Watch The Green Room For Free

Really Surprised!

As Good As It Gets

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

France was once in the leadership of many things: eccentricity, originality, cinema, music, technology, fashion, art, constructions, futuristic stuff, in their strange yet marvelous cars, in the peculiar personality of people, in their unique sense of humor… This movie, is a representative of the bizarre generation of French. Even though Truffaut was and still is a very popular movie director, this one was always one of his lesser known works. That is not very surprising because, admittedly, this is not a film for everyone. It's dark, it's somber, it's very strange and its thematic is not only strong but also a bit disturbing and uncomfortable: a man obsessed with death and the dead. Definitely not an "easy" film...It's normal to honor the dead and remember them for life, but the lead character (Julien Davenne) tries too hard to honor them. After at least a decade, his obsession seems to grow stronger than ever. As a result, he develops a bitter temper (such as when he demands to destroy the statue of his deceased wife because he disliked what he got) and is so dead inside and obsessed with his dead ones that he almost completely forgets the people around him who are alive and that he himself is alive and has a life to live.Even so, this is one of Truffaut's great movies. It's very different from his other films, being unique in that way.Truffaut was a great director but also a great actor. His performance as the death-obsessed guy is admirable, but I wonder how would it have been like if Charles Denner had played the part. Truffaut originally wanted to cast him for that role, but he wasn't available back then, so Truffaut ended up playing the part himself.Title in Portugal: 'O Quarto Verde'.

Green Room, The (1978) ** (out of 4) Truffaut plays a journalist still grieving the death of his wife nearly ten years after her passing. Her passing helped his obsession of death, which ends up making him a friend in an equally strange woman (Nathalie Baye) who also has her own interesting thoughts on the subject. As his obsession grows deeper, the man decides to buy a chapel and turn it into a sanctuary for his wife and other dead friends. This is an extremely bizarre film from Truffaut and while I'm still new to his work, this here is certainly the least entertaining of his films that I've seen. I think the entire film is just one real big mess that never really makes sense of what it's trying to do. I couldn't help but feel a tad bit lost as the movie never really seems clear as to what it's trying to say about death as both characters are pulling in opposite directions. I found their relationship to be extremely forced and completely make belief as not for a single second did I feel either one could care for the other. Another minor issue was the performance by Baye, which I thought was rather weak. The problem with this is that Truffaut was pretty good and the two just don't work very well together and in the end it hurts the film because not only does their relationship feel weak but it doesn't help that the actor is so many better than the partner. I'd be lying if I said I hated this movie because I really didn't. There just wasn't anything here that kept me overly entertained and in the end I was just too bored by the characters and screenplay.

I was very impressed, when I watched this movie for the first time. I only knew Truffaut's most popular films (like Jules et Jim or Fahrenheit 451) by then. This film is so completely different than the ones mentioned above. I think Truffaut shows us his inner-self by playing the role of Julien Davenne, a journalist obsessed with the idea of building an altar for his dead. The audience gets a direct access to his feelings and thoughts about life and death. This film is a chance to understand Truffaut and his work better. He knew that the film would not be a box-office hit, but that was not important to Truffaut. He liked the short-stories by Henry James and just did what he wanted to. In my opinion Truffaut did a beautiful job by making this film. I think this film demands very much from its viewers. "The Green Room" provokes a self-reflection in the viewer. The viewer has to deal with his own attitude towards life and death. So this is not an easy film to watch. But if you want a film that differs from all the high-tech, action-loaded movies of the present that simultaneously gives you a very personal access to the man who made it, "The Green Room" is a good choice.

I totally disagree with Maltin. Truffaut's The Green Room was destined not to be a crowd pleaser: unlike his most famous films celebrating life (Jules and Jim being the most obvious example) the film is serious in tone and deals with death, Truffaut himself playing the death-obsessed newspaperman.The Green Room is nonetheless a very impressive film; the questions of the forms of love, life versus death, possession and the remembrance of those who have passed away are treated both intellectually (but not in an 'artsy' or artificial way) and emotionally (but not in a melodramatic way despite an interwoven love story).The film is surprisingly short and the ending comes even a bit abruptly, so contrary to possible expectations it is not long and dull. The Green Room reminded me of The Magnificent Ambersons and (John Huston's) The Dead, which are also films to be recommended.