IMDb user comments for
Antonia (1995)

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59 comments in total

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51 out of 58 people found the following comment useful :-
A Story Well-Told, 13 March 2004

Author: williamknott from Canada

For the intelligent and reflective movie-goer, there is much to appreciate about this film. To begin with, the opening narration, although fantastic, is just about the best opening line to any story out there. It immediately draws one into the world of these weird, wonderful people. And that fantastic aspect is maintained throughout the film, like a fairy tale that provides a surprise around every corner. It is a pleasure to be taken into this kind of world for the 100+ minutes of the film.

I strongly disagree with the comments, which the IMDb is currently (as of March 13/04) displaying as being "representative," which states:

"If you hold dear the innocence of children, respect God and those who serve Him, and hold dear what is beautiful in a spiritual sense, you will probably dislike this film."

That's one seriously narrow-minded opinion the IMDb people have selected as being representative. There was a time when the IMDb was more discriminating in what they allowed through to the site. That they allowed *this* posting through *and* chose it to represent the average response to the film is bad a sign; the ship is sailing but there's nobody at the wheel. Reading those comments, one could easily conclude that there are a great deal of sadly unimaginative people out there who just don't get this film.

It isn't surprising that someone with the kind of insular view of the world as expressed in those "representative" comments wouldn't enjoy this film. I never thought of it this way, but I suppose "Antonia's Line" is not for the polite, ultra-conservative, easily-offendable religious folks out there who, it seems, are more apt to feel threatened by fantastic stories like this than to appreciate them for what they are. "Antonia's Line" is the kind of story that give us permission to *imagine* how things might be if they were just slightly eschew. This film is not a picture of the real world, but, like a good fairy tale, provides one an opportunity to reflect on a variety of human conditions and experiences that everyone in some way can relate to.

In this regard, "Antonia's Line" is a wonderfully rich and rewarding film, and a beautifully well-told story.

It should not be dismissed so easily. (And the IMDb ought to get their act together.)

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23 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
Female-centric, not anti-male, 14 October 2001
Author: Wayne Harrison from Brandon, Canada

This is a wonderful movie that shows how one woman and the people around her find happiness while rejecting the roles that society would force on them. There are good men such as farmer Bas and Simon, and perhaps even the priest in the end. This movie is not primarily about them however. It is about Antonia and her line of descendents: Danielle, Therese and Sarah. By rejecting stereotypes about the mentally ill, gay or other marginalized groups and accepting everyone for what they are, this family was able to find happiness in the face of hardship. Despite the despair of crooked finger, they prove that life is worth living. It is a complex movie. In the word of one of Therese's suitors, life is an intersection of relationships. The many relationships portrayed in this movie, most loving, some not, are what give it life and give the lives of these characters its meaning. I am a male and opponent of excessive political correctness. I was not offended in the least by this movie. The characters in it are wonderful. They happen to be mainly women, which is a refreshing change in a world where so often the female characters are only there as props for the male stars. I give it fourteen thumbs up!

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20 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Quirky! Excellent! See it, here's why, 17 January 2000

Author: moviebuffgirl from Earth

Rarely does a movie embrace life as fully as "Antonia" (also known Antonia's Line). It was the deserving winner of the Academy Award for best foreign film in 1995. Quirky, unexpected, funny, frightening, and ultimately beautiful, Antonia's line is a portrait of hope that successfully escapes being saccharine. There are moments of violence and despair, but beauty endures. It portrays 3 generations of independent women, and the matriarch of their unusual family, Antonia. Antonia left her small village before WWII and returns years later with her grown daughter. Antonia has an opinion on everything, and smiles as she points out the colorful village characters to her cosmopolitan artist daughter who is amused by everyone from the town busy-bodies to the tradition of drunk men peeing on the church wall. However, Antonia manages to carve out a place for herself by embracing love when she finds it, and opening her arms to the needy outcasts and oddballs that are victimized by cruel villagers.

