For a picture about the fantastic and supernatural, it's a surprisingly flat and unmagical affair.
Comment
11/12/07
The Story of Marie and Julien (2003)
50 %
Reviews Counted: 12 Fresh: 6 Rotten:6 Average Rating: 5/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 30 mins
Synopsis: Acclaimed French director Jacques Rivette (GANG OF FOUR) helms this offbeat look at love and relationships. Marie (Emmanuelle Béart) is the object of affection for clock repair man Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz), who bides his time between his business, romancing Marie, and blackmailing... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Emmanuelle Beart, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Anne Brochet
Director: Jacques Rivette
Reviews
1 - 12 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
All the story's power is allowed to leak away by the deliberative heaviness with which Rivette pads through his 150-minute narrative, with its exasperating lack of dramatic emphasis.
11/12/07
Top Critic
Far from bad, but academic and -- for once with this director -- overlong.
06/24/06
Top Critic
After a healthy start, pretentiousness lets down a promising premise, and the film just runs out of ticker.
04/01/06
Top Critic Top Critic
Although slow-moving and slightly muted in its emotional pay-off, the film is distinguished by a carefully layered performance from the impressive Béart, who subtly conveys Marie's other-worldly detachment and her human vulnerability.
09/18/04
Top Critic
An intellectually dazzling but slow-moving, dreary and somewhat pretentious chamberwork.
10/10/06
One of Rivette's most straightforward and intriguing works, and one of his most successful narratives.
10/06/05
Insistent minimalism--not everyone's expectations since "The Sixth Sense" but sighting of the Beart body creates an effect of its own.
08/07/05
["The Story of Marie and Julien"] is lovely to look at, gorgeously photographed by William Lubchansky.... But, the film never stirred my core.
11/10/03
Rivette, working from a story he developed with Pascal Bonitzer and Christine Laurent, ushers us slyly toward an ending that surprises and provokes, yet offers the possibility of love reborn.
11/05/03
Top Critic
Rivette's glacial film creates a unique world of dulled Parisian blues and grays, exemplified by the fabulous production design and art direction.
11/04/03
1 - 12 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
IGN RSS Feeds