There can't be a disease in fiction that demands more vigorous suspension of disbelief than movie amnesia. And Now, Ladies and Gentleman, a latter production of the great Claud Lelouch, pushes the disbelievery to the breaking point. It asks us to accept not one but two identical and fanciful cases of the affliction. Both Valentin Valentin, played by Jeremy Irons, and Jane Lester, played by Patricia Kaas suffer from symmetrical "blackout" periods in which memory evaporates.
What, prithee, are the odds?
Duelling amnesias are mighty unlikely, but such is the premise of the film. Although I doubt that there's much in the scientific literature about the romantic potential of mutual amnesia, in this film the disease becomes a mild erotic stimulant. Why the heck not, I say.
Inasmuch as no one but confirmed amnesiaphiles are ever going to see this film, let me spoil it at once by saying that both Valentin, a jewel thief, and Jane, a chantoosie, find themselves in Fez in Morocco. There they are healed, and after much ado, set out to circumnavigate the earth in a racing boat called Ladies and Gentlemen (hence the film's odd title). Valentin, a traditionalist, takes the orthodox medical route and goes to a local surgeon, who shows him and us an MRI generated picture of his brain disfigured by a great white splotch ("It's a wonder he can remember anything," says the Doc.) Valentin undergoes radical surgery but Jane, taking an easier route, is cured by making a pilgrimage to a local Moroccan saint. How unjudgmental and egalitarian to equate medicine and mystery; and also, by the way, how very nonsensical.
The film is well made -- replete with all kinds of fancy effects and flashbacks and dream sequences. I love the idea of draining color from the characters' faces to signify that they have begun another of their symmetrical "blackouts." But aside from the amnesias, there's not much to wonder at, at least not if you've seen your share of caper/jewel thief films.
I loved the exotic North African locales. I'm chagrined to report that I didn't recognize the wondrous Claudia Cardinale, who was 63 when the film was made. Claudia had been a great friend to my youthful imagination.
The amnesia that afflicts Valentin and Jane is, as far as I know, unique in that it comes and goes, appears and disappears. Less like an amnesia than an allergy -- here one moment, then gone. But as a plot device, constant.
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