Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

amyghost What can you say about this? Mistral's Daughter is probably the Gone With The Wind of juicy trash novel-into-miniseries of its era. Stuffed with familiar American actors who just barely pull off their roles as French free spirited artists and models (or, as in Stefanie Powers' case, don't), and nicely spiced with a fair number of British and Continental actors whose appearances chiefly go to prove how bad most American television performers are by comparison, the series has to coast primarily on lush locale filming and some very tony production values.There are moments that render this gargantuan enterprise not completely without merit--Episode 5, in which we see Mistral's worst nature coming out in his collaboration with the occupying Nazis, which leads to the deaths of several people, and his abandoning of one of his closest associates, has some scenes that are able to evoke genuine emotion in the midst of all the surrounding soap opera; most of the credit for those can be handed easily to the very fine Ian Richardson, whose portrayal of Avigdor, the Jewish gallery owner/dealer who has given Mistral his first public artistic exposure and success (and who wins no gratitude from either Mistral or his scheming wife Kate as a result) is moving and first-rate. His performance carries far and away the most nuance and human believability of anyone in the cast--I'd have frankly been glad to see him given more screen time in trade for some of the purely wooden Robert Urich, for one example.Stacy Keach tries as the Picasso-esque Mistral--I think what failings there are in his performance stem less from thespic inability on his part than from the basic silliness of Krantz's conception of what a 'narcissistic genius' artist might be like--she gets the high notes right, but obviously can't imagine anything beyond cartoon-level 'complexity' for Mistral's less flamboyantly selfish side (oddly enough, bad a writer as Krantz is, Mistral's Daughter is probably her best-written book, likely because of the affinity with the Jewish issues woven into the plot. These themes seemed to have caused her to tone down the trashiness somewhat, and to treat her material with slightly more respect than is normal for her style. However her take on 'artist's quarter Paris' is hilariously wrong, and the film, with its apparent inability to tone down the overtly contemporary look of most of the actors, particularly a number of the female ones, along with a goodly number of historical inaccuracies, just plays up the anachronistic feel to an annoying degree).Timothy Dalton is good as Maggie's doomed great love, and initially at any rate, Lee Remick is quite credible as the smitten but always calculating Kate. Her character is turned into such an over-the-top wicked witch sort by the time of her exit however, that she comes off more like a stereotypical soap-queen evil matriarch than as anything recognizably human. Powers can work up the occasional pretty pout in her earlier scenes, but she ain't credible as either 18-year-old nymph or as post-menarche grande dame, and her histrionics in the years between don't add up to much more than a set of nicely photographic cheekbones and some sweetly glycerine tears here and there.But there are a few bits that make this a not totally worthless jaunt-- a firm grip on the fast-forward button might be advisable--and the penultimate scenes which show Mistral's artistic expiation for his wartime sins do carry some honest emotional heft (though I could wish they'd have come up with better paintings than the ones used to illustrate this), and there is the allure, no matter how silly, of the multi-generational epic device. Despite the main theme of the story dealing with great art and its primacy above all other considerations, don't expect too much high art from this production, and you might step away from it not totally unentertained.

charmadu The only reason to watch Mistral's Daughter is Timothy Dalton who appears in Episodes 2 and 3. He's the reason I'm giving 10 stars. If I could just buy episodes 2 and 3, I would. This man is like a woman's dream come true - he comes across as so sincere, so sexy, so kind, so accepting and so devoid of ego - what woman interested in men, would NOT want to be loved by a man like this? Name another actor with that level of drop dead gorgeous looks, that sumptuous voice, that dazzling charm, acting talent for days and so generous to his fellow actors! I confess envy that Stephanie Powers got to do these scenes with him and honestly, don't know how she didn't keep from jumping his bones for real. When I die, I want to see Timothy Dalton in heaven - please God!!!!

