Time Regained
Time Regained ★★½ Le Temps Retrouve 1999 (R)
Based on Marcel Proust's final volume of “Remembrance of Things Past,” this ambitious adaptation is a sweeping and sometimes surreal saga of an elderly man's life and memories. Concentrating on turn of the century Paris, period piece time travels around the world inhabited by Marcel (Mazzarella), based on the author himself, who mingles with the wealthy and beautiful. Legendary French beauties litter the screen in supporting roles, including Deneuve, as Odette, who used her looks to get ahead and Beart, as Gilberte, her stepdaughter trapped in an unhappy marriage. Greggory is Saint-Loup, Gilberte's philandering, bisexual husband who cheats on her with Zylberstein and Perez, while Malkovich does a turn as his even more depraved uncle. Worthy performance from Proust lookalike Mazzarella. In French with subtitles. 165m/C VHS, DVD . FR IT Marcello Mazzarello, Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart, Vincent Perez, John Malkovich, Pascal Greggory, MarieFrance Pisier, Chiara Mastroianni, Arielle Dombasle, Edith Scob, Elsa Zylberstein, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Melvil Poupaud, Mathilde Seigner, Jacques Pieller, Laurence Fevrier, JeanFrancois Balmer, Jerome Prieur; D: Raul Ruiz; W: Raul Ruiz, Gilles Taurand; C: Ricardo Aronovich; M: Jorge Arriagada; V: Patrice Chereau.