STAR MENU ~ In Honor of Gérard Depardieu

Saint Amour
Berlin film festival 2016

The Guardian review of Gérard Depardieu irresistible as boozy farmer on road trip.

France does not cultivate “national treasures” in the same way the English do. But if it did, this film would make Gérard Depardieu’s status impregnable – and that of Michel Houellebecq, who contributes another of his extraordinary movie cameos. And writer-directors Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern might be taken yet further into France’s national heart.

Fascinating take on Depardieu's favourite Trump themes. Some encounters are "like a meeting Alice has in Wonderland" - others like cuttings from a Fellini treasure trove. Relish a bit of VII, a dash of 0-XXII, and liberal seasoning from the rest of a colourful and full deck:
"Benoît Poelvoorde is Bruno, an ugly, middle-aged, unmarried farmer who lives for the one week a year when he comes up to Paris with his elderly, portly widower dad Jean (Depardieu) to participate in an indoor agricultural trade fair. ...Of course, Bruno becomes appallingly and belligerently drunk; his pathetic loneliness and self-hate bubbles to the surface and to cheer the poor guy up, Jean offers to take him on a real wine tour of France, beginning with a lunchtime bottle of a wine called Saint Amour."

 

All human wisdom is summed up in two words,-- wait and hope.
Alexandre Dumas the Elder: The Count of Monte Christo, ch.117

The Count of Monte Christo

Tarot Trump discussed include Trump VII The Charioteer, Trump VIII Justice, Trump XII The Sacrifice, and Trump XVI The Lightning Struck Tower

Captain Edmond Dantes was captain of the Pharon a graceful seagoing ship that transported cargo between France, Italy and points East. He was sabotaged when dark forces conspired against the young sailor, locked up as prisoner #34 [3 + 4= 7], in France’s dreaded Chateau d’If. His story recounts how he suffered terrible shocks and later regained his center, his name, and his own destiny path – all topics linked with Trump VII. A twist of fate helped Dantes reverse his situation and transform a life of pain and tragedy into one of self-determination, all themes associated with Trump VIII.

The Count of Monte Christo
Josée Dayan 1998
"Le comte de Monte Cristo" (original title)
Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Ornella Muti, Jean Rochefort, Pierre Arditi, Sergio Rubini, more

This article suggests The Count of Monte Christo uses shock, thunder and lightning to build insulation around the psyche – initially so the subtle energy won’t be jarred into a state of disempowerment. The result is one effective layer of protection on top of another as a natural way to build armor to serve an individual. Study the illustration on the face of Trump VII. If the accumulated coating isn’t so utilized (as inside a shell housing a pearl), such an envelope may isolate him/her from the rest of the world. See the parallel story of Princess Haydee, betrayed, forced to watch her family executed, and sold into slavery by an adversary of Dantes.
Tarot references to VII and XVI, throughout the film that pertain to open enemies – war, duels, legal documents, all stun the various characters. Hidden enemies – the thief in the shadows, knife in the back, and poison pen letters that are anonymous – to name only a few treacherous, covert enemies Edmond Dantes faced [Trump XII], run parallel to plots against Princess Haydee. She alone survived the betrayal of the royal family.

In the prologue, the Count of Monte Christo says his enemies created him, “the avenger.” By the final scene of the film Edmond Dantes resurfaces as the man who effectively reinvented himself. The whole movie is fast paced with consecutive jolts delivered by, and to, most of the characters. In fact, the shock alluded by Trump XVI The Lightning Struck Tower [16 = 1 + 6 = 7], seems to be the way most people relate to each other.

Act One of The Count of Monte Christo advances an encapsulated story of Edmond Dantes, as a semi-conscious prisoner left to languish in solitary confinement for eighteen years. He received no trial or explanation of the changes against him, and has no knowledge of anything beyond the walls of his dark, stony cold cell. Without warning, Dantes was betrayed, jolted, and abandoned. The justice system failed to provide a safety net for political scapegoats or martyrs. He did not know some of those he trusted went bad on him. For years, he had no chance to recuperate from his betrayal, collect his wits and regain his center. After eighteen years, he barely even remembered his own name.

