Synopsis
The story of a married American couple who go to the San Sebastian Film Festival. They get caught up in the magic of the festival, the beauty and charm of Spain and the fantasy of movies. She has an affair with a brilliant French movie director, and he falls in love with a beautiful Spanish woman who lives there.
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Cast
- Wallace ShawnMort Rifkin
- Gina GershonSue
- Louis GarrelPhilippe
- Elena AnayaJo Rojas
- Enrique ArceTomás López
- Steve GuttenbergJake
- Christoph WaltzDeath
- Sergi LópezPaco
- Douglas McGrathGil Brenner
- Georgina AmorósDelores
Recommendations
- 60
The New York Times
It’s a relief to report that Rifkin’s Festival is, to the ravenous captive, like finding an unexpected stash of dessert: not substantial and not nutritious, but sweet enough to remind you in passing of the good times you once had, despite all that’s happened in the interim. - 60
The Guardian
By Allen’s lamentable recent standards, this fitfully entertaining film could be called adventurous, while the reliably cranky Shawn and a stately, vampish Gershon are clearly having a good time and letting us in on it. - 50
IndieWire
As the film explores San Sebastian — with its marvelous architecture and sprawling beaches — it starts to feel like Rifkin’s Festival is content to get lost with its anti-hero rather than trying to find a substantial narrative to support his existence. - 50
Screen Daily
It’s a familiar watch and a pallid reminder of better days we’ve had with the director. - 40
Variety
A scenic summer-wind romcom that was presumably a good time for everyone involved. Saying the same for the audience would be a stretch, but on the spectrum of late Woody Allen clunkers, it registers on the mild, instantly-evaporating end of the scale, unlikely to change the positions of any loyalists, detractors, ex-fans or distributors with regard to the controversy-tailed filmmaker. - 25
Slant Magazine
As Rifkin’s Festival drones on, the wastefulness grows offensive in a manner that’s unusual even for Woody Allen’s misfires.
