When the Cat's Away
by C?dric Klapisch
List Price:
Our Price: $19.99
You Save: $1.97 (9%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $10.65 (click here)
Category: VHS Video
See more movie releases
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Product details
Actor: Arapimou, Garance Clavel, Olivier Py, Ren?e Le Calm, Zinedine SoualemDirector: C?dric Klapisch
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled
Running Time: 90 minutes
Release Date: 1998-06-30
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Columbia/Tri-Star
Studio: Columbia/Tri-Star
VHS Movie Reviews of When the Cat's Away
Movie Review: Careful if you don't speak French
Summary: 2 Stars
I can't comment on the movie since I have not watched it. But I did purchase this from the Amazon France site since it was not available here last year. No English subtitles on mine. So if you don't speak French, this DVD may not be so great.Movie Review: Girl finds village in the big city
Summary: 5 Stars
It takes a village to find a cat. Or rather, it takes a missing cat to find a village. This delightful movie chronicles an awkward but beautiful French girl's journey through her Parisian working class neighborhood in search of her pet. She moves from the isolation of her apartment where she moons dreamily over her feline friend out into a world of odd and amusing characters.
Critics have compared "When the Cat's Away" unfavorably to "Friends," the TV sitcom where a beautiful group of young New Yorkers becomes a 'found family.' Chloe sans cat also finds a family with bonds closer than blood in this story line as funny as "Friends" but less slick and more real.
Watch this movie with your pre-teen daughter for one satisfying bonding experience (one sexual scene without X-rated visuals makes casual encounters look most unappealing). I bought it for a chick flick group--perhaps not meaty enough for an adult evening, but we all appreciated its sweetness nevertheless.
Movie Review: A Miniature Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful film, which succeeds on so many levels. Garence Clabel stars as "Chloe", a young Parisian trying to make it in the hip world as a makeup artist on high fashion photoshoots. She is truly lonely as she haunts the "in" spots with their never-ending stream of shallow, empty people. At the same time, she is totally oblivious to her very ordinary, if diverse, neighbors in the working-class Parisian neighborhood where she lives. About to leave on a vacation, Chloe's roommate suddenly reneges on his promise to take care of her cat, "Gris-Gris", while she is gone. In desperation, she turns to an elderly neighborhood woman, recommended by one of her faceless neighbors, who agrees to watch her cat.
Alas, while Chloe is gone, Gris-Gris escapes. When she returns, she is horrified to find out that her one real companion in the world is missing, and she embarks upon a mission to find it. Of necessity, this causes Chloe to get to know her neighborhood and her neighbors, many of whom assist her in her search effort. As a result, she finally interacts with real, rather than vacuous, people and gets to know them. It is a voyage of discovery for Chloe, and, although there are bumps along the way, it turns into a very positive experience.
While Chloe's personal journey continues, the director also shows us, in a subtle, non-preachy way, how her neighborhood is changing, and threatened by, gentrification.
The ending of the movie is remarkable, and one I never tire of seeing.
This is the kind of movie that the French make better than anyone else: A small, seemingly-inconsequential story about an average, seemingly-inconsequential person, which writer-director Cedric Klapisch makes into an exquisite, tiny masterpiece.
Movie Review: Fine atmosphere, but little else
Summary: 3 Stars
When Chloe (Garance Clavel) goes on vacation, her cat goes missing. This slight plot provides our window into the world of a modern young Parisian woman and the neighborhood she inhabits. This film gets high marks for atmosphere, but I wanted more than that. I did not find the heroine to be as charming as many other reviewers have. On the contrary, I thought she was rather self-involved and shallow. At one point, she can't even be troubled to have a five-minute phone conversation with one of the network of old ladies who is helping to search for her cat and who is clearly calling out of sheer loneliness. At the end of the film, I didn't feel like she had changed or learned anything, leaving me to wonder why I had been watching her for the past two hours. I was touched by the character of Djamel (Zinedine Soualem), the sad, slow-witted man who develops a crush on Chloe./Movie Review: One of my most favorite movies ever
Summary: 5 Stars
This is such a wonderful portrait of Modern Paris, and a peep inside a great character's life. I needed to have this to watch on rainy (or sunny for that matter) days. Highly recommended especially if you like movies shot in Paris, movies about women coming of age, and films like Amelie. ENJOY!
Summary of When the Cat's Away
Written and directed by C?dric Klapisch, this delightful French film from 1997 is less interested in its plot--about a young Parisian woman named Chlo? (Garance Clabel) who is searching for her lost cat--than it is in her response to the sudden predicament of being truly alone. Chloe's life is hardly thrilling, and romance has proven elusive, so when her cat disappears while she's away on a brief vacation, it's a minor crisis that reminds Chlo? of just how lonely she is, and her exhaustive search for the cat begins. She recruits her neighbors and a network of women who know every cat in the district where she lives. But When the Cat's Away is really about the rhythms of Chlo?'s daily life, the lives of the people around her, and the changing identity of the neighborhood as it undergoes renovation. Like the films of Eric Rohmer, this film is filled with casual observation and quiet revelations of character. It hardly seems like a film at all, but rather a privileged glimpse into the lives of very real people whom we come to know and admire, and in whom we recognize parts of ourselves. --Jeff ShannonGeneral Video
Video Genres
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in General Video
The Wannsee ConferenceHomevision; Release date: 2000-06-13; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $44.94
Jamon JamonFox Lorber; Release date: 1997-11-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $19.99
Ashes of TimeTapeworm Video; Release date: 2000-04-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $10.58
Price in other shops:
Wild StrawberriesHomevision; Release date: 2000-06-13; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Red BalloonHomevision; Release date: 1996-02-20; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $15.95
The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and GromitBBC Warner; Release date: 2000-11-21; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
Dona Flor and Her Two HusbandsFox Lorber; Release date: 1997-10-13; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $75.00
Wings of DesireMGM (Video & DVD); Release date: 2000-06-06; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $0.48
Price in other shops:
Yellow EarthFox Lorber; Release date: 1997-10-16; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $129.99
Latcho DromNew Yorker Video; Release date: 1998-11-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $59.90
Similar Video, DVDs, Audio CDs
The Gleaners and IRelease date: 2002-07-23; DVD
Best price: $17.06
Price in other shops:
La Haine (Criterion Collection)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2007-04-17; DVD
Best price: $27.21
Price in other shops:
Children of Paradise - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2002-01-22; DVD
Best price: $27.22
Price in other shops:
AmelieTAUTOU,AUDREY; Release date: 2002-07-16; DVD
Best price: $11.52
Price in other shops:
The Taste of OthersRelease date: 2002-02-26; DVD
Best price: $6.02
Price in other shops:
La Vie en Rose (Extended Version)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-11-13; DVD
Best price: $14.49
Price in other shops:
IndochineSony; Release date: 2000-03-21; DVD
Best price: $13.93
Price in other shops:
L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment)Release date: 2003-12-23; DVD
Best price: $4.11
Price in other shops:
Un Air de FamilleRelease date: 1999-06-15; DVD
Best price: $7.67
Price in other shops:
Paris, Je T'Aime (Paris, I Love You)Paris; Release date: 2007-11-13; DVD
Best price: $11.52
Price in other shops: