Head in the Clouds

Wow! Head in the Clouds is an almost perfect movie for me. How can I go wrong when I can see a historical-fiction movie staring two of the most beautiful and talented Hollywood actresses, Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz. 

The title, Head in the Clouds, is not obvious until you see the movie. I presume it is taken from the statement 'Head in the clouds, Feet on the ground.' This describes the lead character Gilda (Theron) who seems to float above the reality of the turbulent world in 1933. Instead her life focus is on paramours, expensive clothes, and 'dangerous liaisons' with a varied assortment of men, all the while keeping a firm stance on the needs of her strangely disjointed life. For example, the opening of the film finds Gilda in need of shelter from a night's fling with a Cambridge don.  She knocks on a random door in the dorm and meets the poor struggling Irish student Guy (Stuart Townsend). Thus.beginning a lasting affair that coasts through the entire story.

Guy eventually follows Gilda to Paris where she is a photographer living with her gallerist, but also living with her lesbian lover Mia (Penelope Cruz). Gilda, Guy, and Mia become a threesome and live happily until the impact of the rise of fascism in Spain (Mia's home) separates this ménage a trois. Idealistic Guy and compassionate Mia travel to Spain. While Guy fights against Franco and Mia nurses soldiers, Gilda is left behind in Paris and ultimately has to deal with the Nazi invasion. How these three weather the war and resolve their varied degrees of complicity provides the film's finale.

I strongly recommend this beautiful and well acted movie.