Simon mágus (1999) Online

This film is definitely not a film to take your girlfriend (or boyfriend for that matter) to unless you're looking for some serious intellectual stimulation and an excellent discussion post film viewing.

I had the good fortune to watch the film at a screening where the director was present and even took some Q&A at the end of the film offering some excellent insight into the thinking behind the film.

(Warning - spoilers- Warning - Spoilers)

Simon Magus (as opposed to Ben Hopkin's remarkable version of Simon Magus) is the modern day story of a magician who travels from Hungary to Paris to assist the helpless local police force in solving a murder enquiry. During his stay, Simon meets his old rival Peter, a magician himself who we are led to believe is a bit of a 'hack' while Simon is the real thing though we are never shown any of his magic (the director said at the screening in Tel Aviv that she wanted to show Simon the magician as a normal human being but never quite show the viewer Simon's skills). The film climaxes with a showdown between Peter and Simon who bury themselves for three days underground.

Simon's story clearly alludes to the story of Simon the 13th disciple of Jesus who also has a showdown with Peter in ancient Rome.

The director said that she chose Paris as the modern day parallel to ancient Rome as Paris is an example of a centre of an empire in cultural degeneration exemplified by the multilayered cultural, religious and other influences it is being soaked with.

The film has an excellent and small cast of actors. The music is beautiful and some of the photography spellbinding (especially one striking scene whereby Simon takes the train to Paris and there is an aproximately two minute shot of the railway from the front of the train).

This is in short not simple or easy viewing though it is terrificly rewarding and worth the two hours.

This is a Hungarian movie made in France about a famous magician with supernatural powers, who is called in by the French police to solve a murder. He does that without much problem, but then the movie goes off in a different direction showing kind of a fish out of water, and Simon being challenged by another well known magician to survive being buried underground for three days. Inbetween, there's kind of a silly love story where he seems to fall in love with a young lady, and the language barrier sets up some pretty humorous moments. I didn't like the ending at all, but all in all, this is a pretty entertaining movie. Excellent soundtrack with Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Bartok, and Brian Eno used very effectively along with a little Massive Attack. I would recommend it just to see the excellent performances.

The movie includes beautiful sceneries from Paris and everything else. Many people say that actress Julie Delarme was quite pretty in this film. The story is cute, and some parts are very funny. The music is excellent (featuring Massive Attack, Beethoven and Bartok). I think this movie is ideal for seeing it with your girl/boyfriend. (note: although it's a Hungarian production, there isn't too much about Hungary in it. The story goes in France.)

I normally ONLY write book reviews as I am a publisher and amateur writer; in this case I had to make an exception as I truly adore this movie. (Disclaimer; I might be bias as I am a aficionado of esoterica and magic. That is why I have rented it from Netflix.. It is possible that if you are not into these things as I am, you might feel differently!)

This is a movie about true miracles versus "the phenomena" for the sake of it. The essence of the movie is the opposing characters of the two and resurrection versus hibernation. Peter is all about effort, he is standing on his head to show off and become the star, while Simon is a natural he draws people to him, with calming and healing qualities. People, who naturally savor phenomena often forsaking and missing the true miracles of life that often masquerades as happenstance or luck. The love affair is also a sideshow to see the glimpse of the ending from the mirror of the girl's eyes. A truly visual and esoteric movie. Full with symbolism of sleep, nature's magic and love and redemption.

I tend to be sucker for foreign movies (especially French ones), since they often don't follow the American "feel good" formula. Based on the IMDb ratings, we borrowed this from the library.

Here's what we got:

Great photography and scenes of Paris, which always goes over well.

Great music.

Parallels to Biblical writings.

A bunch of flat, undeveloped characters about whom we did not care.

A beautiful young woman who falls in love with an old man in spite of a complete language barrier

A very slow moving movie that we kept hoping would go somewhere...anywhere.

Maybe we're just not sophisticated enough?

4 stars because the acting was good, the photography was good, and the music was good.