The Model Couple

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Audience Member An average couple are chosen to live in a technologically advanced "perfect" apartment. In exchange for room and board, they are observed 24 hours by a research team and the footage is broadcast on TV for the public to consume. An impressively prophetic wild social satire by American ex-pat photographer/film director William Klein. Tonally similar to his earlier films. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member A far superior ancestor of films like The Truman Show or Idiocracy (not to mention reality TV--the panopticon-utopia-dystopia-voyeurism genre, if you like), and a brilliant critique of bourgeois lifestyle, consumer capitalism, and state bureaucracy. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Filmed in 1977, it looks like a reality tv prototype with a slightly bizarre futuristic setting,and acts as a critique of media control and manipulation. I especially enjoyed the appearance of the vibrant riotous juvenile hijackers in an otherwise sterile site of social experiment towards the end. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member The third and final film in the Eclipse set, probably the most straight forward as for as plot structure and that. Visually entertaining, which isn't surprising given the other two films in the set. The ideas are good and still seem pretty relevant 30 plus years on, which in itself seems like a pretty amazing feat...... Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Subjecting your spouse and yourself into a government-run program wherein you live in a contained environment, perform specified tasks/experiments and have the entire thing monitored and broadcast for public consumption sounds eerily familiar to the reality television we know today. And this was made in 1978 (which is both awesome and terrifying when you think about it). Now, we are not disillusioned by the prospect that this sort of activity is benefitting our country (as our title couple is) but this film, like most reality television, loses its luster and charm pretty quickly leaving us to wonder what exactly the point was. The entire thing goes nowhere (as ordained by the plot) and the audience is forced to draw the line between education and entertainment. Meanwhile, those of us watching the movie must draw the line between satire and shrugging our shoulders to the whole thing. I love Klein's imagery (despite its drastic restraint here) but I couldn't help but feel a good chunk of his technique was just him doing stuff because he could (sped-up scenes, bizarrely catchy songs about furniture, out-of-sync audio, etc.). That's all fine and dandy but does not make up for this being a fairly blah film by Klein standards (which still means it is better than most "experimental" or "satirical" films). Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Unusual satire from writer-director William Klein is an amusing concept that provides some genuine laughs. Some very smart writing and visuals, and entertaining performances (especially when Eddie Constantine shows up) - but the gimmick can only work for so long, and the ending is unsatisfying. The music, though it sometimes has some funny lyrics, dates it pretty badly. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Model Couple

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