The Man Who Cried (2000)

Director:

Sally Potter

Writer:

Sally Potter (written by)

Release Date:

22 September 2000 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance | War

Plot:

A young refugee traveling from Russia to America in search of her lost father falls for a gypsy horseman.

Plot Keywords:

America | Gypsy | Village | Dancing | England

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Christina Ricci	...	Suzie
Oleg Yankovskiy	...	Father
Claudia Lander-Duke	...	Young Suzie
Danny Scheinmann	...	Man in Suit
Anna Tzelniker	...	Mother of Man in Suit
Barry Davis	...	Man in Village
Thom Osborn	...	Man in Village
Frank Chersky	...	Man in Village
Daniel Hart	...	Man in Village
Peter Majer	...	Man in Village
Hana Maria Pravda	...	Grandmother
Ayala Meir	...	Child
Abraham Hassan	...	Child
Lloyd Martin	...	Child
Uri Meir	...	Child

Also Known As:

The man who cried - Les larmes d'un homme (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality.

Runtime:

100 min | Italy:97 min (Venice Film Festival)

Country:

UK | France

Language:

English | Yiddish | Russian | French | Italian | Romany | Romanian

Color:

Black and White | Color (Duboicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | USA:R (certificate #37649) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Canada:14A (video rating) | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Bourne Woods, Farnham, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

The Place de la Concorde was used by the production as background for some scenes. This came after several weeks of negotiation between the director and producers of the movie, and the mayor of Paris, since the location is rarely closed for movie production. The scenes were shot after midnight and before 6:00 p.m.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene where Suzie is following Cesare and his friends on her bike, they go through a passage where you can see the Eiffel Tower in the background and it is lit up. However, the lights were not added to the Tower until 1986.

Quotes:

Dante Dominio: What do I have but my voice? I am nothing if I cannot sing.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Je crois entendre encore

images as poetry, music as dialog

I enjoyed this movie, much more than I thought I would reading the synopsis of the story. I was caught up by this meditation on human spirit.

The cinematography created one stunning image after another, carried along by one of the most beautiful soundtracks that I have heard.

Two couples, sharply contrasted; one couple told you everything about themselves, while the other revealed only what could not be hidden: Susie and Caesar were stoical, passive, watching, and waiting....as a catastrophic moment in history enveloped them.

It seemed to me that the director purposely expected the viewer to participate in the story, using imagination and wonder to ponder the unanswered questions about human nature and need.

The ending of the film was a bit too abrupt. I would have loved to have seen more development leading up to the resolution of Susie's journey. But it certainly didn't mar the film for me, rather it emphasized why 'The Man Who Cried' was so completely non-commercial and why it mystified and therefore angered the 'connect-the-dots' crowd.

If you are in the mood for a beautiful, lyrical, non-linear poem-film, give this one a try.