Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)
她说“身体只是我们的一个容器”，她让我们看到，即使容器中盛满了一生也可以如此轻盈自由
四段见面，破碎的灵魂碰撞后慢慢修补，治愈后相忘于江湖，很美好~人人都想身边有个里奥吧！！！
非常推荐！！虽然看的是英文字幕，没有完全百分之百get所有内容。 但，特别是最后十分钟一定要保持期待，保持惊讶，保持包容，保持惊喜！！ 就像orgasm，前面的探索与铺垫都是为了最后的come，但如果没有那么多耐心与包容，最后的惊喜/震撼也不会一下直戳到心里。 不用在这里赘述，前面具体的都讨论的哪些问题（母子关系，性工作者职业评价，教师职业定位，女性身体权利……）等真的这些都一一吊着胃口铺垫完成，最后10分钟就是所有惊喜降临的时刻，理论与实践结合，完成了一种绝妙的前后自洽与体验闭环。 不论当做一部爽片，或者具有教育意义的片子，都非常可圈可点。辛苦
“总有值得你幻想的事。”
剧本很精彩，越是简单场景越难拍，整个过循序渐进很流畅，两个人之间的互动也很好看。
Emma这个角色太像我认识的一位长辈了。太生动了。
太好看了太好看了！！！柏林全场掌声雷动！！这不比主竞赛香吗！！全场女性都不能再共鸣了。女性的自卑，自信与困境。女导演女编辑太香了！
言语间提到的扮成猫、看电视一些看似古怪或过于寻常的行为背后，是那些孤独，需要存在感，又深切爱着自由的灵魂。
太好看了！讲欲望但毫不低俗 确实没什么好羞愧的，从肉体满足甚至能上升到人生哲学讨论 人人都应得到愉悦
近乎令人心碎的诚实，然而性的愉悦不正是建立在此之上吗？
什么女性情欲，什么亲子问题，都给我放下，只为小哥哥满分，就想问几钱
很感动。在性面前，没有人是自信、完美的，尤其是一个年华不再的女人，她的不安和“边界”的消解都太真实了。奇妙的是，电影切入的是一个非常“男性”的叙事视角，是个“性转版救风尘”的俗套故事。但在性欲与价值的神秘张力下，通过极其琐碎具体的焦虑，凭着故事的价值观与演员的坚定与真诚，最终竟完成了最“女性化”的表达。并且把两人之间、两人与自己之间、两人与他们所面对的世界之间的关系讲的透彻明晰，蛮厉害的。
Emma在这部戏里面贡献了她的“灵与肉”，值得重看的一部电影，二刷要学习一下里面的高级词汇。#20220627
对话写得蛮好，但是男主的角色设定不太合理，被忽视的原生家庭下真的能塑造出这样耐心且愿意聆听的性格吗……P. S这不就是提供性服务的心理咨询师吗……
挺不错的，建议40以上的女生都看看，20岁就不要看了
着实干净坦然，也许只有女性导演才会拍的如此温柔细腻和理想化吧，艾玛好有灵魂，细微的体态动作都是语言
2、每一个人都生而美丽。爱自己，就是爱一切的开始。
这个故事性转之后就会让人感到异常荒谬，明明是女性付费，却要经历一连串的容貌焦虑、身材焦虑、年龄焦虑、道德焦虑才能抵达所谓“享乐”——在这部片子里仅仅体现为性，因而呈现出贯穿全片的女性罪恶感和说教感——最后汇聚为女主对她女学生的口号式说教。鉴于女主是buff叠满的保守人群，能体会电影传达理念的不易，但是看的时候只要一想到性转的荒谬——男的享乐前能想这么多吗？就对现实更为愤怒了。
Sex Saint.
不是说花钱找鸭就能找出道貌岸然的优越感、找出独立女性人设、找出自我和解的。这片子被追捧我是真的不理解，只是题材反常规而已，实际上跟女性解放一点关系都没有。请看它的镜像电影《花容月貌》，一个超级大美女主动做应召女郎，没有任何客观原因，完全发自内心。很讽刺，是不是？而且它作为房间电影来讲，也是不及格的存在，对白写得太虚无，处处泛着圣母光环，被《与女人们的对话》吊打。
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