Farewell, Home Sweet Home (1999) User Reviews

choose your own way of life (and forget what might be normal)

[ice-bartsch · 8/10 · 9 October 2000]

with only little dialogue the film reveals several parallel lives and focuses on two young men, one of them son of a wealthy family the other of poor origin, who resist their social heritage and design themselves. unfortunately, the wealthy guy who prefers to work as a dishwasher and spend his life with chlochards has to learn, that he will not get the girl he fancies. she prefers to take the other other guy, who, despite of his poor upbringing, shows up in expensive clothes riding an expensive motorbike. director/ writer iosseliani himself plays the very funny part of a jolly drinker, father of the rich family, who prefers not to be part of a society, that is only interested in success. though not fast this is an intelligent and entertaining film.

Each scene is a suggestive treasure

[khatcher-2 · 8/10 · 19 August 2005]

Here indeed is film-making in its purest art form. Iosseliani has, in this film, the only one of his I have had the greatest pleasure of seeing, manages to evoke such subtle ideas in each pan, in each scene, which in themselves are miniature stories, each one a little jewel, which little by little begin to string along, creating a thread which tells the whole story. And the result is a treasure, something to value for a long time.

To call this film a comedy, is almost an insult: it is far too subtle for such simplistic definition. Here is wit, which is not just for easy laughs; here is wit in its subtlest form, such as the British sense of humour in the fifties and early sixties of the past century. Here is the voice of a visionary who creates unforgettable tid-bits, visual savouries, such that each scene in itself is a suggestive, evokeful treasure, combining to thread together an intelligent story for intelligent viewers. No, one should not try to compare Iosseliani with Almodóvar or Lynch, perhaps a slight influence or comparison with Fellini at times, because the concepts of how to exhibit subtle nuances of wit in exquisite expressiveness, very often with hardly any dialogue, belong to another sphere.

The presence of a great bird, similar to a pelican, as well as the two dogs - a Labrador puppy, and a short-legged variant of the Border Collie, affords that emblematic and enigmatic delicate touch which helps this film to be something else: it is not comical and it is not laughable; this film is cinematography as art.

My vote is much higher than the present average shown in IMDb.

All At Sea

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 12 December 2004]

I saw this immediately following the same director's Falling Leaves and found it much more accessible. The twenty-odd year gap between the two films and the fact that this one was made in France as opposed to Georgia may, of course, have something to do with it. Again, the Georgian-born director (he made a point of saying he was Georgian and NOT Russian) introduced it - in fluent French yet - and described it as his most complicated film. It's a gently, meandering piece and at least half a dozen times you think, OK, that's it, a logical ending, only to have it spin out yet moor gossamer thread. There's a distant relationship with Renoir's The Rules Of The Game but only around the edges. It's about a disparate group of people whose lives intersect and sometimes, but not always, connect. Bizarre, eccentric, both could be fairly employed to describe some of the characters. Again the director chooses to spin his web around a young male, this time around the scion of a wealthy family who, for reasons best known to himself, works as a dishwasher in a restaurant - and an inept dishwasher at that; he's fired halfway through the film - and chooses friends from among the outcasts of society (again, we could, if we wanted to stretch a point, find a link with Boudu Saved From Drowning). Characters come and go on this patchwork quilt and some we find more interesting than others. None of the actors are well known but most are fairly competent and overall the film holds the attention.

a humanistic look on the (non)sense of life

[janisn · 28 October 2004]

a subtle and poetic film about people trying to find their real place and run away from origins. two guys frequently meet not knowing that one of them is rich but prefers washing dishes in a bar, while the other is poor but rents a suite and motorbike to spend a fancy day in town. probably, one of the most beautiful moments of the film is the rich piere's (played by ioselliani himself) acquintal with a drunkard from the town. both sing long gone melodies while drinking and watching a mini train running around on a table. many have regarded the film as too slow and boring what apparently comes from ioselliani's refusal to use close-ups and crane/dolly shots. in opposite, it adds a silent observing character and avoids to give any human judgment.

Great work by a great artist

[lukas-14 · 10/10 · 28 September 2000]

I've just seen this movie last week at the International Film Forum "Arsenals" which takes place in Riga, Latvia.

I think it's a brilliant movie with style, taste and outstanding work of Director and Director of Photography. Acting is great, too. It's a definite must to see for people who like Otar Iosseliani's films and for many others who can appreciate real art of cinema.

Almodavar meets Bunuel meets Lynch

[raybatchelor · 10/10 · 21 August 2000]

A superb blend of Parisian life akin to Almodovar's in depth analysis of life in Madrid. The surrealism of the Marabou and the end sequence adds the Bunuel touch. For good measure add a series of superb characters who would not have been out of place in any of the Twin Peaks episodes. More Calvados please and another movie as good as this one - a rare visual event.