This film also offers a wonderfully refreshing depiction of love in all shapes and sizes-- connections between mentally handicapped loners, romance between women, elderly romance. It does not sensationalize these unusual couplings, rather it highlights the giddy delight that is two human beings connecting. This is truly a movie about self-made "family," lonely souls that find each other and live together with loyalty. However, one graphic rape scene and a few other (naratively essential) scenes of violence make it inappropriate for young or sensitive children. It is overall, however, not gritty or depressing. Rather it is a portrait of hope made more real by addressing the presence of shadows.

Both "My life as a Dog" and "American Beauty" are reminiscent of the kind of beauty and humor you can expect from this film.

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17 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Bring a couple of hankies, 28 September 2001
Author: Dennis Littrell (dalittrell@yahoo.com) from SoCal

This is an incredibly seductive movie with a strong sense of the spirit of Demeter and Dionysus throughout. There's no Hollywood glamour here. Instead we have an unabashed celebration of life ("This is the only dance we dance") in which love, community and simple hard work prevail. The simple are seen as the equal of the gifted, and everybody (except for rapists and hypocrites) are appreciated for their strengths and forgiven their faults. Intellectualism is seen as quaint and unsocial (as in the person of Crooked Finger) possibly leading to a morbid cynicism. And brain power (as in the person of the prodigy Therese) is just another talent, like being able to laugh or to bale hay or to have lots of children.

This is the Dionysian view of life that doesn't allow for Apollo, and there's a lot to be said for it. But I couldn't help but reflect that during the time span depicted in this movie--five generations in Holland during the twentieth century--Europe experienced some of the most horrific events known to humankind, two world wars, genocide, concentration camps, poison gas, fire bombings, political repression, and the death of millions of people. But perhaps that is director Marleen Gorris's point, to see life at its most elemental, locally and without the horror of war and the delusions of generals and politicians.

What's not to like about that? Well, not to rain on anyone's love-fest, but we have vigilante justice here and a murder, seemingly justified and certainly agreeable to the audience since the victim was a brutal rapist. Men are not exactly banished, but they are put in their place, serving or (literally) servicing women. What is banished is orthodox religiosity in the form of a hypocritical cleric who (with his disciples, we are told) goes to town and becomes a social worker (!).

This is also an ode to feminism and a deliberate tear-jerker that manipulates the emotions of the audience. Yet, somehow Gorris, who also wrote the script, manages not to offend my sensitivities. I think it is because the movie amounts to a very effective sermon against prejudice of any kind, and because of the gentle humanity of her tale.

You'll forgive me, however, if I say that my favorite part was the handstand! It was just perfect.

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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Great film, well made with incredible characters., 25 May 1999
Author: scarlett-43 from Chicago, IL

I have to disagree with those who claim that this film is ULTRA feminist. Though Marleen Gorris' feminism is indeed apparent is indisputable. But people who are not necessarily part of the feminist movement will still appreciate this film. It is a more modern view of the independent woman, but I didn't see the political agenda of Gorris overpowering the film. It can be enjoyed as a simple "fairy-tale" (as declared by Gorris herself). The portrayal of women as independent and strong is definitely refreshing, but those who claim this film makes a statement against religion and family aren't necessarily accurate. the film covers these issues, showing women's strength in dealing with religious hypocrites and single motherhood, but I personally didn't feel the film was encouraging all women to leave the church or raise up families independently. It's a marvelous story of women's strengths and vulnerabilities, and the love that the women in one family share. ALL people will enjoy this film.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Great film, 13 June 2004

Author: Chris K from Middletown, New York USA

I found Antonia's Line to be a wonderful expression of what is endearing and enduring in the human spirit. It was a truly lovely story, clever character development, warmly delivered. I can understand how some may not understand or enjoy this film. It flies in the face of convention, but that is its beauty. Some would fear the freedoms this film demonstrates.

Love and acceptance abound, in a timeless manor. I like the way it offered a different definition of family, one where diversity is an asset, guarded by respect.

