Synopsis:
Paramount Classics presents director Bruce Beresford's romantic portrait of an
extraordinary woman who inspired, bedeviled and captivated the artistic genuises of her
age. Surrounded by the visual riches and musical power of Vienna at the turn of the
century, Alma Mahler, (Wynter) becomes lover and muse, first to the great
composer/conductor Gustav Mahler, then to the brilliant architect Walter Gropius, then to
rebel artist Oskar Kokoschka (Perez), and eventually to the passionate novelist, Franz
Werfel. Each man sees in her a source of inspiration, but her searching heart only
finds peace when her own music is performed.
*****
San Francisco Chronicle:
"The only performer who breathes any life into the proceedings is Vincent
Perez (Indochine), whose portrait of Kokoschka is extravagantly sexy and
demented."
Buffalo News:
"Vincent Perez and Gregor Seberg are haunting look-alikes for
Kokoschka and Werfel, and play those roles superbly."
Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
"Vincent Perez is terrific as the jealous, volatile artist whose
'Bride of the Wind' masterpiece canvas depicts Alma and himself in a central sexual oasis,
surrounded by tempests and torrents."
Citysearch:
"Wynter, Pryce and Perez turn in well-nuanced performances."
SPLICEDWire:
"With moody and temperamental artist Kokoschka (Vincent Perez),
there is heat, but Beresford doesn't seem to recognize their love's most emotional moments
- as when he miraculously returns from World War I after being declared dead."
Akron Beacon Journal:
"Kokoschka is played with compelling intensity by Vincent Perez."
Cincinnati CityBeat:
"As Kokoschka, Vincent Perez creates the most lasting impression.
His spirited dinner dance with a mannequin of Alma is the wind that propels the film for a
few moments."
Audience Magazine:
"Almost stealing the show is Vincent Perez as Kokoschka."
Boston Phoenix:
"Vincent Perezs Kokoschka is rumpled and intense."
San Diego Metropolitan:
"Vincent Perez is also fine as the tempestuous Kokoschka, whose
out-of-control jealousy finally lost Alma."
Daily News Los Angeles:
"Played by the striking French actor Vincent Perez, Kokoschka is far
and away the film's liveliest, wittiest presence, especially when he takes to escorting a
life-size Alma doll around town after the flesh-and-blood version has rejected him."
Reeltime:
"Pryce and Perez are as good as the script allows."
Thecelebritycafe.com:
"As opposed to glorifying the artistic genius of each man, Beresford and the writer,
Marilyn Levy, amplify the shadow cast over Alma's own brilliance by the fame of each of
her lovers. This unique perspective is only heightened by the performances of Sarah
Wynter, Jonathon Pryce, and Vincent Perez. Each actor affects a striking
and complex interpretation of the characters. They truly seem to embody the
larger-than-life people they play.
Toronto Globe and Mail:
"Jonathan Pryce's Mahler is a nice blend of the arrogance and insecurity that seems
to typify the artistic temperament. And Vincent Perez makes for a
wonderfully crazed Kokoschka, enhanced by his getting to deliver the movie's best line:
'Time is the money of love.'"
Eye.net:
"Only Jonathan Pryce as Mahler and Vincent Perez as Kokoschka manage
to register a presence."
Indianapolis Star:
" The movie is joyless and dull, colorless and flat, except for the performance of Vincent
Perez as expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka. The movie comes alive with the
introduction of Oskar. Though he called Alma his wild creature, he must have been looking
in a mirror. He is passion. She is
water on his fire."
Now Toronto:
"Credit Vincent Perez, as Alma's obsessive third lover, with at
least trying to set his cardboard character on fire."
Miami Herald:
"Wynter's male counterparts are fortunately better. Vincent Perez
trembles with intensity as Kokoschka, the expressionist whose wild jealousy and adoration
inspire him to create the masterpiece after which the film is named."
Washington Times:
"Vincent Perez's crazed Kokoschka gives the movie most of its
wackier highlights."
Hybridmagazine.com:
"Only Vincent Perez's Kokoschka, 'the Freud of Viennese painters,'
seemed to have warm blood flowing through his veins. The rest of her men seemed more like
tableaux vivant than film actors."
Hollywood Reporter:
"Perez and Schmolzer come off the best because they get to play
nutty painters."
Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
"Vincent Perez is terrific as the jealous, volatile artist whose
'Bride of the Wind' masterpiece canvas depicts Alma and himself in a central sexual oasis,
surrounded by tempests and torrents."
Daily-Reviews.com:
"Vincent Perez offers the best work in the film."
Seattle Times:
"Vincent Perez heats up the screen as dashing Oskar Kokoschka."
Screenit.com:
"Playing the various men in her life, Jonathan Pryce Vincent Perez,
Simon Verhoeven and Gregor Seberg all deliver competent performances, with a few of them
getting to add a bit more zest to the characters than others."
Hollywood Report Card:
"Rich, relaxing and nearly passionate, the sequence in which Kokoschka (Vincent
Perez) paints the film's namesake painting ends far too soon."
Houston Chronicle:
"Jonathan Pryce delivers a multi-layered Mahler, and Vincent Perez's
fiery Kokoschka follows a fascinating story arc. After Alma dumps him he's wounded, and
presumed dead, during World War I; when he returns to find Alma married to Gropius, he
takes to carrying around a life-size doll in her likeness. Unfortunately, the movie is not
about these two characters."
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