Sally Potter’s star-studded film stars Christina Ricci as Suzie, an exile from the inter-war pogroms in Russia now living in France. A dancer, she plans to save enough money for passage to America, where her father fled, and she keeps her Jewish origins secret: only her roomate and friend Lola (Cate Blanchett) and Lola’s lover Dante (John Turturro) know. Then into Suzie’s life comes handsome Romany Cesar (Johnny Depp) and her thoughts of America are abandoned for love. But war breaks out and as the Nazis approach Paris, Suzie knows her secret past places her in mortal danger.
Despite the low budget, the stellar cast shine through with Ricci luminous in her role. Potter, who begins the film with almost black-and-white bleached tones, ends it with full, crisp colour and she managed to pull off one trick other directors have tried and failed: she persuaded the Parisian authorities to close the Place de la Concorde for shooting.
production details
France – UK | 96 minutes | 2000
Director: Sally Potter
Script: Sally Potter,
cast
Christina Ricci as Suzie
Johnny Depp as Cesar
Harry Dean Stanton as Felix Perlman
Cate Blanchett as Lola
John Turturro as Dante Dominio
Oleg Yankovskiy as Father
Don Fellows as Joe