During the second half of the story, Dantes begins to want people to know who he is and say his name – he begins to remember his true identity and discard the feeling he is living in a dream, or is acting out the part of a character in a novel. In Act Three, Dantes writes and reads his name aloud. Once again he is the captain of his own ship.

Note: One reliable method of lodging people in poverty, keeping them dazed, confused, and immobile is the use of a shock technique. During the course of this movie the stun-gun effect effect dominates all the relationships of Edmond Dantes – whether effects are positive or negative. It seems the pattern he most recognizes and so uses repetitively. The Count of Monte Christo is an excellent film to study regarding the reversed cards mentioned above. The story and character development illustrate how an established flow of energy will respond to the strong will of an aware architect determined to shape his/her own reality.
These are some examples of how shock directs or redirects action and behavior in the early part of the film.

1. Hunger in the Chateau d’If, illustrated by what appears to be the prisoners' meal of 20 to 1 potato soup, designed to throw off healthy physical chemistry, pacify the spirit, and probably add toxins to the blood.
2. Abbe Faria boroughs and moves a loose stone between his and Dantes’ cell. See below for evolving details during their conversations.
3. Abbe Faria gives up the ghost and Dantes switches places in the funeral bag. He is thrown over the walls into the sea. Using Faria’s crucifix [reversed Trump XII] he cuts his way free and swims to shore to begin a new life.
4. Dantes visits his home where he learns his father died of grief and self-imposed starvation.
5. Soldiers are searching for him – he learns he is a fugitive.
6. He learns Mercedes, the love of his life, has moved to Paris and Fernand Montago, also gone, joined the army. No one knows him.
7. Dantes signs on a smuggler ship, swims to the Island of Monte Christo and recovers the fabulous treasure left there by Abbe Faria years before.
8. Bertuccio, the cook jumps smuggler ship, tells Dantes the captain will turn him in for the reward, helps him to safety, and becomes his loyal servant.
9. Dantes becomes Abbe Busoni, learns two friends authored the anonymous letter to the prosecutor 18 years previous. Caderousse tells him that Fernand Mondego and Eugene Danglars, now a baron, got Dantes arrested. Mercedes married Fernand, left Marseilles, became Countess of Morcerf.
10. After a year in the East, the Count of Monte Christo returns to Marseilles. He visits Morrel and Son as Lord Wilmore, a representative of the bank Thomson and French. The elder Morrel watched over Dantes. Sr, and hired young Dantes to serve on their ship, the Pharon. Wilmore tells the Morrels he watched the Pharon sink under the waves, but the bank will extend credit with them 3 months. As Count he begins work on duplicate of the Pharon with shipbuilders in Italy… to be seaworthy in 3 months time.
11. CMC meets Albert, son of Mercedes and Fernand Morcerf, who asks for a box seat with the Count to watch an execution in Italy, the last of its kind to be performed. Albert is promptly kidnapped by local bandits and held for ransom. The Count negotiates the release of Albert, by gaining a pardon for the bandit Peppino; a life for a life. CMC gains friendship of Vampa, leader of bandits who will, in time, become an important ally.
12. March 5, scheduled day to meet Morrels re outstanding debt on loans from the bank Thomson and French. Abbe Busoni sends messenger with gold coin to pay the loan. Maxmillian Morrel delivers the gold to his father minutes before Lord Wilmore arrives. Then Wilmore congratulates the Morrels on arrival of the Pharon, (duplicate built by CMC over 3 month interval) laden with cargo from Italy. Morrel Sr. so overcome with emotion he suffers a heart attack.
13. Viscount Albert invites several friends to lunch to formally thank the Count of Monte Christo for saving his life and introduce him to his parents. Mercedes serves CMC a coffee, looks into his eyes, drops the cup and nearly faints.

