Broken Embraces

The rain stayed away last night (30 July 2009) for the UK premiere of Broken Embraces at London's Somerset House Film4 Summer Screen. As dusk fell and the audience settled onto a sea of red rugs in the open air, Penelope Cruz - looking stunning in a red Bottega Veneta suit - took to the stage with director Pedro Almodóvar to introduce the movie. With Broken Embraces, set in Madrid and Lanzarote in the 1990s and present day, the Volver director serves up another sensual feast as he explores the world of film-making, family and forbidden love. After losing his sight and his lover Lena (Cruz) in a tragic car accident, director Mateo Blanco (known as Harry Caine) abandons his former identity and all thoughts of his younger years. But, when the past comes knocking in the form of the mysterious Ray X, he opens up to a young friend about his passionate love affair with the star of his final film. Using flashbacks, a labyrinthine plot is played out and the complexities of his relationship with Lena are revealed - most significantly the fact she is attached to the film’s sinister producer who is so obsessed with her beauty that he will do anything to keep her. The casting of Almodóvar's own muse (this is his fourth collaboration with Cruz) seems fitting for a film about a director’s passion for his leading lady, and Cruz shines as screen siren Lena.

By Lucy Thackray

WATCH TRAILER

Your review You would need to be logged in to make a comment.

ELLE moderation

Your post will be placed in a queue to be moderated, you will be notified by email once your post has been accepted.

ELLE comments

Thank you for sharing your views with us. Your comments will appear on ELLE today.

ELLE comments

You would need to be logged in to add a new post. Click "Login" button below to go to the login page or click on the "Register" button to register

Orphan

On the surface the Colemans (brilliantly played by Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard) would seem to have it all with a beautiful home and two great kids. But their lives have been damaged both by the loss of their third child and the consequences of alcoholism. Desperate to move on,they decide to adopt and swiftly fall for the charms of mysterious nine year old orphan, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) - a smart, creative loner who dresses up like a Victorian doll. Are the alarm bells ringing yet? Prepare yourself for a thrillingly tense psychological horror about guilt, trust and manipulation. With plenty of jumps and a jaw-dropping secret that we’re sworn not to tell, this is fiendishly fun cinema.

By Andrew Falconer

WATCH TRAILER

Your review You would need to be logged in to make a comment.

ELLE moderation

Your post will be placed in a queue to be moderated, you will be notified by email once your post has been accepted.

ELLE comments

Thank you for sharing your views with us. Your comments will appear on ELLE today.

ELLE comments

You would need to be logged in to add a new post. Click "Login" button below to go to the login page or click on the "Register" button to register

Coco Before Chanel

Amelie star Audrey Tautou plays couturier Coco Chanel in this leisurely biopic. It’s not all fine frocks and fashion shows: the story begins with young Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel singing in bars for tips from carousing playboys. Catching the eye of hedonistic aristocrat Etienne (Benoît Poelvoorde), she begins an affair of convenience, and shoehorns her way into Parisian society as his outspoken mistress. It’s here that we see the famous Chanel style developing. Coco dresses in her lover’s clothes, adapting them to suit her feminine form while shunning the restricting, fussy corsetry of the day. Gamine, elegant and feisty, Tautou is delightful in the role – it’s hard to imagine another actress nailing this part so perfectly. The film itself is slow-moving, but it’s visually stunning and full of period detail – a real rags-to-riches tale.

By Anna Smith

WATCH TRAILER

Your review You would need to be logged in to make a comment.

ELLE moderation

Your post will be placed in a queue to be moderated, you will be notified by email once your post has been accepted.

ELLE comments

Thank you for sharing your views with us. Your comments will appear on ELLE today.

ELLE comments

You would need to be logged in to add a new post. Click "Login" button below to go to the login page or click on the "Register" button to register

The Proposal

Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) will do just about anything to fulfil his dreams of becoming an editor. His boss, publishing diva Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) has taken advantage of her eager assistant with the empty promise of a promotion. It’s only when immigration control threatens to deport her back to Canada that they manage to reach a compromise. The two must fake an engagement, convincing colleagues, family and most importantly the American government that they are madly in love. The two characters spend most of the film at each other's throats as each tries to hold up their end of the bargain - with all the comical obstacles and power struggles you'd expect from a classic Hollywood rom-com. But will they learn to read between each other’s lines, and find true love? Bullock brings some of the sassiness we loved in Miss Congeniality to her role, but combines that Gracie Hart spirit with more poignant moments of loneliness. Although a few of the film’s jokes may be a tad eccentric for some, Reynolds and Bullock nail the comic chemistry.

By Georgie Robertson

WATCH TRAILER

Your review You would need to be logged in to make a comment.

ELLE moderation

Your post will be placed in a queue to be moderated, you will be notified by email once your post has been accepted.

ELLE comments

Thank you for sharing your views with us. Your comments will appear on ELLE today.

ELLE comments

You would need to be logged in to add a new post. Click "Login" button below to go to the login page or click on the "Register" button to register

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

Hormones are raging in the sixth Harry Potter film. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) returns to Hogwarts to discover that Ron’s little sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright) has grown up fast. Meanwhile Ron (Rupert Grint) is still failing to notice the loving looks that Hermione (ELLE's August issue coverstar Emma Watson) is shooting him, and succumbs to the persistent charms of Lavender (Jessie Cave). All these high school antics are mildly amusing, but the real pleasures of Harry Potter six are visual, from the splendid halls of Hogwarts to the dark, magical otherworlds Harry is transported to by Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). Helena Bonham Carter also sports a fine goth get-up as the scheming Bellatrix Lestrange, who teams up with the suggestible Snape (Alan Rickman). As for the plot: Harry finds out what professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) knows about his former pupil, the evil Valdemort. While this isn’t the most gripping in the Potter series, fans will love it.

By Anna Smith

Don't miss ELLE's exclusive interview with Emma Watson in this month's ELLE, out now.

WATCH TRAILER

Your review You would need to be logged in to make a comment.

ELLE moderation

Your post will be placed in a queue to be moderated, you will be notified by email once your post has been accepted.

ELLE comments

Thank you for sharing your views with us. Your comments will appear on ELLE today.

ELLE comments

You would need to be logged in to add a new post. Click "Login" button below to go to the login page or click on the "Register" button to register