The
 Vincent
PEREZ
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Synopsis: (aka Time Regained) In 1992 on his deathbed, Marcel Proust is looking through photos, remembering his life. But the real characters mingle with the fictional ones. And gradually, fiction wins out over reality. His life's only sense lies in the reality of his work, and his work streams before his eyes. His literary characters people his memories, like a stereoscope projection on the wall of his room, coming to life in the self-contained world of his small apartment on the Rue Hamelin. The happy days and lost paradises of his childhood alternate with the more recent memories of his social and literary life. The drama of the war, closely examined from the viewpoint of the small circles of Paris society, is transformed into a vast social comedy. In the spreading twilight, the shape of post-war society looms on the horizon.

Critic Peter Brunnette:
"The first truly successful film adaptation of Marcel Proust's monumental multi-volume novel, Remembrance of Things Past. It's a gorgeous period piece starring the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Perez, John Malkovitch, and Emanuelle Beart, that brilliantly captures the novel's micro-level (the superficiality of upper-class social relationns) and its macro-level, Proust's artistic message that the meaning of life and art lies in the power of memory to recapture the past. It also has enough of Ruiz's famously postmodern staging (the sets move as the camera moves) to rescue it from Merchant Ivory-hood. The final scene, in which the three actors who play Proust at different times of his life are all simultaneously on the beach - a perfect realization of the novelist's theme of the eternal presence of the past in the present - is nearly heartbreaking."

Critic David Rooney:
"While the task of putting Proust on the screen has defeated directors like Joseph Losey and Luchino Visconti, Chilean maverick Raoul Ruiz takes a valiant stab at it in Time Regained...Given that characters lapse in and out of view throughout the film, this is very much an ensemble effort, with each character given only a limited opportunity to shine. Deneuve impresses with her usual poise and cool allure; Beart makes Gilberte a hardened but still human beauty; Perez is amusingly huffy when Morel’s musical talents are eclipsed; and Malkovich is louche and languid, superciliously appraising a receiving line of bordello boys."

New York Film Festival:
Marcel Proust's epic masterwork Remembrance of Things Past comes to shimmering life in this great, ingenious adaptation of its final volume by  Raoul Ruiz... Aided by a brilliant cast featuring Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Emmanuelle Beart and Vincent Perez, Time Regained powerfully captures the end of one era as another strains to be born."

About.com Guide:
"One of the reasons this French language film was so anticipated is because of its marvelous cast. Besides Deneuve Time Regained stars France's equivalent to Sharon Stone or Julia Roberts, Emmanuelle Beart (Mission Impossible) who plays Gilberte whom Proust falls in love with early in life. Vincent Perez plays the part of Proust's friend Morel, Chiara Mastroianni as Albertine, who helps inspire Proust with passion throughout his life and new French native John Malkovich plays a character too. The famous writer is played by Marcello Mazzarella."

The Hollywood Reporter:
"Filled with nuance and texture, this is filmmaking of a very high order whose power of observation and insight creates a transcendent viewing experience... Proust's work has already yielded one cinematic masterpiece (Percy Adlon's Celeste), but Raul Ruiz comes goes even further in rendering that interior life into something quite remarkable. It honors its source while articulating and expanding the possibilities of form and meaning."

Variety:
"It's a gorgeous period piece starring the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Perez, John Malkovich, and Emanuelle Beart, that brilliantly captures the novel's micro-level (the superficiality of upper-class social relations) and its macro level, Proust's artistic message that the meaning of life and art lies in the power of memory to recapture the past."

"In filmmaking, like in painting you have the story and you have the picture. In the story, one thing comes after another. In a picture everything happens all at the same time. I thought what was worthwhile from the filmmaking point of view in Proust was the fact that these two functions are reversed. We expect Proust to basically tell a story and he produces a picture. He tells us about very intense moments in a minimalist way. And when expect him to produce a picture he tells it to you. He sees someone standing still and then tells you all about the story behind that person. That's what the film depicts. I would have liked to have done even better but that aspect is indeed a priority in the film. We have this strange Proustian emotion which fascinates many people including me. One is moved, you don't know why. You feel like crying. And you don't know why. Nothing serious has actually happened."  ...Director Raoul Ruiz