Romantic.
Added 7/25/2010
Possession starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart is a gentle and moving love story. I just love when Paltrow slaps on that British accent, she's the best at it! I like the present time mixed in with flashbacks of two poets who loved each other, but their love brought a lot of pain to those around them. I'm a big fan of Paltrow, she is such an amazing talent. I liked this film, very beautiful story and well-written.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
LaBute Style Mysoginism
Added 3/29/2010
I'm a sucker for literary detective story/romances. I was even willing to cut some slack for the badly miscast leads, Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. The misty English landscape is gorgeous in this film. Why then did I find my heart sinking as it progressed? Only when the credits came up did I understand: this film was directed and co-written by Neil Labute, who has been responsible for some of the most cynical, mysoginistic films ever to pass for intellectually respectable drama in the past fifteen years. It takes a strong stomach to sit through In the Company of Men (in which two corporate executives plot to romance and deaf girl and drop her), Your Friends and Neighbors (in which a Don Juan seduces every woman in sight, betraying his friends right and left), or The Shape of Things (in which a female art student uses the campus nerd for a "makeover" as her art project, humiliating him with a public exhibit of her "progress" making him over). At least in those films, he was simply transferring his trendily cynical plays to the screen. Here he has taken a highly regarded novel, winner of the 1990 Booker Prize, casting one of his regulars, the snide Aaron Eckhart (memorable from In the Company of Men for explaining why he behaves so badly to everyone: "Because I can.") Labute explains in his commentary on the DVD that he cast Eckhart, making the original English character American, to create some sparks in the relationship with Maud, the Gwyneth Palrow character. (Quite a few of the reviews have pointed out the failure of this strategy, so I won't labor it.) What I will labor is the contemptible treatment of Christabel's Lesbian relationship, which I understand was a good deal more complex in A.S.Byatt's novel. And Gwyneth Paltrow as a feminist scholar? Come on.... According to LaBute, it took twelve years to bring Byatt's story to the screen. He should have left it alone.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
GentleAnnie
Added 3/14/2010
A hauntingly beautiful story that took my breath away at the end. Where the contemporary story was a bit of a cliche, the historic story caught me in its clutches and held tight. I seldom watch videos more than once; I have watched this a half dozen times since purchasing. A beautiful story, well told.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
GOOD MIX OF HISTORICAL AND MODERN FICTION
Added 2/1/2010
A. S. Byatt won the Booker Prize for writing this novel. It, and the movie, are hard to characterize. Fiction, yes. Historical? Sort of, if fictional characters of Victorian England count. Beautiful scenes of England. A Yank that is not a total jerk (a novelty in modern British art). Believable acting. A predictable story. Yet, a compelling and very, very enjoyable movie for Anglophiles, romantics, ghost-story buffs, and obsessive movie-goers. I will watch this many times and I am reading Byatt's novel! She is brillant! A great Amazon purchase!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Lovers, Poets, and Academics
Added 10/3/2009
A cute movie, something along the lines of a Shakespeare in Love meets The Da Vinci Code. The movie follows two academics as they hunt down tantalizing clues about a 19th century poet's extramarital love affair. While it is clear from the beginning that they the poet did have an affair, the movie throws in a few twists and turns. United in their quest, Aaron Eckhart and Paltrow's characters inevitably fall in love.
The movie has a nice rhythm to it. It never really throws up any major surprises, but the storyline is original enough that it remains entertaining. Both Paltrow and Eckhart act pretty well in this film, so it's pretty easy to sympathize them along as they become obsessed with the dead poet's love letters. Overall, a great date film.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Romantic.
Added 7/25/2010
Possession starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart is a gentle and moving love story. I just love when Paltrow slaps on that British accent, she's the best at it! I like the present time mixed in with flashbacks of two poets who loved each other, but their love brought a lot of pain to those around them. I'm a big fan of Paltrow, she is such an amazing talent. I liked this film, very beautiful story and well-written.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
LaBute Style Mysoginism
Added 3/29/2010
I'm a sucker for literary detective story/romances. I was even willing to cut some slack for the badly miscast leads, Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. The misty English landscape is gorgeous in this film. Why then did I find my heart sinking as it progressed? Only when the credits came up did I understand: this film was directed and co-written by Neil Labute, who has been responsible for some of the most cynical, mysoginistic films ever to pass for intellectually respectable drama in the past fifteen years. It takes a strong stomach to sit through In the Company of Men (in which two corporate executives plot to romance and deaf girl and drop her), Your Friends and Neighbors (in which a Don Juan seduces every woman in sight, betraying his friends right and left), or The Shape of Things (in which a female art student uses the campus nerd for a "makeover" as her art project, humiliating him with a public exhibit of her "progress" making him over). At least in those films, he was simply transferring his trendily cynical plays to the screen. Here he has taken a highly regarded novel, winner of the 1990 Booker Prize, casting one of his regulars, the snide Aaron Eckhart (memorable from In the Company of Men for explaining why he behaves so badly to everyone: "Because I can.") Labute explains in his commentary on the DVD that he cast Eckhart, making the original English character American, to create some sparks in the relationship with Maud, the Gwyneth Palrow character. (Quite a few of the reviews have pointed out the failure of this strategy, so I won't labor it.) What I will labor is the contemptible treatment of Christabel's Lesbian relationship, which I understand was a good deal more complex in A.S.Byatt's novel. And Gwyneth Paltrow as a feminist scholar? Come on.... According to LaBute, it took twelve years to bring Byatt's story to the screen. He should have left it alone.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
GentleAnnie
Added 3/14/2010
A hauntingly beautiful story that took my breath away at the end. Where the contemporary story was a bit of a cliche, the historic story caught me in its clutches and held tight. I seldom watch videos more than once; I have watched this a half dozen times since purchasing. A beautiful story, well told.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
