Fedora

Audience Reviews

View More

Blu B 11/27/2024 A Deep Cut Wilder Classic. It's a quasi sister movie to Sunset Blvd. Editing is really good, music isn't bad but needed to be used a bit more, and everything elseis suprisngly solid about it. It has a lot of commentary on vanity, entertainment & aging, and a really twisted mother daughter relationship. The story is told through flashbacks half the time and it never really feels that jumpy. Some of the acting can feel a little bit over the top and Fedora isn't up to par with Desmond from Sunset Blvd but still memorable and a fasinating character. The setting is memorable, the direction is good, and the way it's filmed is very much like a Golden Era film made in the 70's. Sometimes it can be a bit boring to look at at times with people just talking and reminiscing but it's pretty unique. Sometimes it feels like Holden is forgotten about and other times it's more the daughters sotry towards the end than Fedora's but overall it works quite well because of how unique and substantive the material is. This is a slow burn the entire way with a few moments of tension that are the best in the middle. It's pretty steady the entire second half and can't quite keep up with the frantic moments at the start or in the end of the first half. But it's always interesting and well done. The "twist" is pretty predictable though and I seen it coming a mile away because of a certain scene at the start but it's still interesting and the "why" behind the twist is pretty fasinating and twisted. Anyone who is a big fan of Wilder, any actors in this, Golden Era style dramas, or movies about Hollywood should check this out. See more Jonathan J @itsjake1 10/16/2023 Worst movie ever. I had to walk out. See more Alan W @PatronWong 06/20/2020 A lost gem that I recently discovered on MUBI is Billy Wilder's penultimate film, reuniting him with screenwriter I.A.L Diamond and fifth-time collaborator, William Holden, in a companion piece to Sunset Boulevard, made 28 years earlier, in yet another Hollywood-centric story that takes a long hard look at its obsession with fame and youth. This time, Holden plays a movie producer who desperately needs to lure the famous but reclusive movie star, Fedora, out of retirement to do his picture. Set in Greece and France, with a mostly European cast, it's a film of two halves, that begins unfavourably like a badly written farce but turns around mid-point, and becomes a macabre melodrama, while no doubt causing tonal whiplash to its audience. There are some dubbing issues for the otherwise effectively enigmatic lead actresses Marthe Keller and Hildegard Knef and the antiquated score is ludicrously bad. Holden, who was 60 at the time and only 3 years away from his passing, sometimes look a little out of sorts and is side-lined for most of the second half. However, and despite its poor reception back then, I think this is a film ripe for reappraisal. While the first half is often unintentionally funny (the wallpaper reveal had me rolling on the floor, but don't forget Mario Adorf's Faulty Towers-like hotel management skills and Gottfried John's chauffeur/bodyguard Kritos's unintentional resemblance to a Bond villain sidekick – which incidentally he eventually got to do 17 years later in Goldeneye), Diamond's script really hits its stride in its second half and the end result is a flawed but campy melodrama whose convoluted twists and turns had me gripped and, cliches and silliness be damned, I cannot deny ultimately that it was a joy to watch. See more 08/18/2017 Interesting mystery film directed and performed very well. All in all very good and I can find nothing to complain about about the execution. Only the story is not that good and therefore the movie is something you watch very happily but don't necessarily think much afterwards. See more 04/14/2017 An homage to Sunset Boulevard that borders on straight imitation, but Fedora is still exceptional in every way. See more 10/09/2015 Wants to say something about illusion and the foolishness of the pursuit of youth but comes across as unfocused. Not dreadful but far from top flight Wilder. See more Read all reviews

Fedora

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW