Best Films - 2002
by Andre Soares
A man is dead. Who among the greedy, ruthless, amoral singing-and-dancing suspects stuck in the snowbound countryside mansion has done it? 8 women is an acquired taste, bien sûr. What seems silly the first time around becomes increasingly wittier and funnier — though no less bizarre — with each repeated viewing. Beautifully shot by Jeanne Lapoirie and chock-full of bitingly sardonic lines and situations (adapted by director François Ozon and Marina de Van, from Robert Thomas’s play), this murder musical is dotted with 8 of the brightest stars of the French cinema of the last 7 (!) decades.
More than seventy years after her film début, Danielle Darrieux, in full form both as an actress and as a singer, joins fellow murder suspects Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert, Emanuelle Béart, Virginie Ledoyen, Firmine Richard, and Ludivine Sagnier in this delightful, off-beat — and highly addictive — romp.
FILM
8 femmes / 8 Women
Far from Heaven
Gangs of New York
Hable con ella / Talk to Her
The Hours
The Quiet American
DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York)
Pedro Almodóvar (Hable con ella / Talk to Her)
Stephen Daldry (The Hours)
Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven)
Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American)
François Ozon (8 femmes / 8 Women)
ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York)
Michael Caine (The Quiet American)
Javier Cámara (Hable con ella / Talk to Her)
Tom Cruise (Minority Report)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Gangs of New York)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things)
Richard Gere (Unfaithful)
Johnny Hallyday (L’Homme du train / The Man on the Train)
Hiroyuki Sanada (Tasogare seibei / The Twilight Samurai)
ACTRESS
Meryl Streep (The Hours)
Nicole Kidman (The Hours)
Diane Lane (Unfaithful)
Julianne Moore (Far from Heaven)
Nadja Uhl (De Tweeling / Twin Sisters)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Newman (Road to Perdition)
Chris Cooper (Adaptation)
Tom Hanks (Catch Me If You Can)
Barry Humphries (Nicholas Nickleby)
Roman Knizka (De Tweeling / Twin Sisters)
Jude Law (Road to Perdition)
Sergi López (Dirty Pretty Things)
Dennis Quaid (Far from Heaven)
Henry Thomas (Gangs of New York)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Fanny Ardant (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Emanuelle Béart (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Maggie Cheung (Ying xiong / Hero)
Danielle Darrieux (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Catherine Deneuve (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Isabelle Huppert (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Geraldine McEwan (The Magdalene Sisters)
Samantha Morton (Minority Report)
Firmine Richard (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Meryl Streep (Adaptation)
SCREENPLAY
Pedro Almodóvar (Hable con ella / Talk to Her)
Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian & Kenneth Lonergan (Gangs of New York)
Marina de Van & François Ozon (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Christopher Hampton & Robert Schenkkan (The Quiet American)
David Hare (The Hours)
Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jeanne Lapoirie (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Javier Aguirresarobe (Hable con ella / Talk to Her)
Michael Ballhaus (Gangs of New York)
Peter Biziou (Unfaithful)
Christopher Doyle (Ying xiong / Hero)
Pawel Edelman (The Pianist)
Conrad L. Hall (Road to Perdition)
Edward Lachman (Far from Heaven)
Seamus McGarvey (The Hours)
Wedigo von Schultzendorff (Hollywood Ending)
ORIGINAL SCORE
Philip Glass (The Hours)
Craig Armstrong & Guy Gross (The Quiet American)
Elmer Bernstein (Far from Heaven)
Tan Dun (Ying xiong / Hero)
Damon Gough (About a Boy)
Alberto Iglesias (Hable con ella / Talk to Her)
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (Unfaithful)
Krishna Levy (8 femmes / 8 Women)
Thomas Newman (Road to Perdition)
Isao Tomita (Tasogare seibei / The Twilight Samurai)
"Best Films of …" Annual List
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