Seul sur Mars

as the French call The Martian, which I went to see yesterday afternoon, a sunny Sunday which I could have spent strolling or sitting in the park under coloured leaves with children screaming on the playground nearby, but I needed to take my mind off something unpleasant involving--never mind--and a movie full of adventure, that got a half-decent review from Anthony Lane in The New Yorker, seemed like a good way to do it. 

And indeed, it did the trick, despite some heaviness. The landscapes were disappointing: don't think Mars will be on my list of places to go for their scenic properties, except for the starry skies, but the plot, which darts between the astronaut left on Mars, the space ship, or whatever you call it, returning with the rest of the crew (one Latino, two beautiful but smart women, two others), and NASA HQ in Houston (diverse, but including some square-jawed, over-tall Caucasians in ties), is fun, with some tense and some weepy, heart-warming moments (message to Mom and Dad from the abandoned astronaut, the crew's near death-experience of a reunion off Mars, the Whole World's rejoicing on cable TV, in English and Mandarin, at the miraculous rescue).