Justine (1969)

Justine (1969). Justine: Directed by George Cukor, Joseph Strick. With Anouk Aimée, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Forster, Anna Karina. In British Palestine of 1938, several men vie for the affections of a Coptic banker's wife who's involved with the anti-British underground movement.

“George Cukoru0026#39;s adaptation of Lawrence Durrellu0026#39;s ALEXANDRIA QUARTET forms the shape of a dial made of character traits from medieval mystery plays–Fanatic Patriotism, Sexual Cunning, Heartless Bargaining, Furtive Retreat. If Durrell sought to catalogue every human impulse, Cukor had another, lower agenda that serves the material beautifully: shifting these allegorical characters into ripe, lustrous kitsch icons who seem to have time-travelled from a Sternberg movie circa 1931.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe whole picture seems to have undergone a time-machine move from THE SHANGHAI GESTURE to swinging u0026#39;69. Itu0026#39;s Cukoru0026#39;s most vibrant movie visually, and each gorgeously staged and color-patterned shot finds a new way to layer an Islamic tapestry atop psychedelic poster art.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCukor, brought in as a replacement, brings a vigor to the material you donu0026#39;t associate with him, and at 70, he still knew how to shape the beats of a scene like a Broadway pro. It is reported that he and the star, Anouk Aimee, loathed one another, and in honesty itu0026#39;s easy to see Cukoru0026#39;s frustration: she gives a dismally coy, incommunicative performance as the black widow whose web forms the story. She seems aberrantly at odds with the coolly dignified, taciturn style of the other performances: Dirk Bogarde, as the Graham Greene-ish diplomat with a lurid secret may never have been more creepily sympathetic than he is here. And John Vernon, an actor best known for playing pompous authoritarians in B movies, has such noble composure as Justineu0026#39;s long-suffering husband that he seems to turn into a folk-art engraving of a noble and besieged human soul.”