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)
《爱情神话》不是费里尼最具代表性的作品，它的内容与片名有着一定的距离，以致于看前是抱着去见证一段神话而看后则会对所谓的神话不明所以：这和本片的故事线是贴合的，上海人之间的感情—精致的外表，品质的生活，精神的富饶，就像弄堂里的老复式洋房，就像老上海本帮菜的调味，就像那些刻在上海人骨子里的考究的形式主义…很难定义。完全可以说本片是很久以来最上海情调的影片没有之一，虽然这里面一点上海地标性的建筑都没有，但满满的SH properties。其实在上海这些闹中取静的地方是最适合谱写浪漫、传奇的爱情故事的，我曾经和一个北京人在这儿谱写过，后来这个人去了蒙特利尔，而我就是在蒙特利尔的一家艺术影院看了费里尼的《爱情神话》。
只能说迪士尼没有心，这么好的片子不走院线走流媒体，真的是瞎了眼。观影过程每分每秒都被萌到，你可以永远相信皮克斯，用变身成可爱的小熊猫对应青春期的成长，最终成为自己想成为的人。真的好好看啊，狠狠的爱了！！！
没有跌宕起伏，但茶米油盐十足，尽显上海烟火气，还能不失修罗场。唇枪舌剑之间，抖尽有趣的机灵。咖啡馆、老房子、进口代购店、有调性的邻居、上海弄堂、单车，文艺中年，种种讲究，种种端着，自娱自乐，自成生活，大抵如斯。PS：离开影院后，默默地取消了费里尼版《爱情神话》的想看。毕竟，讲“俗”，我大概跟他们一样吧。
2.5吧 给高了我会觉得对不起费里尼 这么密集地接收上海话我其实不太受得了 好吵 不过这种主观的意见我会觉得怪自己吧 但这个配乐 我的老天 真就不怪我了 就…这电影…吹得这么高…实在是…不懂。 这么说吧 单凭一星期策展这件事 我就觉得挺冒犯的
三星半，确实是今年院线华语片最有腔调的一部，出自一个初执导筒的文青编辑，也难怪都说这片子符合豆瓣的口味。
開年到現在浸了倆月華語電影，總算看到一個能把對白寫好的本子了。當然這片子好處還很多一時講不完。最好的一處，帶我回一趟魔都。我的上海。真的上海。我如索非亞般難以置信的黃金年代
要真挑毛病也不是没有，但胜在用心，没把观众当傻子糊弄，最后的镜头挺有意思：灯光一亮，我们就是爱情神话本身。而且白日密语的《1975》太好听啦！！！
段子很漂亮，但只能说接了“上海人”的地气，不免为赋新词强说愁，透着一股何不食肉糜的精致市侩，很难再有深一步的挖掘。费里尼、王小波沦为卖弄文艺的点缀，大师所以不朽者，在于从真正的身心苦难中开出美与善之花。
看了让人心情巨好的一部“爱情神话”。像冬天里的一锅热汤饭。导演用生活流素描笔法展现了新上海带点雅致和讲究的烟火气，上海的市井生活是有其独特生态的，尤其是新时代背景下的上海风貌，人们的说话方式、生活习惯跟我们印象中老上海石库门里的那种市井生活大不相同。那个一直爱吹牛的老乌、昨夜还坐在一起喝酒聊天的老乌，说没就没了，荒唐吗？可这就是中年人会遇到的命题啊，面对突如其来的死亡、变故、离别。这不是简单的致敬，这是将费里尼的精神融入电影了。给平凡的生活加点浪漫的佐料，有什么错呢？
3.5 平行时空的微型乌托邦，人与人之间的联结轻巧又通透，小资情调与家长里短可以和谐共生，爱情不问来由不去解释只管发生。虽始终笼罩着一种段子集锦的氛围，却凭这股在自成腔调与做作输出边界线游走的劲头儿，足以在荤腥油腻的国片环境里突出它的清淡可口。很值得牵着爱人的手一起愉悦观看~（「乳化」那段很难不爆笑）
