Adventures on the Internet

Odd Horten is an unremarkable chap who has been driving a locomotive on Norwegian railways for almost 40 years. A typically unexpressive, reliable, pipe-smoking Scandinavian without much family, few friends, and save for the anchor provided by his work, almost adrift in the world.

Following his retirement dinner, on the eve of his final working day Horten gets into a number of scrapes that cause him to be late and miss his last journey. In retirement he sets about a variety of time-filling activities lacking a core narrative. (A visit to his mother in a care home, buying a new pipe at the tobacconist, dining at his regular restaurant, getting locked in after hours at the sauna/swimming pool.) Just as you begin to wonder where these somewhat random episodes are leading, Horten confronts the fear he has been avoiding all his life, and in a beautifully handled change of tempo, scene and lighting, the possibilities of a new life open up before him.

Essential viewing.

Sumptuous costumes and locations, a galaxy of Hollywood stars and English stalwarts (well almost)... if only they'd spent a bit more effort on the writing and direction.

A patchy adaptation from the works of Collette, it's unclear whether this film is intended as a comedy or something more serious. In the event, it falls into some bland and pointless zone between the two. The casting of Kathy Bates as Mme Peloux, a fin de siecle French courtesan stretches credibility, particularly when delivering her lines in the style of a graduate of the Brian Blessed school of acting.

Freddy Peloux (Mme Peloux's son) understandably falls into a long term love affair with Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer), a woman twice his age, and a contemporary and former rival of Mme Peloux. However his mother has alternative plans for Freddy, and arranges marriage to Emdee, the daughter of another rich courtesan. Neither Freddy nor Lea copes well with their enforced separation, and there's a will-they, won't-they possibility of reconciliation, as the various characters swan around from Paris to the countryside and the Mediterranean coast. But by the time the ending is in sight, who cares?

In fact, the final words "Freddy got out and dusted down his old service revolver and put a bullet through his brain" (regrettably told only in voice-over, by the otherwise irritating narrator - the need for whom suggests deficiencies in the screenplay) do offer some redemption, but can't compensate for the preceding 99 minutes.

I suggest you give it a miss.

Made in 2005, this portrait of the life of a Georgian immigrant in France working as a roofer would be an excellent candidate for inclusion in the 'Rural Europe' season of films currently showing at the Arts Picturehouse Cambridge.

When his drug-crazed employer Jean-Francois dies from an overdose, Sebastien finds that no-one is prepared to pick up the bill for him to continue the work of replacing the roof of Jean-Francois' rambling coastal property, with glorious sea views.

Stumbling upon an opportunity to make some ready cash in hand, Sebastien finds out too late the nature of the venture into which he has entered, and finds himself effectively imprisoned at a remote woodland location and forced to take part in a deadly game of chance. Surrounded by an array of gnarled French stereotypes, and a selection of hand guns, Sebastien discovers that the reality of life in France is far removed from the chic urbanite or idyllic rural images usually served up for our consumption.

Essential viewing.