Let me know if you think additional scenes would help connect all the dots noted in this time block.

 

The Man in the Iron Mask began the process and Vatel continues the legend.
François Vatel [Gérard Depardieu] and Anne de Montausier [Uma Thurman]
Passion and the Court of The Sun King [Louis XIV, Julian Sands],
the Marquis de Lauzun [Tim Roth] provides mischief.

Vatel Roland Joffé 2000
Production Design: Jean Rabasse

 

Following his training at Jean-Laurent Cochet drama school in Paris, Gérard Depardieu played small theatre and film parts. "Going Places" in 1974 ensured his popularity as an actor. He achieved a major breakthrough alongside Fanny Ardant in François Truffaut’s drama "The Woman Next Door".
source: DW-WORLD.DE

Two years after his success in dramatic comedy, he appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976) alongside Robert De Niro. Depardieu worked with French screen legend Catherine Deneuve on The Last Metro (1980). He earned raves for his work on this wartime drama directed and co-written by famed filmmaker Francois Truffant. Depardieu also picked up his first César Award—the French equivalent of an Academy Award—for best actor, for his performance in the film.
source: Biography

1900
Bernardo Bertolucci 1997 Italian-French-German
Stars: Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Donald Sutherland, Burt Lancaster, more
Leonard Maltin: Sweeping chronicle of 20th-century Italy focusing on two contrasting families; ambitious, powerful film full of potent, beautiful images. Continuity problems, caused no doubt by trimming from 6-hour original; beware further cutting.
Running time 243 minutes. 3 ½ stars

 

Excerpts from Foreign film: the beauty of the beast
Ina Ginsberg asked [1985] whether he will speak English in future films Depardieu answered, “Oh yes, certainly, but I will learn it. Maybe I’ll go and live in America with my children in a city like Pittsburgh, where I would do something – anything, though my children know that New York has the advantage of being more cosmopolitan. There you have a mixture of cultures. That ethnic mixture presents to me the most beautiful image of the United States, and that’s what makes it so interesting.”
IG: A leading French film critic says that for French cinema to be competitive with American films, French producers will have to spend more money, make bigger pictures, not just the small-scale intellectual-type films usually made here, and that films should be in English and that French actors will have to learn to speak it.
GD: Or do what we have done in the film Une femme ou deux (One Woman or Two): use American actors like Sigourney Weaver who learned her role in French. … I saw William Hurt not long ago and he told me that he would like to make a film in French. What will help our film is that Sigourney Weaver is well known to the American public. If I would have to pretend to be an American, if I ever wanted to have a big career there, I would have to really live there to absorb the innermost needs that people have there. One can always pretend to speak a language by learning a role like opera singers do, but to really live it, breathe it, that’s something else again. Besides, that critic you mentioned, Pierre Billard, killed all the commercial films we ever tried to make. That’s typical of French film critics – giving advice and then cutting you down for taking it. As for myself, I can only make films with people who are my friends. They all have to be that. It’s a little bit like Spielberg and Lucas. They share a vision on a project. They choose stories they like to do. I do that with someone like Francis Veber, for instance, or Bertrand Blier, Maurice Pialat, or Daniel Vigne.
Source: Interview, January 1986.

 

Crêpes Suzette

    Crêpes

1 cup water 1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup milk 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour pinch of salt
4 egg yolks, beaten Butter and olive oil for frying

Mix first 7 ingredients well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. When ready to cook, place a small amount of butter and olive oil in a 6-inch skillet. Roll and turn skillet until sides are covered lightly with oil. Spoon in enough batter to cover bottom of pan lightly. Cook until golden brown (do not burn), then turn and quickly cook the other side. When crêpe is cooked, place on a warm plate and cover. Continue until all crêpes are made.

