Total Eclipse (Poeti dall’inferno) - Agnieszka Holland

film distrutto dalla critica, è un racconto abbastanza fedele dell'incontro e amicizia e amore e convivenza di Arthur Rimbaud con Paul Verlaine (qui).
entrambi sembrano dei folli, e forse lo sono stati, nel film sono così.
bravi gli attori, con un giovane Leonardo DiCaprio, che iniziava a fare film non per ragazzine e ragazzini, e che sta a suo agio nei panni di Rimbaud.
certo, non è un capolavoro, ma si vede bene, e se anche solo spinge a leggere qualcosa dei due poeti avrà avuto la sua utilità - Ismaele

…"Total Eclipse" was directed by Agnieszka Holland ("The Secret Garden", "Europa, Europa"), who seems as bowled over by Rimbaud as Verlaine was. Indeed, Rimbaud's ungovernable personality runs roughshod through the picture, testing our patience and DiCaprio's skill in finding new ways to make obnoxiousness fresh. Thewlis, who usually plays the most obnoxious character in his films, is also challenged; he must convince us Verlaine is talented, intelligent and worth caring about, despite the insanity of his behavior, the boorishness of his drunkenness and his inexplicable fascination with Rimbaud.

They both wrote wonderful poems ("I am a great poet," Verlaine tells Rimbaud's sister, "but your brother was a genius").

The poems can be read. The film must stand on its own, apart from the poems, and I'm afraid it doesn't. To write great poems is a gift. To be interesting company is a different gift, which neither Verlaine or Rimbaud exhibits in "Total Eclipse." One admires the energy and inventiveness that Holland, Thewlis and DiCaprio put into the film, but one would prefer to be admiring it from afar.

da qui

…Mme Holland reste collée à son sujet, comme un chewing gum collé aux semelles (de plomb) et nous donne à voir une bien triste image du "Pauvre Lélian" et de celui qui sera pour toujours l'alchimiste du verbe, le passant considérable.

Aucune grandeur dans ce film aux teintes sombres qui ne laisse pas la place à l'échappée sublime : celle que procure la lecture des poèmes de Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud, poète et trafiquant, mort d'avoir trop vécu.

da qui

…Di Caprio delivers his lines well, as always, but his character’s mind is left unexplored enough not to truly appreciate what is being said. The viewer is only given an outside impression of the man – he is seen as a restless vagabond-type figure, but with no real soul. If Total Eclipse is intended to be the story of two self-involved bullies, the above qualities aren’t really needed. But when dealing with a subject like Arthur Rimbaud, it seems only fair to explore and encompass everything – from the many flaws to the sublime moments.

da qui

…The story related in Total Eclipse is ambitious. What transpired between Verlaine and Rimbaud more than one-hundred years ago has influenced poetry since, but has never been dramatized for the screen until now. The relationship is complex, encompassing just about every emotion from love to hate -- a profoundly unhealthy attraction that poisons not only the lives of the two principals, but that of everyone who has contact with them. What befalls the Verlaines' marriage is only the first tragedy.

As scripted by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Carrington), the presentation of Verlaine and Rimbaud's story is erratic. At times, it's absorbing -- almost hypnotic -- but those stretches don't last. There are other sequences when the film becomes ponderous and pretentious, and where over-the-top acting blunts dramatic impact. The narrative also has a tendency to jump from year-to-year and place-to-place. As far as the characters are concerned, they're interesting only when they're together. During the overlong denouement, when the poets are separated, the proceedings become a little dull…

da qui