A youthful foreigner sits sketching the diners of an outdoor café in hopes of finding the women he met there years before in director José Luis Guerín's languid, sun-soaked tale of longing. It was a long time ago that the artist met a mysterious beauty named Sylvia, and the memory of the girl has lingered in his mind ever since. Perhaps if he can capture the movements of the patrons in this quaint European café he can recognize the woman he seeks. Then, at once, the artist believes he has found
Sylvia. Setting out into the streets in pursuit of a fading memory, he vows that this time he won't let love slip through his fingers. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
If nothing else, Mr. Guerin has neatly captured the sweet, erotic alienation of being a single man at his leisure in a foreign town, dazzled by the passing procession of local beauties.
The director's near-silent tour of quaint European street scenes is even more adept at making the picturesque seem pretentious, as well as at reminding you that male-model good looks don't make antisocial behavior any less creepy.
Utilizando um design de som absolutamente fantástico para recriar a percepção do herói em seus passeios pela cidade, o filme é uma ode ao sexo feminino.
This sensualist delight is an immaculate expression of the thrill of the hunt and the cruel damage our hearts of glass incur from an unexpected loss or missed opportunity.
A sensual, minimalist film about voyeurism. The film makes great use of depth of focus and reflective surfaces and also benefits from an excellent sound design. Guerín's film depicts the tranquil city atmosphere of Strasbourg, where an unnamed man (the romantic dreamer type) sits at an outdoor cafe and watches the
beautiful women setting there and sketches their gestures in his notebook, trying to construct a person scribed as "Sylvie". He stalks one of the woman whom he believes is this Sylvie. For such a simple setup this film was really engrossing and in the end it captured the essence of the main character's longing and romantic fantasy (ala Vertigo). Comparing it to Vertigo may be misleading since this is not a mystery nor does it have much of a plot. It's mostly just shots of the man watching and sketching.
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