Change Your Image
kendallinsd
Reviews
Histoire de Marie et Julien (2003)
Disappointing and dull
I watch a lot of foreign language films, and appreciate that many of them don't follow typical cinematic formulas. I've really enjoyed the majority of the foreign films I've seen; I think this is the only one I really did not like. I had high hopes for the film, but it moves soooo slowly, with so much time spent getting nowhere in terms of plot or character development, that it became a chore to get to the end.
Fortunately, I was somewhat rewarded for watching to the end, because the storyline became relatively more interesting in the last 10 or 15 minutes of the movie. Unfortunately, by then I had lost interest in the characters, so the mystery surrounding them lost its 'punch'. I found the characters themselves to be uncompelling. The actors' performances didn't draw me in; even the lovely Ms. Beart failed to pull me into the story.
I was literally shocked to see that the first rating I came across after viewing this film was a 10. I guess this is the kind of film you either love or hate. I rarely write reviews here, but I felt compelled to warn others that they might want to bypass this film. It is easily the most boring film I've seen in years.