Gripping story with well-crafted characters

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I really enjoyed this movie as it is a retelling of a history of a man I knew little about.The scenery and makeup was just about spot on and captured the period perfectly.The script helped to tell the tale of an American who went along with slavery but away from America loosened his grip and treated his slaves as they should be treated, as people.That said his sexual relationship with a teenage black girl slave shows the hypocrisy of the man. Although the movie does not go into gratuitous detail or unnecessary sexy scenes, in fact the only sexual scene is one involving rather obscene puppets that were popular at the time. Thandie Newton is outstanding in this movie and although she does not appear until half way through she lights up every scene she is in.So a movie well worth a watch and one I would watch again.

A well researched period piece from the Merchant-Ivory team, the depicted setting and era come alive with the apt costumes and sets. The film however tells little in the way of a story, and the methods of narration are awfully clumsy. The whole Jefferson story is supposedly narrated by one person, however that story in itself is narrated by the Jefferson character and others through different letters. It is a bit confusing, and does not gel well together. Even if it is hard to explain, it should be easy to pick up on this awkwardness when watching the film. Some of the sequences also feel like they are just for show, for they add very little to the story. However, even if this is a flawed film, it has enough good qualities to rate above average. The film is set to wonderful Richard Robbins music and Thandie Newton really makes the most of her role. There is quite a bit that one can enjoy in this film, even if it is hardly perfect viewing.

POSSIBLE SPOILAGEI enjoyed JEFFERSON IN Paris for the most part. The costumes, wigs and makeup were splendid, and the cast was charming.Nick Nolte is great as Pres. Jefferson, who goes abroad to France to serve as an ambassador there. The royal family of France is hated by the commoners, who are starving and dying while they enjoy wealth and frivolous spending. These events lead to the French Revolution and, although it doesn't happen on screen, the execution of Marie Antoinette by guillotine. Interesting tidbit: the inventor of the guillotine and his mini demonstration!!!Jefferson's daughter Patsy (impressive Gwyneth Paltrow) goes to live in a convent, and comes to love the Catholic religion. She wants to become a nun, but she wages a tug of war with her devotion to her father's every need, request, etc. For a great amount of the film, Jefferson has an affair of sorts with a married woman named Maria Cosway (charming Greta Schacci) but after one of his daughters back home falls ill and dies, Jefferson changes in many ways. His feelings for Cosway cool off, and the appearance of his teenaged slave Sally (played flirtatiously by Thandie Newton) seems to throw his thoughts off balance. The altercation between Patsy and Sally reaffirmed my belief that given the right material, Paltrow is a powerful actress. Her performance is subtle and latent, and that's what makes it extraordinary. One disappointment is that the characters played by James Earl Jones and Sarah Windh are not revisited in the end sequence. I felt that some closing commentary was needed by them to give a more satisfying end to the story.Nevertheless, an interesting mini epic. I'd give it an A-.

...and the old one collapsing.How tempting!Jefferson,who epitomizes democracy and freedom visiting the old wreck,France on the eve of revolution.Ivory's precedent works were masterpieces (Howards end and remnants of the day)but they took place in England and they were not really historical,even if "remnants" made a fine blend of the historical background with the storybook elements.When it comes to history,and mainly French history,all we get here is a full load of clichés:Marie-Antoinette, playing with her flock of sheep,Doctor Guillotin,showing his new machine (he used to say that the condemned person could feel a nice fresh sensation before dying!),La Fayette and his wife Adrienne,and of course,the de rigueur lines (c'est une révolte?Non sire,c'est une révolution").The only daring gesture,so to speak,is the puppet theater,but even that was already in Ettore Scola's "la nuit de Varennes",(1982)with much more finesse,at that.A lot of French actors appear,which is the least Ivory could do but they are not always well cast:Michel Lonsdale is a very competent one,but he's too old to be a credible king (64 when Louis XVI was about 30!)Charlotte de Turckheim is an ugly Marie-Antoinette and some scenes in which she appears ,probably influenced by "Fellini-Casanova" (1977),do not help. This is Jean-Pierre Aumont's farewell to the screen (he was in Carné's "hotel du nord" in 1938!)in a very small part:I thought he was playing Mirabeau,but actually it's an obscure D'Hancarville.Lambert Wilson ,on the other hand,is a good choice for La Fayette,but h,most of the time,he's reduced to a walk-on.As for the American side of the story,of course,Ivory focuses on slavery,and deservedly so.The French cannot understand that a country so in love with freedom could approve of such a thing.But it finally boils down to Nolte-and-black babe affair and it's overlong and tedious.The first scene between Jefferson and the abbess promised great things.But it's a disappointment when they meet again towards the end.All in all,this is a lavish production,which is sometimes entertaining,but which lacks epic strength and has missed its date withdestiny.