Il pretendente

On my quest for more historic dramas, I came across this movie some time ago, and now that I have seen it I am sad, first because it took me so long to watch it, and second because I can't watch it for the first time all over again, (though I'll likely re-watch it soon).

The relaxing flow of this whole movie, the pretty music, with it's adorable characters, both trying to understand the other. I wish I knew the language so I might read the original book to glimpse the story from that point of view.

If you like sweet, silly, classic and yet a little sorrowful stories, you might enjoy this like I did.

It has a really nice amtosphere, great directing and there is a lot of chemistry between the main charachters. The "from hate to love" story itself never gets old and it still has accuracy for the 21th century, even though the original novel was written a hundred years ago. The movie has good dramaturgy, the romance is well build up and we can see step by step the path that brings the two main characters together. So all together it is really enjoyable, fun and heartwarming movie, the actors doing their best, everything is well made in it. I highly recommend for anyone who is into that kind of romance trope, period drama's and Jane Austen adaptations.

Sometimes you take a chance on a movie and it turns out great. This was a great and simple romantic movie.

On or about the 1920s in some obviously.foreign land...Ida has come of age and her dad has no idea what to do with her. Her dad wants to get remarried and needs Ida out of the house to do so. Ida can't go back to the convent (I guess where she was stashed before) so her dad goes with marriage and posts an ad for someone to marry Ida. Apparently, the marriage doesn't have to be forever because, at this time, divorce is a sufficient reason for Ida to live alone. Dad picks Csaba and, while seemingly polite, Ida knows very little about him. But they agree on a year of fake marriage for both their purposes.

It was a well-written and tight script and I enjoyed almost everything they chose. As mentioned, the couple's sarcastic maid was hysterical... and I enjoyed the non modern reactions to most everything. Ida is a delight. The actress is beautiful and she is meant to be nieve (since she just came out of a convent) and she is, but not in a really cliched way - in a very pure and organic way.

The only real problems for me was that the dubbing was horrible and the voices sounded odd. Also, I was not 100% sure about why things were happening. It is like I needed a refresher video on the social standards of the time.

But I would recommend it.

Lovely, feel good, easy to watch romance. Interesting characters and premise. Beautiful sets, the rooms are often rich colours with intricate wallpapers and rugs. The music is light and playful, helping to keep the tone of the movie light and enjoyable.

I just felt swept away by this lovely movie for not quite 90 minutes of humorous and heartfelt entertainment. Great for some weekend viewing, a nice one if you like to watch romances at certain times of the month (if you know, you know) as it's not draining or traumatic at all.

Really glad I picked it at random on a Sunday evening, not realising it was made in Hungary and has subtitles but that wasn't an issue and even added to the charm.

I didn't realise it was based on a book but will seek that out, thanks to the other reviewer mentioning it.

I liked the story line, well acted. Only problem I had is that the subtitles were written faster than when they spoke, you have to wait for them speaking to catch up and had both their lines in one text box, couldn't tell whose line was whose. In the case of the housekeeper there weren't any subtitles at all so I had no idea what she was saying. Otherwise, I enjoyed it. The costumes, hair and period furniture were beautiful. The picnic scene was like something out of a Claude Manet painting. You'll get a real feel for the period due to the architecture and scenery selections. Beautifully photographed movie.