Thomas in Love

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Love</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="501" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 146 WIDTH="495"><div> <IMG SRC="131b618c0.jpg" border=0 width="97" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000714CN/reelmoviecriticc"> Thomas in Love on DVD</A>  </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Thomas in Love *** ( R )</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Catch a heart</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Thomas: Benoit Verhaert</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Eva: Aylin Yay</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Melodie: Magali Pinglaut</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Nathalie: Micheline Hardy</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Insurance Agent: Alexandre von Sivers</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Psychologist: Frederic Topart</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Receptionist: Serge Lariviere</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Ken: Eric Kasongo</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Director: Pierre-Paul Render</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Clara: Virtual girlfriend</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: A 32 year old man who has not been out of his apartment for eight years, nor had any visitors, has all human contact through a visual telephone device. When his psychologist has him seek therapy though a dating service, his healing process begins.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Thomas is an agoraphobe with an acute pathological fear of open spaces and human contact. He only wants to speak to his mother Nathalie once a week, not <I>about </I>once a week, but no fewer than seven days. His main contacts-by phone- are with his insurance agent and his psychologist. We sense that they are working with him only for the purpose of being paid. </div> <bR> <div> His psychologist decides to have a dating service, called <I>Catch a Heart</I>, contact Thomas. It's an official and legal system of medical prostitution. When the madam contacts Thomas, she tells him to not be afraid to say no to the requests of the women who call him. Various women contact him and for one reason or another he tells them all "no," until he <I>meets</I> Melodie and Eva. Melodie is very interested in him, but she only wants a relationship if there can be face to face contact with human touching. </div> <bR> <div> Thomas is fine with a <I>virtual </I>relationship, which we learn as the film opens with him having sex with a computer image-that is very active masturbation. The "virtual woman" is attractive, cooperative and comes right on with her "come and go" movements. If you saw <I><B>The 6</B></I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>th</B></I></FONT><I><B> Day</B></I>, this only takes it to the next step, which is a small one. </div> <bR> <div> Melodie causes Thomas to begin thinking literally outside the box. He's rebuffed, however, when he does contact her only to find that she has a mate, Ken, who she appears very happy with.</div> <bR> <div> Eva may have as many problems as Thomas. She works as a medical prostitute as an alternative sentence for a crime she committed. Apparently her attitude at work leaves something to be desired. When Thomas wants her home phone number, he is able to blackmail her into giving it. As their strained relationship begins to develop, Thomas starts to think about actually venturing outside of his apartment.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: Put on your seat belt and prepare for an experience into the future that seems far away but has already occurred. For example, insurance companies already tell us how much of which services we can have, from whom and for how long. </div> <bR> <div> This story of "speculative fiction" is about the use of visiophones that allow people to interact "face to face" without ever making actual physical contact. Do we really want a world that minimizes human contact? Today we can have our laundry picked up, or groceries delivered and we can remain unknown in Internet chat rooms. It seems the answer is at least partially yes.</div> <bR> <div> Throughout the film we only see the world from the viewpoint of Thomas and we begin to understand his perspective. Technology can make our lives more comfortable and it feels great to do new things. At what point though do we lose touch with a meaningful reality and how can we tell when it's happening? We drive while talking on the phone, have writing pads sticking out from our automobile dashboards, wear pagers, have three or more phone lines, and so many remote controls that at times we find it difficult to perform as simple a task as turning on a television. </div> <bR> <div> The question for people like Thomas is not so much to determine the cure, but to help them live lives so that too much virtual reality does not keep them from being the real people we all want to be.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Not Rated (sexual innuendo; language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>