Suzette Sauce

24 sugar lumps 3/4 cup cold butter
4 whole oranges 5 tablespoons Grand Marnier
2 whole lemons 3 tablespoons yellow Chartreuse
4 good-sized strips of orange rind 6 tablespoons Cognac
4 good-sized strips of lemon rind

Have everything ready before starting to prepare the sauce. Rub all sides of 12 lumps of sugar well over the skins of the oranges to absorb the orange oil. Rub the other 12 lumps of sugar over the lemons. Then cut the oranges into halves. Pound or mash the flavored sugar lumps on a board. Cut the strips of orange and lemon rind (zest) into very thin slivers. Place the cold butter, slivers of lemon and orange rind and the mashed sugar in the bottom pan of a chafing dish. Then take 1 orange half at a time in the left hand. Holding the orange over the pan, with the right hand use a fork to extract the orange juice; about 3/4 cups will be squeezed from the oranges. Mix the juice well into the butter mixture. Add 2 tablespoons of the Grand Marnier.

Light the flame under the pan; let the pan warm and then place 4 crepes in it. Turn and baste. Then fold each in half, baste again, and fold each into a triangle. Move the triangles to the edge of the pan. Heat the rest of the crêpes in the same way, as quickly as possible. Them shake pan and add the rest of the Grand Marnier, the Chartreuse and the Cognac. Be careful to shield your face from pan. Ignite the sauce, shake the pan, and baste the crêpes. Serve immediately, with all the sauce spooned over the crêpes. Enjoy a pony of Cognac or Grand Marnier or Chartreuse with your delicious Crêpes Suzette.
Serves 4 to 6.

Gruyere, Tomato and Anchovy Fondue
Serves 4 Dry White Wine

1 lb. natural imported Gruyere cheese ½ teaspoon oregano, crumbled btwn fingers
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 2 large, fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, finely minced
2-oz. can flat anchovy fillets, drained, finely minced ¼ cup flour
¼ cup butter 1 ¼ cups dry white wine
2 large cloves of garlic, minced extremely fine Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
Long narrow French bread

Use the natural Gruyere not the process type; if natural Gruyere is not available, Swiss Emmenthaler may be used instead.

Shred cheese by forcing it through large holes of metal grater. Melt butter in heavy saucepan or heavy fondue pot. Add garlic and oregano. Sauté ½ minute. Add tomatoes and sauté until tomatoes are tender. Stir in flour, blending very well. Slowly add wine, stirring well. Cook until mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce flame. Simmer 3-4 minutes. Add Gruyere cheese, about a handful at a time, and stir after each addition, until cheese is melted. Stir in anchovies and Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add several dashes cayenne. If fondue has been made in saucepan, transfer to fondue pot, and keep hot over low flame.
Serve with chunks of French bread for dipping.

Interview
January 09

France's most famous actor speaks frankly with Guy Woodward about his life and family, and why working the soil, tending vines and producing artisanal food is a greater ambition than any Hollywood role.

'Wine has a soul. It's about friendship and sharing simple pleasures. I can be happy on this earth with very little, but I like to have a lot in my glass. I don't drink to get drunk or to forget. I love wine because it puts me in good humour.'

POPPY-SEED CHEESE CREPES WITH APRICOT SAUCE from Gourmet April 1991
THREE-CHEESE FONDUE WITH CHAMPAGNE from Bon Appétit February 2001

 

 

The Man in the Iron Mask with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, Gerard Depardieu,
John Malkovich and Gabriel Byrne.

