Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Too much of everything

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The film is about a man and a woman who are losing their memory after an emotional trauma. You will discover this in your own time, the important is Claude Lelouch is a celebrated French director but unfortunately in the US he is part of the Indie crowd, "artistic French movie, get drunk before watching", which is a most unfair statement.Because his films are too often shot in French, he is blocked by the invisible subtitle wall for 90% of US audiences. With "And now... Ladies and Gentlemen" he directs a very good Jeremy Irons and a very talented Patricia Kaas, in English s'il vous plait.The basics of Lelouch style (broken time line and multiple threads) are there, but in a softer way than in most of his films, which makes this film a very nice "My First Lelouch" for audiences who are looking for more talented scripts and emotion than your prepacked Hollywood brew. Patricia Kaas delivers a performance in acting and singing (the soundtrack is her album "Piano Bar", a tribute to Lounge music).

I enjoyed this film both for it beautiful cinematography and dialog; but also for the way it attempts to deal with the deep issues of conscience, redemption, love, and reality. Following 2 people on personal journeys, brought together by events to cure a real physical problem each has. Ultimately realizing that with or without a cure reality for each is only what their own perceptions create. The very nature of perception and reality is opened up, in a delightfully playful and twisting drama.As with most (but not all) Lelouch films, well worth watching and taking in at the next level.

These comments will contain some SPOILERS, so please consider whether you want to read this. Jeremy Irons is Valentin Valentin, a career thief, with some inventive ways. In the opening scene we see him entering a jewelry store, identifying himself as an authority, tells the owner they are on the track of an elusive thief, shows him a photo of an older man, says to give him whatever he wants and let him leave, a virtual army would be outside to arrest him. In old man disguise, he re-enters a bit later, takes all the good jewelry, then disappears to the consternation of the owner. Later he buys a sail boat (named 'Ladies and Gentlemen', thus the name of the movie) and starts for a round-the-world sailing trip.Then we see French actress Patricia Kaas as Jane Lester, lounge singer who travels to find new work. We sense something is wrong. Later she and Valentin meet up, because they suffer the same malady, the get headaches and occasional blackouts. They end up seeing the same doctor in some third-world country, and the doctor's twin brother, also a doctor with a CT scanning machine, to treat their illnesses. Jane makes a pilgrimage to the top of a mountain at the gravesite of a mysterious woman. While Valentin apparently has surgery for a brain tumor. Much of the interest of the movie is the film editing. The story is not always told linearly, and some of the things we see turn out to be dreams. In one, Valentin is seen going back to the jeweler he robbed in the first scene, telling him he was sorry and wanted to pay him back, the cops are outside pounding on the windows to get in, Valentin begins to say "Don't worry, this is only a dream", then in a few seconds we see him wake up.

I was sure Claude Lelouch was 80 or 81. After all, hadn't it been about 40 years since I saw, "A Man and a Woman"? But I didn't know that Mr. Lelouch began as a child director!"And Now - Ladies and Gentlemen" is an exciting, engrossing, intelligent, funny, cynical and symbolically thought-provoking film by a writer/director who I'm still sure is over 80 but is allowed to deduct several years due to the nature of the business.Mr. Lelouch uses music to move the action forward. to establish time and place and (no surprise at all) to elicit emotion and, not coincidentally, to entertain. And the acting - brilliant Jeremy Irons captures each and every nuance of his demanding role. The film is worth it if you only attend to see his performance.I can't guarantee you'll walk out singing. As a matter of fact, I doubt it. I can't even guarantee you'll enjoy the film. But I can guarantee you will be talking about what it all meant long after the New Year has dawned.This takes me back to my childhood, when the likes of "A Man and A Woman," "Hiroshima Mon Amour," "Last Year at Marienbad," "Jules et Jim," and a host of other fine european films were part and parcel of the "film-going" experience -- where you were not only entertained but fiercely challenged to think about what you thought you had just seen!My plea, my suggestion to you is see this film and make up your own mind. Never, ever, let anyone make up your mind for you. Experience the power of movies for yourself, whenever you can.