This is one of the greatest stories to come across the screen.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
the keys of life, 12 December 2004

Author: Laurentiu mazilu (laur_1@hotmail.com) from Fayetteville

Perhaps Antonia and her pink house unveiled for us the simplicity of the answer of those questions: 'what is life? Why are we here? What's my path? Where I belong? What's beneath and beyond? Could the whole learning and knowledge in this world help us to go through this life? And the answer is so simple and so beautiful drew in this impeccable movie. The answer is not just love, unconditional love, but accepting. Accepting suddenly became the ultimate form of love. The scenes come one after the other, like paintings, time is flying and you feel its wings, the world dies and reborn with every day, technology takes place of the old things, churches become empty, people die, children are born, the fields get green and brown, but above all the table from the garden will be always full with people, because there, at the pink house, some people discovered that the miracle of life is life itself, is love and is acceptance.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Repeated viewings haven't diminished this film's touching perfection, 31 December 2004

Author: patherto from Frostbite Falls, MN

After watching a not-too-hot film today, I pulled down "Antonia's Line" and once again fell into the happy trance I always get while watching this film. The other commentators have it right. "Antonia's Line" is a lovely, deeply moving fairy tale of four generations of strong, gentle women. The unusual quality of these women is that while (most of) them like men and sex, they don't become obsessed with either. And fellas, if you can't handle that it's your problem.

The real reason I'm writing is about the "If You Liked This Film" recommendation. "Kill Bill"??? Who picked out that as a companion piece???

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
a feminist spin on Schopenhauer, 5 July 2001
Author: (meisterpuck@yahoo.com) from detroit

This film is a beautiful presentation of European feminism, which, unlike its American counterpart, is about exploring and celebrating femininity rather than just kicking men in the balls. It is also a film that, judging by the other user comments, appeals to men just as strongly as to women. Literary, beautifully filmed and emotionally gripping, "Antonia's Line" is (pardon the cliche) a film unlike any other.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
"A film which Celebrates the Infinite Possibility of Life", 20 April 2004

Author: ilpositionokb (silverlion03@yahoo.com) from Merced, California

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Antonia's Line", winner of an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture, explores themes of time, place, and memory with a light touch and an abundance of warmth. It's tender treatment of family and community registers affectionately in the viewer's hearts. The film opens in medium close-up of an elderly woman(Antonia) accepting her dying fate with dignity and quiet resignation, and then dissolves fluidly into a flashback of Antonia and her free-spirited daughter Daniele returning to the rural town of their ancestry. The picturesque village fondly recalls the odd townsquare of Federico Fellini's "Amarcord", complete with it's eccentric inhabitants. The villa boasts a howling woman named Madona: an overzealous priest(Who leaves the church because 'he can't reconcile his enjoyment of life with the churches' enjoyment of death'); a cynical intellectual named "Crooked Finger" who steadfastly quotes from Shopenaur; and a dim-witted young man with the unbecoming sobriquet "Looney Lips" to name just a few. "Antonia's Line", written and directed by Marleen Gorris("Mrs. Dalloway") celebrates the infinite possibility of life. The film, withstanding it's take on the afterlife("This is the only dance we dance") luxuriates in it's glowing affirmation of the present and the past. The main setting is the outdoors dinner table, where family and extended family measure their vision of life with laughter and temperance. Gorris views humanity as 'an intersection of perspectives', and some of the movie's best moments come from these subtle exchanges during dinner. "Antonia's Line" is filled with clever, fantastical imaginings, (Possible spoiler) from the loquacious grandmother rising abruptly in her coffin, to a well-aimed wing extending from an angelic statue. Throughout the film one sees more fanciful evidence and privately senses the director's fascination with the subversive filmmaking style of Louis Bunuel and his surreal mischievousness. (Possibile spoiler) Similar elements of fantasy pervade the film's final frames where the decease venture back and witness Antonia dancing joyously with her partner;a scene reminiscent of the finale in Fellini's "8 "1/2". Gorris then cuts seamlessly to the present(Antonia-aged greatly- dancing the same dance) where the film began. "Antonia's Line" ends in great insight with the lines: 'As this long tale comes to it's conclusion, nothing has come to an end. Something always remains,.........so life begins, without knowing where it came from or why it exists, because it wants to live'. The film's immodest achievements mark this as a major work from an ambitious and intriguing filmmaker. Kurt

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