Leonardo DiCaprio ... King Louis XIV/Philippe
11 Nov 1974 at 2:47 AM, Los Angeles CA
Sun 18° Scorpio 40', Moon 15° Libra 44'
Ascendant 3° Libra 08' - Midheaven 3° Moonchild 24'

The King's Musketeers

Jeremy Irons ... Aramis
19 Sep 1948 at 2:00 AM, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Sun 26° Virgo 00', Moon 2° Aries 58', Ascendant 4° Leo 22'
Midheaven 12° Aries 41'

John Malkovich ... Athos
9 Dec 1953 11:39 PM, Christopher, IL
Sun 17° Sagittarius 53', Moon 3° Aquarius 44', Ascendant 17° Virgo 16'
MC 15° Gemini 35'

Gérard Depardieu ... Porthos [see above for TOB] IMDB Film History

Gabriel Byrne ... D'Artagnan
12 May 1950 Solar Chart for Noon, Dublin, Ireland
Sun 21° Taurus 09', Moon 1° Aries 21'

LOUIS XIV de FRANCE (baptised as Louis-Dieudonné)
Ruled as King of France and of Navarre seventy-two years, the longest reign
of any major European monarch.
DOB: September 5, 1638 at 11:11 AM in Saint-Germain (France)
Sun in 12°46 Virgo - Moon in 5°39 Leo
ASC 15°08 Scorpio - Midheaven 0°19 Virgo
Destiny Path: 5
Height: LOUIS XIV de FRANCE is 5' 4" tall (1m62)

 

           

 

Everything Depardieu dedicated to Gérard Depardieu
Last Holiday Star - Buy DVD
Roger Ebert 1492 CONQUEST OF PARADISE Review
Review GREEN CARD (Washington Post)
Partner - Chanel Model and Actress Carole Bouquet [Bond Girl, For Your Eyes Only]
Watchlist Crescent City movie list

 

 

Cyrano de Bergerac
One of the most beautiful love stories of all time

 

 

The Count of Monte Christo
Additional notes

Communication between Abbe Faria and Edmond Dantes are edited down, however important inclusions appear as flashbacks as the story develops. Points to consider:

Dantes tells Abbe Faria the story of two letters – one anonymous.
Faria recognizes names and dates that involve exiled Napoleon Bonaparte. Dantes describes his mysterious arrest. Later, Faria is proven right when Abbe Busoni reads a dusty copy of the Messenger 1815, stored in back of the church where he plans get a closer look at Camile de las Richardais. Later, the Count of Monte Christo appears at her home unannounced, with what appears to be a full course feast that replaces her usual rhubarb and watercress dinner.

Dantes explains how captain of the Pharon died of fever but first charged him to stop at Elba and pick up a letter from Napoleon’s ex-aide. The message was addressed to Nortier de Villefort, the prosecutor’s father. Abbe Faria reasoned the letter would compromise the safety of Villefort’s family so the prosecutor killed two birds with one stone. He sentenced Edmond Dantes to life imprisonment in the Chateau d’If and burned the letter.

 

Return to Vincent van Gogh

| Top | Abramelin | Alchemy | Ancient Oracle | Articles | Artists ~ Rock & Roll | Astrology | Astroscape | Aura | Babylon 5 | Beat | beatles | Bus | Candles | Colour Waves | Constantine | Deva | Divination | Dowser | Early Heraldry | FAQ | Gladiator-Champion-Fighter | Haight-Ashbury | Heartwarmer * Bread & Roses | Hip | Hobbit Dowser - Nyll Greenwood | Hogwarts | House System * Sacred Tarot | Internal Spectrum | Lab | Mandala | Mask-Who Was That Masked Man? | Masked World | Matrix | Meditation Index | Middle-earth Inn | Mirror | Mountain | Mystique | Neutrals | Number 1-9 | 11-22-33 | Palm | Parapsychology | Phoenix | Quiz | Sacred Place | Shrine | Site | Sixth Sense | Son of Spooky | Space | Star Chart (by Zodiac) Listing | Star Trek | Star Wars  |  Still Zone |   Stonehenge | Tao | Transcription breaks | Transform | Tutoring | Unicorn | Unknown Museum | Unnumbered Tarot | Us | US Time | Valentine | Vote Star Charts | Wall | Wands | Whale | Wizard | Your Elf | Zone