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The story of a married silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler in 19th century France traveling to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out their African supply. During his stay in Japan, he becomes obsessed with the concubine of a local baron.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By Farah Yousif
Format:DVD
I read the novel `Silk' by Alessandro Baricco and loved it. Therefore, I was rather wary of seeing the adaptation. But when I saw the film, I was not disappointed; the visual imagery is beautiful and the Japanese symbolism was well-related.
The location of the story is France in 1862. Herve (Michael Pitt) is convinced by Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) to travel in search of silkworm eggs in order to save the silk-making business. Herve travels to Africa and Japan. During his trip to Japan, he falls in love with a Japanese concubine. When he returns home to France, he cannot forget the Japanese beauty and continues to obsessively long for her.
The untranslated Japanese conversations allows the audience to relate to the main character, as he too does not understand the language. Keira Knightly made a wonderful `Hélène' but I wasn't convinced by Michael Pitt as the main character `Hervé Joncour'; the obsessive inner turmoil wasn't portrayed well on screen. Overall, however, I think the film is well-worth seeing.
The location of the story is France in 1862. Herve (Michael Pitt) is convinced by Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) to travel in search of silkworm eggs in order to save the silk-making business. Herve travels to Africa and Japan. During his trip to Japan, he falls in love with a Japanese concubine. When he returns home to France, he cannot forget the Japanese beauty and continues to obsessively long for her.
The untranslated Japanese conversations allows the audience to relate to the main character, as he too does not understand the language. Keira Knightly made a wonderful `Hélène' but I wasn't convinced by Michael Pitt as the main character `Hervé Joncour'; the obsessive inner turmoil wasn't portrayed well on screen. Overall, however, I think the film is well-worth seeing.
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Bluebell
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
The cinematography is superb with wonderful shots of dramatic scenery. However, the story has so little action and evolves so slowly the film becomes tedious to watch. I haven't read the book upon which the film is based, but I guess it contains a lot of introspection by a narrator and descriptions of feelings which are difficult to portray on screen, and certainly are not by lead actor's (Michael Pitt) performance, which is wooden and unconvincing as an intrepid traveller. Much of the story is conveyed by a voice-over narrated by Pitt in a mumbling, monotonous voice with little variation in tone that adds to the feeling of boredom.
Disappointing.
Disappointing.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Nostalgia
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read the synopsis for this film, and other reviewers' comments, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but, on the whole I was pleasantly surprised. I feel that the storyline has already been adequately described and I found this to be somewhat sad and poignant, especially towards the end.
I too was not entirely convinced by Michael Pitt's portrayal of Herve Joncour and found his narrative a little monotonous. I can't really say that I found the film boring - perhaps just a little slow until it got under way. Overall, a very decent film (the underlying theme being the power of love rather than silkworm egg smuggling) and I was especially pleased that it was not drowned-out by loud background music.
I too was not entirely convinced by Michael Pitt's portrayal of Herve Joncour and found his narrative a little monotonous. I can't really say that I found the film boring - perhaps just a little slow until it got under way. Overall, a very decent film (the underlying theme being the power of love rather than silkworm egg smuggling) and I was especially pleased that it was not drowned-out by loud background music.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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a very good fast and efficient service which i can highly
recommend to any would be customers,and i will use this
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recommend to any would be customers,and i will use this
company again with no hesitation
Published 3 months ago by CHRIS HANDS
2.0 out of 5 stars
Frustrating at the very least!
First of all, seeing this film has not stopped me from wanting to read the book. On the contrary, I want to read the book more so simply due to such a disappointing portrayal of... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ms Picasso
3.0 out of 5 stars
VISUALLY STUNNING BUT OTHERWISE SLIGHTLY DISAPPOINTING
Based on a short story (which I haven't read), this is quite an original film although ultimately not really satisfying. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Sou'Wester
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly Brilliant.
Having read mostly mediocre reviews of this film i didn't really have any expectations when i sat down to watch it last night. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Anouk
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most beautiful film I have ever seen
Silk is the most beautiful and atmospheric film I have ever seen. It is perfectly poised and reflects its subject matter very well. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2011 by Lepidina
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Vacant
Silk is beautifully filmed (indeed at times one feels the National Geographic must have produced it) but as a film of internalised longing it finds no way to externalise that... Read more
Published on 7 May 2009 by Charles Vasey
1.0 out of 5 stars
Avoid it, it Silk is pretentious and Booooooooooooooring!
How can anybody use energy and so many still life beautiful pictures to make anything so boring, is beyond me. Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2008 by Isabella Balkert
1.0 out of 5 stars
boring and superficial scenario
in 19th century in japanese society then is praticaly impossible that a japanese woman can take a man'scoup of tea and drink from it as it shown in the movie. Read more
Published on 10 Nov 2008 by Aleksander Pieri
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