There are Victorian country-house shenanigans aplenty in Impromptu: novelist George Sand (Judy Davis, affected but pretty charming) has eyes for Franz Liszt's young protégé Chopin (Hugh Grant, solid as always, but burdened by a silly Polish accent and a script that never lets him stretch out), but various lovers, jealous rivals, and Chopin's own overdeveloped sense of propriety conspire to confound her. Impromptu is witty but overlong--probably 20 minutes of hijinks and repartee, not to mention several completely gratuitous and redundant characters, could have been... sliced from the film. Davis plays Sand as an impetuous, overgrown tomboy, outraging her genteel hosts by wearing pants, chomping cigars, and falling off horses; her coterie of artist-friends assure us, in a series of naked plot devices, that she nonetheless has a heart of gold. It's all good silly fun, and about as feminist as your average Def Leppard video--the other two developed female characters are ugly stereotypes: a featherbrained, feckless social climber (Emma Thompson, who once again proves she's up for anything) and a spiteful, back-stabbing shrew (the ever-capable Bernadette Peters). Director James Lapine clearly belongs to the Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman school of historical accuracy, so don't expect to learn anything about the period or the artists themselves. --Miles Bethany [show more]
We will publish your review of Impromptu [1990] on DVD within a few days as long as it meets our guidelines.
None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play Better known in her own day than even Charles Dickens George Sand was the most celebrated writer of the early nineteenth century and possibly its most notorious Bohemian Fredric Chopin was one of the greatest musicians of his age who gained a legendary reputation throughout Europe as both a pianist and a composer Impromptu is the comic and tender tale of how Sand and Chopin meet How pursued by Sand Chopin resists her advances And how despite the best and most mischievous efforts of those around them they eventually fall in love
Judy Davis and Hugh Grant star in this comic tale in which George Sand, one of the most celebrated and infamous writers of her time, pursues the composer Fredric Chopin. Her notorious lifestyle and reputation make it a difficult task but she eventually seduces him in Paris.
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy
