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Variety
Technically impressive and crispy shot in warm. Vibrant colors, the film has already been sold in several prime European territories.
But its rather cold cleverness and questionable treatment of female characters prevent it from having universal appeal.
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Variety International Film Guide 1997
There are also high hopes for THE DRESS internationally. Director Alex van
Warmerdam won European film awards (Felixes) with his last film, THE NORTHERNERS,
and his latest work is even stronger. It is a serial narrative with a black
humor reminiscent of Bunuel's CET OBSCURE OBJET DU DESIR or Iosselani's
LES FAVORIS DE LA LUNE. Van Warmerdam links together several tragic-comic
incident about the life of a dress. Eventually, a dead urban nomad is cremated
in it. In ABEL and THE NORTHERNERS, the director employed an extreme theatrical
stylisation. This time, he moves to the Dutch landscapes with no less charming
results.
Peter van Lierop
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NRC Handelsblad
Last Sunday I heard on the radio that a man in Montpellier had kidnapped three
people because he need to talk about his problems. The incident would have
fitted well into THE DRESS, the third film by Alex van Warmerdam. His conversation
to grim realism after making two absurd comedies ABEL and THE NORTHERNERS
is not just question of Van Warmerdam?s development as a filmmaker. The
world too is moving towards his laconically observed accumulation of everyday
disaster and interpersonal impotence.
THE DRESS is an unruly and liberation film, in which virtually all the actors
come to life for the first time in a very short time span. It could well be a
great success, especially abroad.
Hans Beerekamp
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Chicago International Film Festival
This is a true cinematic rarity: a movie told from a garment's point of view. As
the title promises, this is the life story of a dress, starting with the designer
who created it and ending, almost, with a woman who is cremated in it. The charming
and humorous saga depicts the dress going through several owners, occasionally changing
lengths to accommodate different fashion tastes. The dress's
bright floral design, alternately capable of inspiring artistic expression
and abnormal acts of lust, remains the same, however. Writer/director Van Warmerdam
has a very funny recurring role as lecherous train conductor who has this dress
on the brain.
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Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema
Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam, whose THE NORTHERNERS was favourite on the
international festival circuit, spins an impressively eventful tale in
which chance plays a starring role. THE DRESS charts the life of a summer
frock - from its origins in a cotton field, to the hands of its various wearers,
to it final end as both rag and painter's muse.
Director-writer Van Warmerdam's first two films tended toward the comic
absurd, and THE DRESS, which won the Fipresci Award at the 1996 Venice
Film Festival is no different. With performances that are edgy and right on the mark, THE
DRESS is completely unpredictable and utterly intriguing.
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New York Times
As in the director's other movies, you can feel van Warmerdam straining to
break boundaries and to be outrageous. But the fact that the characters. No
matter how eccentric, never indulge in seriously transgressive behavior oddly
reinforces the image of the Netherlands as a sedate, homogeneous society where
acute physical suffering (and the pathological violence it engenders) is held
to a minimum.
...
Light-hearted and spontaneous? the story suggests a droll parody of 'la Ronde' & with
a sexy good humor.
Stephen Holden
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Film Journal International
Wildly unpredictable & one of the most inventive imports of recent years! Director
Alex van Warmerdam shows superb comic timing -even if his wicked sense of humor
often crosses into disturbing territory- never loses its momentum.
Kevin Lally
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New York Post
Alex van Warmerdam proves that you can fuse moody doc-like images with black comedy and a good story
line and comes up with a top-notch movie.
...
This truly unique film is charmingly cruel, hilarious and refreshingly politically incorrect - all at the same time.
Howard Feinstein
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International Film Guide 1997
A serial narrative with a black humor reminiscent of Bunuel or Iosseliani...
In ABEL and THE NORTHERNERS, the director employed extreme theatrical stylisation. This time he moves
to the Dutch landscape with no less charming results.
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Attitude Films
Van Warmerdam, with grace, walks the thin line of filming misogynistic sequences and at times throwing
in slapstick, without ever becoming misogynistic himself.
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Vancouver International Film Festival Catalogue
With edgy performances that are right on the mark and van Warmerdam's usual
stylish direction - although he treats things in a much more realistic manner
than, for example, The Northerners, THE DRESS is compelling and utterly
intriguing effort from one of Hollands premiere talents.
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Los Angeles Times
Warmerdam effortlessly sustains the antic madness he generates, although he
might have wound up his fable a tad more swiftly. His observations of human
behavior - not confined to always-vulnerable bourgeois propriety -- are
consistently sharp and funny, and his cast is a marvel. 'the Dress' is
sure to wear well.
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Hollywood Reporter
Infused with freewheeling, dark sensibility - different and provocative.
Frank Scheck
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Village Voice
Gleefully Nasty! Owes more to the bleak, absurdist farce of 'After Hours.'
Gary Susman
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Siegel Entertainment Syndicate
Striking just the right tone the film bounces beautifully between comedy and
tragedy.
Barbara & Scott Siegel
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Gannett News Service
Those wildly diverse moods - edgy black humor, moments of fear, wacky slapstick,
touching sentimentality - are successfully blended in 'The Dress.'
Jack Garner
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Wor Radio
A most appealing, original film that holds one's interest.
Casper Citron
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Electronic Link Journey
The humor is zany and sophisticated; delightful adventure.
Laurie Lawson
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Cinéma
Une perfection d'humour noir et de couleur qui classe ce cineaste hollandais dans le peloton redult des nouveaux talents a suivre.
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