European "My Private Idaho"

[maggietom · 10/10 · 10 January 2006]

It reminds me of Keanu Reeves in My Private Idaho, but this is a European version which is of course more "humane" and very "european". The style is like "the Stream of Consciousness", the shooting of the movie seems like the director's casual flowing of ideas, which is not very much arranged, anyway, I like anything that is off the track and extraordinary. Lastly, the gist the movie tries to unveil is that life is a circle, it repeat itself all the way. Seems like the director understand the Chinese philosophy- Taoism, which said that everything is developing is its own track, which is a circle. I think the end of the movie is very meaningful, though it's the father's turn to leave the rich home to look for his own dream, it is clear that unlike his son, his must be a successful escaping. I appreciate the regular using of the rainy weather in the movie. I just love everything about the movie.

Send Out the Clowns

[ThurstonHunger · 4/10 · 15 January 2023]

For what it's worth, I feel my most American when watching French comedies. Don't get me wrong, French dramas or (complicated) love stories, even the rare sci-fi film, these are often captivating, but here is another comedy that left me cold.

It does start out in promising fashion, after a neglected child gets pushed this way and that way on what is proper behavior, a marabou stork makes a haughty and peculiar entrance. For a while, this film felt like it might fire up a "Holy Motors" surreal style, but instead it settle for a "how strange and ridiculous are the rich."

There is a tale of "don't judge a lover by its cover" for the young heir, and his old besotted father offers us a version of "you can't buy happiness." Both father and son seem to seek the answers to life at the bottom of the bottle, endless bottles of wine. Oh and they reject their upper crust status.

There is some "it's a small world" charm as certain stories intersect, and to a degree they are tied together by the ending (where disabused ol' drunken dad, and a good-hearted discarded maid, and strong man in the wrong job all wind up happy and free away from the city).

Otar Iosseliani, a Georgian in France both directs and portrays that father. Some of the scenes with wine and song were highlights, in the harmony presented (both musical and human). And the matriarch offers us a very literal "helicopter parent."

Overall though the gentle lampooning and bumbling characters, it reminds me of how the French apparently revere clowns, and I don't.

A feast for the humorous spirit!

[i-grigoriev · 10/10 · 25 March 2005]

Otar Ioselliani's masterpiece about pursuing life's dreams and remaining true to your beliefs combines a wonderful sense of warmth and an exceptional sense of humor as it paces along in its very own, unconstrained fashion while inviting us for a ride into its pleasant and touching world.

Scenes of often over-the-top situation comedy are juxtaposed with soulful explorations of the human heart, where staying honest to oneself as a person is the only way of avoiding life's inevitable cruelty.

Both entertaining and thoughtful, it is the most enjoyable film to-date by Ioselliani.

Not as good as I thought...

[denial-3 · 4/10 · 14 February 2006]

I understand the purpose of the director to tell stories that aren't stories, but the way he tried to show time passing by (the couple of joggers, who first appear jogging together, than jogging with a stroller (sic!), than the man alone...) and to link the "adventures" of the characters (the final scene, with the maid climbing a mountain seeing the big black guy on another cliff, and then seeing the boat with her former employer and saying "Oh, a boat!") were awful. At the same time, I liked the way he portrayed the middle-high class, even in an excessive way. I think it is a lousy movie. If you want to watch it, do it as a film school student, trying to see technical aspects and issues. It will help a lot.

Sentimental, Contemplative and Ironic

[gubacs2 · 9/10 · 14 December 2008]

Iosseliani is a truly controversial figure of film making; You either like his films or fell asleep watching them. No in betweens. Having only minimal traditional narrative or story telling clichés, the film manages to illustrate true emotions without being bombastic or over-sophisticated. Doing this by showing everyday people who are only drifting with the waves of life, wishing to get away from their existence.There's a slight sarcasm involved in the portrayal of how everyone is unhappy with what he/she has and wants to be like the other who wants to be like him , and vice versa.(Really sharp.)However, Itt all ends up in positive, placing emphasis on the need for seeking personal freedom and finding hope and refugee in true friendship, in a plastic, greedy, selfish world.

Personally, i think it has one of the most touching end sequences in film history.

The story went on blandly, though I felt like lovery for a bourgeois family.

[Aoi_kdr · 5/10 · 22 June 2019]

All members were unique like this : a mother was very busy for her job, a father played with locomotive models all day, a son got along with homeless friends, a seles girl of the cafe whom he had been in a one way relationship with and a dull servant who worked in a house of the mother's lover.

It was similar to a miniature world. I enjoyed watching interpersonal relationships passed by each other and fitting them perfectly! Maybe we circulate in the narrower range than we expect.

I watched it twice. I couldn't follow the progress because, at first, I watched it while having done something. I recommend it to peple like Jacques Tati.