This year I almost missed it arriving back to Australia later then usual from my annual trip to Canada and because I did not travel down to Melbourne for the Harvest Festival in Bacchus Marsh Victoria, I decided to watch at least one of the Alliance Francaise French Films in Sydney.
The film I selected to watch is called "Les Innocentes" - " The Innocents"
I am sure there is a reason why this particular film is screening more regularly at the Palace Cinemas in Leichhardt then elsewhere in Sydney and on Sunday - Leichhardt being the traditional Italian Suburb and most likely of Catholic faith.
This was my first venture back to Leichhardt in about 10 or 20 years - yes I am a postcard snob! I spent quite a lot of time around this suburb when I was younger - shopping , working , rowing and dining there.
I took the 438 bus from Town Hall to Norton Street (the main drag of Leichhardt) and alighted at the first bus stop . I then took a slow walk up Norton Street stopping at my first destination - a very old block of villas and shops surrounding an amphitheatre and piazza called " The Italian Forum". In it's hay day I remember it was opulent and had an amazing atmosphere particularly on weekends and at night. We would walk around the variety of shops or dine in the many restaurants and cafes some hidden from sight. The lights , the music and the little amphitheatre were so cute.
A different story today - the whole complex is a little worn down and walking around, it was deserted. Most shops were empty spaces and there were still a few cafes and restaurants around the piazza below and a few above but they were all empty on a Saturday at lunch time. The steps of the little amphithetre are now no thoroughfare with "bollard" type structures that used to be open. I saw a single gelato stand from above but no dessert bars selling delicious Itlalian style cakes, biscuits and pastries I used to purchase and eat from there. The statue and water feature are still present in the piazza below near the amphitheatre although I can't remember it being there originally and it does look shiny and in tip top condition compared to it's surroundings with several valconies boarded up - maybe a newer addition to spruce up the place.
Once inside there was a butcher, a Bakers Delight, a poultry store, a deli , a chemist warehouse, Howards Storage World, an Italian patisserie, and a Coles supermarket. The was also a fitness centre of some sort upstairs and possible a few clothing stores and a newsagency.
I purchased 5 traditional Italian flavoured almond biscuits - they are really sweet and are sticky on the inside but crusty on the outside and covered with slivered almonds - plain, orange, coffee, pistachio plus one other flavour but no chocolate - in fact there was a load of date filled biscuits and pastries but very little chocolate except for the cakes sold.
Onto my final stop to the Palace Cinema to pre purchase my ticket for "Les Innocentes"
$20 full price adult for the 3.30 pm session Sunday 26th March 17 Seat C16 Cinema 1.
Time to sit down do some planning and a toliet break before catching the bus back to the city and grocery shopping before heading home.
To be continued after I watch the film.
Review to follow.
Oh dear let's start off with the Palace Cinema itself - when I arrive there was a queue for the toliets and the sanitary bins were all full so if you needed them you had to use the downstairs toliets. At least 2 of the toliets were out of order.
It was 3.14 pm when I went to present my ticket to go into cinema 1 for the 3.30 pm session of The Innocents , the movie from the previous session was still playing therefore we had to wait until it was finished and people only started exiting cinema 1 at 3.15 pm. The cinema then has to be cleaned before we can enter.
3.20 pm and we are just starting to go into cinema 1. Why I wasn't given any choice of seating preference except the first 3 rows of the cinema I have no idea - I hate sitting so close to the screen and I did inquire about seats closer to the back of the cinema without response. I expected a little better customer service especially paying for a full price ticket - I would like a please explain.
It was almost a full house in cinema 1 hence the no seating preference option when I prebooked my ticket. The row I sat in was full and most of the people seated in the very front row got up before the film and started to look for any available seats much futher towards the back of the cinema which they were lucky to find after the lights were turned down and the advertisements commenced.
Another complaint was all the lights in the cinema were turned down almost for the entire period of time people were attempting to find their seats. A few of the ladies seated in the row in front of me used their phone torch lights to assist the elderly find their seats until one of them got up and complained for an attendant to turn the lights on. The lights finally were turned on but only when most people had found their seats - a little too late!
The film itself is a must see and I think I was correct about the number of Catholics in the audience.
If you want to find out how a convent of nuns became pregnant - this is an interesting film. It was the war - bad things happen. The ending is both sad and happy. Two of the major characters in the film create a bit of humour amongst the seriousness of the storyline. Let me tell you the Russians were not very nice people! French and Polish with English subtitles. With one of main actresses reminding me of a younger Angelina Jolie and Is it the truth that if you do something wrong or bad that you will be punished by someone above? Judge for yourself.
Rating 9/10 I really enjoyed it but a pity the Palace Cinema conditions spoilt it.
Tried to book "Lost in Paris" at 6.45 pm tonight at the Palace Verona but it was either fully booked out or overbooked - pity I really wanted to see this film but may try and see another French film tomorrow as an alternative.
Decided not to see another French film - too much life admin to do including getting ready for work Tuesday.
Stay tuned for my next trip - it will be an event not attended previously outside of Sydney.
