We wrap up our discussion of Billy Wilder s acerbic and vastly entertaining critique of Hollywood avarice and vanity, Sunset Boulevard.
The movie business from the beginning has created some sad and grotesque figures, and this film focuses on two in particular. One is the sad and deluded has-been celebrity. The other is the ambitious loser, a character who seems to proliferate in modern America.
Trying to make sense of the most dubious selection on the Vatican film list: Francesco (1989), starring Mickey Rourke as St. Francis and Helena Bonham-Carter as St. Clare. The film attempts to take its protagonist seriously as a saint, but Mickey Rourke s performance strips away most of what we know about Francis s delightful personality.
The great Italian director Roberto Rossellini made what is generally regarded as the best movie about St. Francis of Assisi: The Flowers of St. Francis.