Head in the Clouds

It starts in a Cambridge hall of residence in 1933. Gilda Bessé is rich, lawless and refuses to take the world seriously; Guy, an Irish student, falls in love with her. They move to Paris, Gilda takes photographs, and a life of three forms with a Spanish nurse, Mia. Then the Spanish Civil War arrives, Guy and Mia leave, Gilda stays. When Germany occupies France, the question of which side Gilda is on builds the last section of the film. John Duigan writes and directs. Charlize Theron plays Gilda, Penélope Cruz plays Mia, Stuart Townsend plays Guy. Theron made this around the same stretch as Monster, the film that changed her career. The distance between the two shows what one actor can do at either end. It did not work commercially and critics found it scattered. The story jumps between three periods and three countries at speed, and the characters cannot keep up with the pace. Its best passage is the Paris section, when the three of them are living together. Once the war starts the narrative slides into melodrama. Who it is for: viewers who like period melodrama and stories set in occupied France. Who it is not for: anyone wanting historical seriousness. The war functions here mostly as romantic backdrop.