Sight & Sound. 12/06.

In print, the focus of the December issue of Sight & Sound is on fantasy; online, it turns out to be Isabelle Huppert. Ginette Vincendeau surveys the biography and onscreen and onstage career: "She once said to Positif that 'The greatest books and films are those that mix distance and emotion' - an observation that goes to the heart of her own performance style." At the same time: "Opacity, intellectualism and authenticity have characterised Huppert almost from the start - and apply equally to the auteur cinema she has served so well."

Robin Buss reviews Patrice Chéreau's Gabrielle, noting that Huppert "brings particular expectations to any role she takes" and that "it is hard to forget that Huppert is Huppert."

With Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, "this latterday Welles," Mark Kermode calls him, "has created a Citizen Kane of fantasy cinema - a modern masterpiece made entirely on his own terms."

More reviews:

• Tim Lucas: "Based on an unfilmed screenplay by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski, The Big Animal (Duze zwierze) is a low-key miracle of allegoric purity. It's a bittersweet story as simply told as one you might find in an illustrated children's book, yet fraught with wisdom about the obstacles to happiness in the adult world."

• For Michael Brooke, London to Brighton is "a startlingly accomplished piece of work."

• Graham Fuller, favorably, on The Prestige.

Posted by dwhudson at November 15, 2006 5:55 AM