of Cambridge by the end of it. It was fab and John Gielgud for good measure!

Gomorrah is on the front of November's Sight & Sound with a five page article inside.

The 'Brideshead' film was pleasant in a traveloguey way - Oxford, Venice Morocco and of course the wonderful big house stuffed with art treasures. ( I think it may be a place called Castle Howard, in Yorkshire but I'll need to check) Nobody seemed to take the acting very seriously except for Emma Thompson as the control-mad matriarch, so it all seemed like cardboard cut-outs in a landscape. Michael Gambon only had two scenes, one where he was living in sin with Greta Saachi in Venice and one where he's dying in Brideshead. Charles Ryder resembled Hugh Grant and just did a lot of enigmatic smiling Maybe all the roles were underwritten. The music was quite good. Charles's dark home with the depressed father was well done, and the father acted well. There was some inadvertent suspense for me because I thought the cruise ship where Charles re-meets Julia was the Titanic and I kept waiting for the thud when it hit the iceberg.

I remember when I saw the TV series it got on my nerves because it seemed so drawn out. The Sebastien in the film seems much darker and more pathetic. In fact, the whole thing is darker, and not so much of a romp as the TV series. Thanks for the tip-off. I'll try to catch some of it. John Gielgud is a sad loss.

Sheila