果然是年末惊喜多，关于爱情的那些事被导演和编剧融进了台词和情节中，充分融合上海的市井气和知识分子的小情调，观感上很舒服，方言很加分。三位女性角色的塑造非常出彩，坏掉的高跟鞋用的巧妙，饭桌和画廊两段对话戏写的太猜彩，结尾老乌的故事既大方致敬了原版电影，还巧妙点了题，最后以看不懂原版电影而收场不落俗，没陷入自我感动的怪圈，作为处女作完成度非常好，推荐一看。（8.5/10）
上一次看到这么喜欢的国产电影是什么时候呢 倪虹洁走进ktv时低了低头 又撑起笑容；马伊琍在天台说 再年轻一些的时候我也吃这套；小玛雅说“我背叛了” 老白赶紧说“我乱说的 你们什么事都没有”；老乌的爱情神话 看哭了 葬礼那段很喜欢 来和去都本应是如此自然的事
费里尼纯属牵强附会，那个莫名其妙的片子的中文译名也属于莫名其妙，片尾也自嘲了这一点。
已經記不得多長時間沒去上海了。我一說起我對這座城市的感情。多數人的反應還是不解。上海予我有著不易啓齒並非同凡響的意義。其它的城市。好一點的是像一個城市。不好的是在模擬一個城市的樣子。而上海。它就是一座城市。有下不完的雨。走不盡的路。看不夠的人。。
很久没有看到过这样的国产电影了，没有道德绑架，没有把手伸出屏幕对着我们观众指指点点，没有明确的「谁要跟谁在一起」，有的只是生活。这才对啊，这才是一个经济水平达到“发达”的城市所应当交出的答卷。以一场饭局始，以一场饭局终，《繁花》早已告诉过我们：「食色性也」。悬而未决的故事，只能在觥筹交错间吐露一点点真心；爱情无关乎真假，而是一种体验——经历它，忘记它。其实我一直觉得自己不像上海人，也在于我很难做到这种「轻松」，我的感情太重了，所以很难在上海故事里找到知音。这是我背负的枷锁，但并不妨碍我欣赏这个故事。
真·熊孩子+怪兽家长。不愧是皮克斯，毛茸茸可爱到爆炸，换了我也不要封印这么萌的一面~亚裔的教育方式产生很多虎妈，想要做到父母眼中完美的乖孩子，还是要做真实的自己？青春期的叛逆和成长的阵痛，灰常形象的用红熊猫来体现，我们要学会和自己最不堪最愤怒的情绪共存并能控制它继续崩坏的蔓延。其实不管是哪一面，都是自己的一部分，接受不完美的自己，也请家人包容这样的自己，这些都是我们成长路上必经之路，动画呈现的更戏剧化些，所以是个适合和父母一起观影的动画。
我们的创作者真是卑微啊，有点社会责任感的就被拉黑名单，有点钱的就只能造些空中楼阁来聊以自慰，在这片土地上拍电影就跟在火星上种菜一样。然后到最后就剩下这么样一团破烂坐上了“年度华语电影”的位置。我们的观众也实在是卑微，生活在水深火热中还要在嘲笑西方政治正确之余面对这种电影腆着笑脸保持着精神小资和政治太监的复合人设。什么叫一方水土养育一方人啊？中产的，太中产的。
北有柔情史，南有爱情神话，绝妙的文本，精彩的调度，演员到位，角色设计有对比而自然，格局超越华语电影太多太多，让我们触摸到了生活。
映后看了一个采访导演
私封为今年的年度电影。几场餐桌戏里的场面调度十分精美，加上美术馆一场中戏仿的戏剧感，在日常鸡零狗碎的主题里制造出了一种神秘的升格。对性别议题大方地讨论，甚至让人产生一种这是一部在正常国家拍出的正常电影的错觉。
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