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Julianne Moore,
Julianne Moore,
Peter Friedman,
more...
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Todd Haynes,
Todd Haynes
see all cast/crew...
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: Columbia TriStar
: Drama, Independent
: 119 min.
: English
: English, Spanish, French
see additional details...
This title is currently out of print.
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Todd Haynes presents a revisionist take on the paranoia thriller with this story of a Southern California housewife who suddenly falls victim to an inexplicable, apparently incurable illness. Carol White (Julianne Moore) lives with her husband and son in suburban comfort until she collapses one day, for no apparent reason. Her condition worsens in the weeks that follow, as she suffers from coughing fits, exhaustion, and spontaneous nose bleeds, triggered by sources as disparate as car exhaust, cologne, and the sun. Failing to find any medical explanation for her maladies, her doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who suggests that her physical ailments are psychosomatic -- a theory echoed by her callous and increasingly frustrated husband. At her wits' end, Carol withdraws to an expensive New Age retreat for sufferers of "20th century disease," where the community's guru (Peter Friedman) champions a dubious regimen of diet, climate control, introspection, and self-love. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
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"You've seen him repeatedly. Perhaps you have even acknowledged a certain familiarity with his face when it crosses the screen. But you've undoubtedly noticed him." As Jonathan Marlow speaks with Xander Berkeley about his career, it becomes obvious why he's one of the world's most adaptable and talented actors. Berkeley stars in Seraphim Falls, hitting theaters this weekend. Full article >>
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| don't belive the hype
by alexjb
April 24, 2006 - 9:53 AM PDT
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5 out of 7 members found this review helpful
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to manage your expectations for this film:
* do not look at the image with the orange background - this is not a fast-paced film; it's not "urban paranoia" in an action-y sort of way; there are no folks running in white and black jumpsuits for any interesting reason.
* do not believe the village voice quotation calling this the Best Film of the Decade. it's not, by any stretch of the imagination.
* don't expect a normal story arc - it's **slowly paced**, and is tracking the progression of one woman's realization that her body can no longer stand to live in what we call civilization.
* julianne moore plays her part well, but her character is borderline pitiful the whole time. it mainly put me in mind of the pampered housewives of the 80s (several scenes feel *very* 80s), some of whom did have to invent illnesses just to stop from dying of boredom. she plays a victim with a capital V, exasperating my inner-feminist.
* if you have issues with Western medicine and the perils of our chemical-heavy lifestyle, you'll probably dig this. if not, it probably won't convince you. when julianne's character does start to find folks whose bodies are similarly plagued, it starts to feel *very* cult-ish. is the director purposefully toying with us - expecting at any minute to pull us aside and say it's all baloney? or does sincerity blind him to the quasi-religious fervor of the little commune? hard to say.
overall, it wasn't BAD, but i wouldn't regret having never seen it. |
| Warning...
by kmoseley
August 30, 2004 - 9:33 PM PDT
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4 out of 32 members found this review helpful
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| Worst movie ever. Warning: DO NOT RENT! |
| safe boating is no accident
by RRappuhn
August 29, 2004 - 11:36 AM PDT
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8 out of 11 members found this review helpful
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I have been thinking about an appropriate review for this film, ever since viewing it about 2 weeks ago. I think that the review above did a fine job. (Once again, I find the GC synopsis lacking and misleading )
Just wanted to add a few thoughts.
As I appreciate Cronenberg, his subject matter, his science/society and the unexpected consequences run mad and life annihilating, I found this film while exploring similar man-made environmental issues much quieter, not as physically sickening ( but enough so ), the cinematography much better (very interesting use of longshots in the early part ), but these differences with/from Cronenberg's films did nothing to lessen the similar dread I felt throughout this film and at its conclusion.
The begining of the end came with the scene of Carol's husband (I prefer to see him hanging, supported on his tippy-toes, with T2's pokey thing through the last grasped milk container and out the rear of his neck ) pumping away on her, she looking off to space, completely disassociated, gone, not part of it...and from there on she becomes very associated with her life, as it unravels to that horribly effective movie end, with her looking into the mirror, an emaciated,blotted, ghost, repeating a mantra of love for herself, because nothing else works for her malaise.
Haynes toys with belief, suggesting that Carol just might be imagining her sickness (after all the rest of us are just fine ), letting it, after the doctor's reassurances, be fringe/New Age one moment, then moving in closer and letting the reality of hers and those of the other unfortunates' daily lifes make it a truth and a truth for Carol. He paints the woe, the physical destruction of her health and world with the spewing blue/black smoke from the truck ahead of her while she drives somewhere, and his use of sights and sounds (I really enjoyed the sounds, the machinery of civlization, effective like in David Lynch's Eraserhead, Blue Velvet; here, the drone you hear in the background is tolling for Carol and eventually for us all, your death knell, your mass; you just do not know it yet, but Carol 'do'. She and the others are at the end of the bell curve of sensitivity to the environmental poison; the canary in the mine ) in the background, jets flying above, traffic, dust swirling, the pollution everywhere noescapable (except in your clean room), the clad figure walking about( by the way, the treatment center, although it was in 'Albuquerque' certainly the shots were not and it is too bad, real scenery would have been more effective ).
This is a real disaster movie, but to Carol and the others like her, we just have not gotten the appropriate dose yet, but our tolerance is a bit higher. |
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