ANTONIA'S LINE (1995)

This Dutch nominee for Foreign Language Film is wonderfully earthy, funny, and sexy. It starts with an elderly Antonia (Willeke van Ammelrooy) calmly taking to her bed after announcing she will die that day, then recounting her life in a small town, from World War II to the present. An instinctive rebel to whom all the oddballs and outcasts of her village are drawn, Antonia, a kind of farm-girl Gertrude Stein, gathers a commune consisting primarily of women, independent souls who have sex and children when they want them -- marriage be hanged. They defy local custom and the Catholic church yet win the respect of everyone. As directed by Marleen Gorris, Antonia's Line lopes along, sometimes with sloppy sentimentality. But van Ammelrooy gives a big, openhearted performance; she deserves to be a movie star.

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