Barnes & Noble

The tumultuous landscapes of Europe between World Wars I and II serve as a backdrop for writer-director Sally Potter's tale, depicting a young Russian Jew who immigrates to England after her village is destroyed in a violent pogrom. Fegele (Christina Ricci), who is assimilated into Gentile culture as Suzie, carries two things with her into the West: an aged photograph of her father, who left Russia long ago for America; and a golden voice that eventually lands her a job with a Parisian opera company. Potter has found an appropriate heroine in Ricci, whose ethereal pallor reflects a life drained of its vitality in Nazi-occupied Europe. The rest of the cast is equally impressive: John Turturro plays the company's tenor, Dante, a petty Fascist who sips champagne with the SS and casually tyrannizes his Russian émigré girlfriend, Lola (Cate Blanchett); Johnny Depp is Cesar, a brooding Gypsy horseman and a counterpoint to Dante, who serves as another compelling representative of Europe’s disenfranchised. And look for Harry Dean Stanton in the somewhat off-kilter but purposeful role of Felix, the opera impresario whose willingness to reclaim his Jewish heritage in the face of annihilation gives Suzie the strength to defy victimization and reclaim her identity. The film’s structure reveals Potter’s interest in elliptical time, which she explored with such success in Orlando. She opens The Man Who Cried in a lyrical flash of the future, depicting an unknown young woman surrounded by fire and drowning in a vast sea. The primary narrative then begins in a desiccated Russian forest stunningly photographed by veteran film artist Sacha Vierny, and the slow, methodical movement of the camera sets a tempo that Potter never accelerates. Although The Man Who Cried never focuses directly on historical events, their weight is felt in the narrative and stamped on the souls of each and every character Virginia McCollam

All Movie Guide

In this historical drama with music, a gifted singer (Oleg Yankovsky) from a Jewish village in Russia travels to the United States in 1927, leaving behind his young daughter Fegele (Claudia Lander-Duke). Father has promised his family that he'll send for Fegele as soon as he can, but authorities make life hard for the Jewish population, and Fegele is forced to flee with relatives to England. Fegele is adopted by a British family, which renames her Suzie and raises her with little acknowledgement of her ethnic heritage. As she grows to adulthood, Suzie (Christina Ricci) becomes a gifted vocalist and gets a job singing in a nighclub revue in Paris. Before she leaves England, her adopted family presents Suzie with a picture of her father, still believed to be living in America, and she decides she will go to the United States some day and find him. In Paris, Suzie makes friends with Lola (Cate Blanchett), a Russian showgirl in the market for a rich husband. Lola becomes involved with opera star Dante Dominio (John Turturro), and soon both Lola and Suzie are extras in Dominio's company, managed by Felix Perlman (Harry Dean Stanton). As Lola takes up with Dante, Suzie falls for Cesar (Johnny Depp), a poor but handsome gypsy horse trainer. Suzie soon becomes involved with the handsome Cesar, but their happiness proves to be short-lived when the Nazi war machine begins to roll through France. The Man Who Cried was written and directed by Sally Potter, who previously won acclaim for another unusual historical piece, Orlando. Mark Deming

Chicago Sun-Times

This is an amazingly ambitious movie, not so much because of the time and space it covers (a lot), but because Potter trusts us to follow her heroine through one damn thing after another. Roger Ebert

San Francisco Chronicle

Potter's cinematic vision is what makes The Man Who Cried shimmer and levitate. Mick LaSalle

Product Details

• UPC: 025192147524
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:40:00
• Sales Rank: 10,444

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