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Rating:  -
"total eclipse" is possibly the worst film i have ever seen to have such big name pop actors in it, and it is a wonder that more people have not called lil' old leo and his partner in cinematic crime, david thewlis, on their treacherous and shameful roles in this atrocious waste of celluloid. i become interested in the life and work of arthur rimbaud in my early teens, and i had always thought to myself any number of times that a movie made the right way about his life would be an instant masterpiece, given the sheer fascination and passionate rebelliousness of it. i also remember the inner dread and fear i felt about the possibility of it falling into the wrong hands and turning into a (...), as happened with oliver stone's feat of unsurpassed failure, "the doors". not only were my worst fears realized and then some, but leonardo dicaprio played rimbaud. leonardo dicaprio played rimbaud. leonardo dicaprio played rimbaud. only by repeating it a few times could i convey the horror and unnaturalness of it. maybe morrison and rimbaud would have died even younger than they did if they somehow leapt into the future and saw the movies that were going to made about them--by suicide.
Rating:  -
My great grandmother told me many tales of a distant relative, a poet named Arthur Rimbaud. This film followed quite closely, allowing for some cinematic license, the memories she shared. To those who criticize the film, perhaps you prefer your passion neatly packaged. This film abandons pretense and successfully depicts the heated passion that both fuels genius and consumes it.
Rating: -
I've left the television to write this review, as I was worried that any more eye-rolling was going to damage my vision. Leo di Caprio as the French Symbolist poet, Rimbaud? Well, it's actually WORSE than I could have imagined! It's as if he's accidentally wandered from Los Angeles, 1995, into a Masterpiece Theatre production, complete with typically excellent British actors. It even sounds as if he's ad libbing lines, they're so utterly anachronistic. I guess I could try to see this as a time-travel story-- then his fist-in-the-air "woo!" wouldn't seem like an asonishing directorial lapse as much as an illustration of behavioral differences between fin de siecle France and contemporary American teen culture.
I'd love to see what Mystery Science Theater could do with this goofy waste of film and decent British actors. I second the previous reviewer who suggested just getting a couple of books of poetry instead of this film.
Rating: -
I was not familiar with the two poets depicted in this movie prior to seeing the film. Afterwards, I was intrigued enough to read books of Rambaud's poetry & biography. I felt that Leonardo DiCaprio provided a wonderful portrayal the manipulative and at times cruel French teen poet/genius, Aurthor Rambaud. David Thewlis' portrayal of Rambaud's violent, yet weak poet/lover , Paul Verlaine, is equally masterful. Neither actor pulled any punches while portraying characters who are not particularly likable. Perhaps that is why this film was not well received initially. Like most of DiCaprio's films other than TITANIC, this film is not meant to have a broad appeal for mass audiences. I think the best part of this film is its honest portrayal of how sex is used by both Rambaud and Verlaine's wife to manipulate Paul Verlaine. In the end Verlaine's weakness causes him to lose the affection of both. This is a character-driven film that I found riveting. I highly recommend this film. But, it is not for everybody.
Rating: -
Your interest in the plot of "Total Eclipse" depends largely on whether or not your are able to suspend disbelief for almost two hours and embrace Leonardo DiCaprio as a famous poet; believe me, it's near impossible. This period piece on the highly offbeat romance between two 19th century poets is a hammy, borish, and even aggravating film that becomes so ludicrous in its final hour that Death becomes the character to root for.
The movie gets off to a rocky start with Arthur Rimbaud (DiCaprio) venturing to the home of Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis), who also embraces poetry. Despite his pregnant wife's urgings that he stay home for the birth of their child, Verlaine ventures out on the town with his new friend; the two cause a ruckus as a poetry reading, and become lovers of a sort. The story then develops a cycle that involves Verlaine meeting Rimbaud for a night of gratification, then returning home in a drunken stupor to physically torment his wife and even his child.
What will ensue is a charybdis of deceit as Verlaine returns to his wife only to leave her for Rimbaud once again, and their descent into depravity, both physically and emotionally. Much of the second half is an attempt to bring out a psychological warfare between Rimbaud's haughty, contemptuous mind and Verlaine's more passive, sensitive state. Instead of being intriguing and thought-provoking, Rimbaud's insults come off as mere insults to our intelligence, and to our hunger for strong material.
The movie's biggest problem lies with the characters themselves, who are some of the most successful hate-inducing characters to come along in quite a while. Verlaine is portrayed as little more than a whiny, emotionally needy twit with no sense of reasoning or understanding of his life; even when it comes time for him to take a stand for himself, leaving Rimbaud behind to go on to Brussels, he breaks down and sends for him. His constant blubbering and twisted views of being faithful to one's spouse are completely banal and handled by the screenwriters in all the wrong ways.
Rimbaud is the exact opposite of Verlaine, though not in an appealing manner. As previously mentioned, he is shown as being cocky and believes himself to be superior to all other writers for his ability to see the truth in all situations of life. However true (or untrue) this may be to the actual attitude of Rimbaud himself, the movie goes too far with the character; from the very beginning, he is a pest beyond measure, from his carrying-on at the poetry reading to his constant expositories on the meaning of life and the non-existence of love. When it came time for Verlaine to leave him behind, I almost cheered, as I did when his death finally arrived.
And just as the characters are boring, the actors bring an equal level of disinterest to the film, most notably DiCaprio. His overindulgence in his character is evident throughout, and he fails to generate any emotion or believable intensity in Rimbaud. Even Thewlis's performance seems forced; he seems to look right through the material and not believe in any of it. Together, the two have little chemistry or intensity, and the romance sours in the wake of their hammy acting.
In the end, poor pacing, sloppy characterization, and extremely cumbersome acting bring out the worst that the film has to offer, which is little to begin with. There is a large absence of emotional connectivity between the characters and the audience, a trait that may have added some measure of interest to the story. At one hour and fifty-one minutes, "Total Eclipse" wears out its welcome long before it has introduced itself.
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