Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
La Merveilleuse Visite (1974)
Director: Marcel Carné
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
HG Wells' second novel became Marcel Carné's penultimate movie. A beautiful young man is found naked on a beach; he says he's an angel fallen from the skies, though his difficulties with mirrors and cameras and the way he puts the wind up the locals are more indicative of Dracula. In fact, he's all too angelic, and his presence provokes nothing but unhappiness and violence, until finally he changes into a seagull and flies away. The late Victorian whimsy of Wells' misanthropic allegory, transplanted to a modern-day Breton village, has the charm of the incongruous, and permits Carné to create another of his little 'worlds', a rural one, as dreamily unreal as any in his big-city melodramas. The angel, sexy, absolutely unattainable, is also characteristic.Author: BBa
Cast & crew
Director: Marcel Carné
Producer: Jacques Quintard, Roger Delpey
Cast: Gilles Kohler, Deborah Berger, Roland Lasaffre, Lucien Barjon, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Yves Barsacq full cast
Genre(s): Fantasy
Duration: 105 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
London Children's Film Festival
Read our exclusive reviews of films playing at the 2009 London Children’s Film Festival
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now