Signs & Wonders
Encyclopedia
Signs and Wonders is a 2000 psychological thriller
directed by Jonathan Nossiter
and co-written with British poet James Lasdun
(also co-writer of Sunday) was inspired by the Polish surrealist novel, Kosmos
of Witold Gombrowicz
.
It stars Stellan Skarsgård
, Charlotte Rampling
and Deborah Kara Unger
. Produced by MK2
in Paris, with Nick Wechsler
and Jed Alpert in the USA, it was one of the first larger budget films (reportedly $5,000,0000) to use digital cameras for eventual blowup to 35 MM. Nossiter worked with Tommaso Vergallo (also his chief image collaborator on Mondovino
), one of the founders of blowup pioneer Swiss Effects, to create a textured, 1970s' grainy edge look in the transformation from digital to film.
Shot entirely on location in Athens
and the northern province of Epirus
in Greece
as well as short sequences in Vermont
and New York
State, the film also marked the return to the big screen of Charlotte Rampling after several years' hiatus. The music is composed by Adrian Utley
of the British group Portishead. Hailed by Cahiers du Cinema as one of the ten best films of the year, it premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival in 2000 and was released in France the same year by MK2 and in the United States by Strand Releasing in 2001.
The urban chaos of Athens becomes the catalyst for the struggles between these American expatriates and their Greek hosts in this "strange meeting of psychological thriller and comic fable without a moral."
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
directed by Jonathan Nossiter
Jonathan Nossiter
Jonathan Nossiter is an American filmmaker. Son of Washington Post and New York Times foreign correspondent Bernard Nossiter, he was born in the United States in 1961. He was raised in France, England, Italy, Greece and India...
and co-written with British poet James Lasdun
James Lasdun
James Lasdun is an English author, poet and academic. Lasdun was one of the judges for the 2008 Griffin Poetry Prize.-Career:...
(also co-writer of Sunday) was inspired by the Polish surrealist novel, Kosmos
Kosmos (novel)
Kosmos is a 1965 novel by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz. The narrative revolves around two young men who seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings...
of Witold Gombrowicz
Witold Gombrowicz
Witold Marian Gombrowicz was a Polish novelist and dramatist. His works are characterized by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor...
.
It stars Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
, Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
and Deborah Kara Unger
Deborah Kara Unger
Deborah Kara Unger is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films Crash , The Game , The Hurricane , White Noise , Silent Hill and 88 Minutes...
. Produced by MK2
MK2
MK2 can refer to:* Mark II, a second version of a product, frequently military hardware. "Mark", meaning "model" or "variant"* Mk 2 grenade, a hand grenade used by the United States military starting in World War II...
in Paris, with Nick Wechsler
Nick Wechsler
Nick Wechsler is an American actor best known for his role as Kyle Valenti in the The WB teen drama series Roswell . He stars as Jack Porter on the ABC drama series Revenge.-Life and career:...
and Jed Alpert in the USA, it was one of the first larger budget films (reportedly $5,000,0000) to use digital cameras for eventual blowup to 35 MM. Nossiter worked with Tommaso Vergallo (also his chief image collaborator on Mondovino
Mondovino
Mondovino is a 2004 documentary film on the impact of globalization on the world's different wine regions written and directed by American film maker Jonathan Nossiter...
), one of the founders of blowup pioneer Swiss Effects, to create a textured, 1970s' grainy edge look in the transformation from digital to film.
Shot entirely on location in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and the northern province of Epirus
Epirus (periphery)
Epirus , formally the Epirus Region , is a geographical and administrative region in northwestern Greece. It borders the regions of West Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Islands to the west and the country of Albania to the north. The...
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
as well as short sequences in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State, the film also marked the return to the big screen of Charlotte Rampling after several years' hiatus. The music is composed by Adrian Utley
Adrian Utley
Adrian Francis Utley is an English musician and a member of the band Portishead.-Biography:Utley is self-taught on guitar, bass and keyboards, and played professionally from the age of 18 in working men's clubs, night clubs, holiday camps, and in cabaret, backing soul artists...
of the British group Portishead. Hailed by Cahiers du Cinema as one of the ten best films of the year, it premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival in 2000 and was released in France the same year by MK2 and in the United States by Strand Releasing in 2001.
Synopsis
Adopting the serio-comic visual associations celebrated in Gombrowicz's novel, the film unfolds largely in Athens as an expatriate American businessman struggles to find coherence in his radical "pursuit of happiness". Alec Fenton (Skarsgård) is a happily married man with two children who nonetheless is maintaining a torrid affair with colleague Katherine (Unger). At the start of the film, impelled by signs clearly decipherable to him, he abruptly ends the liaison after voluntarily confessing its existence to his wife Marjorie (Rampling). But after he accidentally runs into Katherine six months later while on a family skiing vacation abroad, he decides to leave his wife and children and return to America with his fated lover. But on learning from Katherine that their meeting was not an accident but a product of her design, he abandons her a second time and rushes back to Athens to try to salvage his family relations. On his return however, he discovers that Marjorie, who works at the US embassy, has taken up with a Greek political activist, Andreas (Dimitri Katalifos), survivor of the US sponsored years of Greek military dictatorship.The urban chaos of Athens becomes the catalyst for the struggles between these American expatriates and their Greek hosts in this "strange meeting of psychological thriller and comic fable without a moral."
Sources and references
- THE TORONTO EYE http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_03.08.01/film/signsandwonders.html
- CHICAGO SUN TIMES: http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/2001/06/061504.html
- PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER, August 2–9, 2001
- 24 IMAGES (issue n° 105 p. 38-44), Interview with Jonathan Nossiter by Gérard Grugeau
- CAHIERS DU CINEMA (March, 2000)
- MAKING MISCHIEF (2001): DVD Bonus documentary director's diary of making of "Signs & Wonders" included on Strand Releasing DVD of film.