Impromptu (1990)
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 16
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5.1/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 4,745
Movie Info
Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, better known in the literary world as George Sand, not only took a man's name, but trotted around wearing pants and smoking cigars in public. No great shakes today, but in the 1800s she was perhaps the most famous (or infamous) woman in the world. One of the first original celebrities, aside from her garb and literary output, she was known to inspire many duels and broken hearts among other famous hedonist artists. One character describes her in Impromptu, as "that
Apr 12, 1991 Wide
Mar 19, 2002
MGM Home Entertainment
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Cast
-
Judy Davis
George Sand -
Hugh Grant
Frederic Chopin -
Mandy Patinkin
Alfred DeMusset -
Bernadette Peters
Marie D'Agoult -
Julian Sands
Franz Liszt -
Ralph Brown
Eugene Delacroix -
Emma Thompson
Duchess D'Antan -
Georges Corraface
Felicien Mallefille -
Anton Rodgers
Duke D'Antan -
Anna Massey
George Sand's Mother -
John Savident
Buloz -
Elizabeth Spriggs
Baroness Laginsky -
Jezabelle Amato
Inn Keeper's Wife -
Claude Berthy
Chopin's Valet -
David Birkin
Maurice -
Georges Bruce
Doctor -
André Chaumeau
Priest -
Jean-Michel Dagory
Inn Keeper -
Ian Marshall de Garnier
Editor -
Isabelle Guiard
Princess -
Fernand Guiot
Butler -
Nicholas Hawtrey
Philosopher -
Sylvie Herbert
Sophie -
Francois Lalande
Local Doctor -
-
Annette Milsom
Ursule -
Nimer Rashed
Didiar -
Stuart Seide
Clerk -
Lucy Speed
Aurore -
Fiona Vincente
Solange -
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Impromptu Trailer & Photos
All Critics (17) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (4)
Anna Massey, who appears fleetingly as Sand's mother, offers a demonstration of how to make an overpoweringly fine impression in only a few minutes' time.
Top CriticDespite all this assembled talent, the film stubbornly refuses to come to life.
A disorganized, confusing but amusing biopic.
Director James Lapine pushes the story to its entertaining fullest, exuding a period-costumed sense of fun.
A blissfully high-spirited romp about the circle of writers and musicians in 1830s Paris.
A rather conventional romantic comedy, with the requisite plot devices to provide obstacles for the would-be lovers, but the story is well told.
It's mildly funny, mildly dramatic, and well-acted enough.
All the primary players are wonderful.
As a salon full of characters, Impromptu provides great fly on the wall fun.
Audience Reviews for Impromptu
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- George Sand: I am not full of virtues and noble qualities. I love. That is all. But I love strongly, exclusively, and steadfastly.
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Movie: ID: 11002 Title: Impromptu Release Date: 1991-04-12 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Verliebt in Chopin (DE)
- Impromptu (1991) (UK)
A lush costume drama with strong performances by Judy Davis and Mandy Patinkin, Impromptu has all the trappings of a Merchant/Ivory production. Its sly wit and subtle conflicts are always engaging, but what sets this film apart from some of the - for lack of a better word - boredom of Merchant/Ivory's work is the performance by Patinkin. Riding into a woman's bedroom on a horse, drunkenly shooting the officiant of a duel, and a garrulous braggart demeanor, Patinkin injects some energy to a film that desperately needs it. Davis's portrayal of George Sand is believable; no actress can capture Sand's masculine guise and still retain a strain of femininity like Davis.
What bothers me about the film is how the story ends up reinforcing the gender conventions of the time. George Sand pursues Chopin in a hybrid of a masculine assertiveness, but her eventual victory comes with subverting her desires to what's required of a typical female in the 19th Century. Even the man, Chopin, rows the boat in the final montage of coupledom bliss.
Overall, I liked Impromptu for Patinkin and Davis, but George Sand, a revolutionary feminist figure, deserved a better fate.