My girlfriend's favorite movie, which she asked me to watch with her. I've since learned that this is an extremely revered cult film with a devoted following. After sitting through it, the reasons "why" frankly perplex me. It's an ordinary film at best, and for die-hard romantics only.
I will say that Christopher Reeve gives one of his better acting performances as Richard Collier, a 1980 playwright who becomes infatuated by a portrait of a beautiful young actress from the early 1900's (Jane Seymour). He is driven by a strong obsession to travel back through time and meet her. Luckily for him, after consulting a professor he discovers that time travel is indeed possible through self-hypnosis (?). So Collier dresses himself in the proper period 1900's attire, makes a home cassette tape of his own voice re-asserting over and over that "this is 1912... it is 1912...1912....", closes his eyes while lying down on the bed, and -- voilà! --- he is transported back to meet his lover.
Well, there's a little more to the circumstances ... such as Collier in the opening of the film being approached in modern times by an elderly woman who gives him a watch and pleads with him: "come back to me" (she's supposed to be the same actress from the past, now nearing her death), which adds to his desire to know more about this woman. But I couldn't get past the ordinary trappings of these events, and - most of all - the unbelievable idea that time traveling is in any way possible simply by hypnotizing oneself! I am very good at suspending my disbelief when it comes to watching movies, but maybe that's if the film overall is working for me. The fact that Richard Matheson, a favorite science fiction writer of mine, came up with this idea is really odd. **1/2 out of ****
I will say that Christopher Reeve gives one of his better acting performances as Richard Collier, a 1980 playwright who becomes infatuated by a portrait of a beautiful young actress from the early 1900's (Jane Seymour). He is driven by a strong obsession to travel back through time and meet her. Luckily for him, after consulting a professor he discovers that time travel is indeed possible through self-hypnosis (?). So Collier dresses himself in the proper period 1900's attire, makes a home cassette tape of his own voice re-asserting over and over that "this is 1912... it is 1912...1912....", closes his eyes while lying down on the bed, and -- voilà! --- he is transported back to meet his lover.
Well, there's a little more to the circumstances ... such as Collier in the opening of the film being approached in modern times by an elderly woman who gives him a watch and pleads with him: "come back to me" (she's supposed to be the same actress from the past, now nearing her death), which adds to his desire to know more about this woman. But I couldn't get past the ordinary trappings of these events, and - most of all - the unbelievable idea that time traveling is in any way possible simply by hypnotizing oneself! I am very good at suspending my disbelief when it comes to watching movies, but maybe that's if the film overall is working for me. The fact that Richard Matheson, a favorite science fiction writer of mine, came up with this idea is really odd. **1/2 out of ****