Private Fears in Public Places

Theatrical Release Date: 2007 04 13 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 796019803939

Studio: IFC

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:null

Summary: A handful of characters struggle to hold on to relationships with the people they care for in this collaboration between playwright Alan Ayckbourn and filmmaker Alain Resnais. Dan (Lambert Wilson) has recently finished up a hitch in the Army, but rather than deal with his emotional issues, Dan prefers to get drunk. While he barely communicates with his girlfriend, Nicole (Laura Morante), she's convinced they will still marry and opts to ignore his obvious problems. Lionel (Pierre Arditi) is a bartender who has become increasingly isolated and cut off from his friends as he looks after his father, Arthur. Arthur, however, is in failing health and has little appreciation of his son's sacrifices. Thierry (Andr? Dussollier) is a real-estate salesman who has fallen for one of his co-workers, Charlotte (Sabine Az?ma); however, Charlotte's mild-mannered exterior hides a personality that thrives on emotional gamesmanship. And Ga?lle (Isabelle Carr?), Thierry's sister, is lonely and looking for a relationship, but her efforts bring her neither joy nor companionship. Coeurs (aka Petites Peurs Partag?es) received its world premiere at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Best Director – Venice International Film Festival Film Presented – New York Film Festival In Competition – Venice International Film Festival Film Presented – Rotterdam International Film Festival Film Presented – San Francisco International Film Festival Film Presented – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Private Fears in Public Places

Format: DVD

Release Date: 08/07/2007

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 120 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Private Fears in Public Places
1. Too Small [7:42]
2. Tuesday [1:20]
3. Songs That Changed My Life [4:18]
4. A Study [3:46]
5. Life With a Sister [2:20]
6. Lionel's Father [3:09]
7. One Day at a Time [1:40]
8. A Bloody Mess [1:28]
9. Getting a Job [2:07]
10. Surprise Ending [1:33]
11. Kicked Out [1:37]
12. A Towering Pile [6:03]
13. Lost Appetite [2:24]
14. Still Too Small [3:26]
15. Another Episode [3:30]
16. Taking a Break [3:27]
17. Stepping Back [6:31]
18. Caught [2:08]
19. Judged and Forgiven [7:18]
20. A Constitutional [3:55]
21. The Kiss [2:55]
22. Absolutely Fine [1:50]
23. Boring Television [1:55]
24. Blind Date [4:58]
25. Charlotte's Show [:53]
26. Martin and Sophia [3:58]
27. Real Names [6:02]
28. Big Smile [1:40]
29. Drunk [2:20]
30. Forgiveness [6:38]
31. Saying Goodbye [3:36]
32. Another Woman [3:32]
33. Hallucinations [8:32]
34. No More Porn [:19]
35. Fin [6:34]

Craig Butler

Comedy tinged with melancholy is the order of the day in Alain Resnais' delicious Private Fears in Public Places. It's a skillful adaptation (by Resnais and Jean-Michel Ribes) of Alan Ayckbourn's stage play, transposing the playwright's quite-British characters to France in what turns out to be a quite natural manner. Resnais chooses to emphasize a little less of the formality inherent in Ayckbourn's play (though that is still very much in evidence) and to suggest slightly more of a fated inevitability. It's artifice, of course, but Resnais doesn't shrink from the artificial; indeed, the film is shot in a manner that emphasizes and celebrates the "other-worldly" quality of which film is capable. His introduction of the snowfall motif, highly artificial, is enormously effective, creating moments of visual beauty that also comment upon characters and situations. Resnais' low-key approach to the material doesn't disguise its theatrical origins, but does make an asset of the same. He's interested in exploring these characters -- not in explaining them, but exploring them -- and he and his camera capture them in all their human frailty and not-inconsiderable comedy. He's aided by an expert cast that is perfectly in tune with his goals and desires. The result is an adult, sophisticated romp, one that may not be as intellectually challenging as many other of the director's works but which has a quiet emotional impact that is quite lovely. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jean-Michel Ribes  Screenwriter 
Alan Ayckbourn  Screenwriter 
Alain Resnais  Director 
Alain Resnais  Screenwriter 
Mark Snow  Composer (Music Score) 
Bruno Pesery  Producer 
Julie Salvador  Executive Producer 
Laura Morante  Actor 
Lambert Wilson  Actor 
Pierre Arditi  Actor 
Isabelle Carré  Actor 
André Dussollier  Actor 
Sabine Azéma  Actor 
Claude Rich  Actor 

Country: France,Italy