lindakappa A cozy up to the fire kind of flick for a rainy day blubber-fest. The "mistral" a wild, hot wind that blows for weeks in parts of Greece and Italy, this epic tale blows likewise, with the fiery passion of a true "romantic". Yes, Stephanie Powers is probably the only woman who could have pulled off the age span, and she does it very well.But once Timothy Dalton took over the screen all else paled. Talk about wild and hot, this man could make any woman burn! When Dalton leaves the stage the movie begins to go downhill for those of us who love to look at that gorgeous face! If Judith Krantz knew T.D. would have been playing him, I would like to think she would have kept him around longer. But alas, the plot did not, so to speak. My enthusiasm began to wane even though the heroine's life didn't.Mistral himself comes off as what he is, an egocentric, artistic cad, well done by Stacey Keach. You do begin to despise the man. Loved the story, and the scenery was breath-taking enough to make me want to hop a plane for France, just to travel the countryside and see what Krantz saw when she wrote it.The artworks depicted in the film were striking, and one could almost believe to find them in some gallery in New York or Chicago. All in all, a chick-flick, but one worth re-visiting on a lonely day.

emuir-1 When a hurricane is bearing down, and you can no longer stand the hysteria on the local news channel, but have not the mood for anything requiring mental effort, get a copy of Mistral's daughter and wallow in mindless eye candy - the best of mini-series trash. It is a wonderful antidote to serious issues: a fun wallow in the kind of romantic fiction loved by 14-year-old girls.The story concerns a young French orphan, Maggie, who has run off to Paris to seek her fortune, and who manages to land on her feet from day one, as one wealthy patron after another falls madly in love with her. 18 year old Maggie is played by 40 something Stephanie Powers, under a thick layer of makeup and long luxurious wigs. She shows up in Montparnasse where people with no job skills hire themselves out as artists models. This is the Paris of the 1920's, and Maggie has landed right smack in the centre of where it is all happening.Maggie is immediately discovered by an arrogant, selfish artist, Julian Mistral, who would fall in love with her if he did not love himself more. The world according to Mistral is that other people are placed on earth in order to serve his needs. They move in together, and she supports him until he sells a painting that he had given her. She moves out and is immediately snapped up by a wealthy Irish American, Timothy Dalton, who comes from a prominent Irish Catholic family of the type who always have a Cardinal in tow. He falls madly in love with her and sets her up in grand style. Of course, his wife will not give him a divorce when Maggie becomes pregnant. He goes back to New York and she follows, arriving just as the stock market crashes and he drops dead on the squash court. Not one to waste a moment, Maggie hikes off to a diamond broker to sell her jewels. Despite the crash, the smitten jeweller gets her top dollar for the rocks, enough to set her up in business for herself later. The jeweller recommends her to a fashion house to find work as a model, which she does immediately and makes her entry into society.WWII comes to France; Mistral locks his gates and ignores the plight of everyone around as he wishes to work undisturbed. He collaborates with a German officer in order to get painting supplies and work in peace, and in return turns in a few good men to the Nazis.By the 50's Maggie is running her own modelling agency and her teenage daughter wants in. On assignment in France she meets up with Mistral and it is love at first sight. She moves in with him, his American wife gets the cold shoulder and she gives birth to a daughter, then dies in an accident.We leap ahead and Mistral is establishing a relationship with his daughter, at the expense of his own wife and child. His legitimate daughter has married a snobbish French playboy with an aversion to work. The illegitimate girl then meets up with a young man who is the son of a Jewish art dealer and long time friend whom Mistral had turned his back on during the war. Wife dies, Mistral dies, there is a squabble over the will, the French playboy finds a Princess with better prospects, and young love triumphs.The hilarious part of this mini series is trying to guess who characters are based on in real life. The Irish American catholic family with the Cardinal always on hand; the French playboy who dumps his wife for a Princess; the artist? All this is wrapped up in a gorgeous package, wonderful scenery, lots of costume changes, but unfortunately, an awful cheesy piano and strings "romantic theme" being hammered out and washing over the sound track lest there be any quiet moments. The phony French would not have been so bad if they had not had real French actors whose English sounded like vocal paint-by-numbers. Perhaps they were reading it off phonetic cue cards! whatever, it sounds like the British comedy 'Allo, 'Allo.