| Overall Grade: |
C- |
|
| Story: |
B |
|
|
| Acting: |
D+ |
|
|
| Direction: |
N/A |
|
|
| Visuals: |
B- |
|
|
Lacking in Vigor and Vitality
by Edvicious (movies profile)
Jun 10, 2008
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
The plot is fairly simple. In the year 1862, the dreamy era of the Second Empire in France, young idealistic Frenchman Hervé Joncour (Michael Pitt) is directed by his dictatorial father (Kenneth Welsh), the mayor of their town of Lavilledieu, to enter the army and fight in an forthcoming war against Austria-Hungary, but he is abruptly and vigorously removed from the service after a brief span when his father invests in a silk-manufacturing operation inaugurated by super salesman Baldabiou (Alfred Molina), who wants the Hervé to become part of his team. And when an epidemic strikes their worms and the African eggs that Hervé 's previously traveled to acquire prove to be infected too, he proposes sending the Hervé on an undercover mission to Japan, still insular in more ways than one, to secure replacements that would unquestionably be free of taint, despite the fact that such a trip would mean a prolonged absence from his wife, the elegant and beautiful schoolmistress Hélène Fouquet (Keira Knightley).
Silkworm merchant Hervé travels from France to the untamed Fukushima Mountains of Japan in quest of a shipment of healthy silkworm eggs, so Baldabiou can establish his own silk mill in their French village. Once in the Land of the Rising Sun he scores not only the prized eggs but also a glimpse of a trader's mysterious, silent, ethereal young concubine (Sei Ashina) with whom he becomes captivated, which confuses Hervé, since his wife Hélène is back at home, longing to have a baby. He has trouble forgetting the exotic Japanese beauty at the other end of the world. He takes more trips to Japan, perhaps for the worms, perhaps for the woman, but by his last trip his relationship with the traders has turned sour as Hervé attraction turns to compulsive preoccupation, a fixation that stands in the way of the love between him and Hélène. Hélène falls sick and dies of some enigmatic unaccountable disease, but first writes a very beautiful poem to Hervé and has it translated into Japanese so that he will believe it to be from the other woman.
The opening shot of a woman bathing in a steaming lake surrounded by snow, recalls the visual grandeur of director Girard's previous film, 1998's "The Red Violin." This promising beginning is followed by scenes of clumsily staged exposition, from which the narrative never recovers. While the film is breathtaking to look at, the characters are so unconvincing that there's no electricity or passion. Poorly miscast baby-faced Pitt is quite awful when he tries to conveys nothing more than a boredom in the role of 19th century silk trader Hervé, and that's a problem for a film about a man torn between his love for his wife and the irresistible allure of his exotic Asian mistress (He doesn't even sound credible pronouncing his character's name). His acting career has gone somewhat interfered by his lack of dramatic skills but we are talking about the man who played the Kurt Cobain character in Gus Van Sant's "Last Days" who retains a punk look that jars with the 19th-century French setting. Hervé is drawn to a beautiful girl there, but nothing happens. His pouty expression never alters throughout the film, a sight that nullifies the drama of the tale he is telling to an unknown listener. This film proves that a love story about obsession cannot work if its leading protagonist has no passion, and Pitt practically sleepwalks across the gorgeous landscapes.
Knightley plays his wife who can do nothing but wait and wait while her husband takes three increasingly dangerous trips to Japan for silkworm eggs. She suffers with longing, planning a formal garden in the forest outside their posh new house, which, when finished, with the help of half the village, is planted entirely with white lilies. She can't have children, or Hervé can't, which adds to her sense of isolation and since he's away all the time, her role in life and the film becomes effaced by wearing down and so she does what women tend to do when ignored, she contracts an energy-sapping illness that forces her husband to take notice.
Production designer Francois Seguin works wonders with the international locales, but pacing is measured to a fault whereas the screenplay certainly delights in the designed puzzle as the dialogue is thin, and apart from the poem, there are no words with any lasting power in the entire film. The film is so cryptic and obscure that crucial events are barely suggested. It is difficult to empathize with Hervé's obsession with a woman with whom he has shared barely 10 minutes of screen time. There's sex and there's death, but the film seems to offer no explanation for either. |
My Public Profile 
