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Pola X Actors: Guillaume Depardieu, Yekaterina Golubeva, Catherine Deneuve Director: Leos Carax Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 134 minutes Studio: Fox Lorber Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-04-10 Buy from Amazon |
 "2 Stars for the sex scene"Leos Carax's "Pola X" is at best problematic and at worst an incoherent mess. It is rumored that Herman Melville went insane while writing "Pierre: or the Ambiguities" on which this film is based. This explains a lot in regards to what we are forced to endure while watching this film. Pierre (Guillaume Depardieu, Gerard's son)is a good-looking, blond, rich author living with his sister, Marie (Catherine Denueve who manages somehow to keep her dignity) and engaged to blond, good looking, Lucie (Delphine Chuillot). While having a beer with his cousin (Laurent Lucas who is always dewy-eyed for some reason)one sunny afternoon, he sees a dark haired woman, Isabelle (Katerina Golubeva) spying on him and proceeds to follow her as he realizes this is the woman of whom he's been dreaming. Up until this point the film has been about light: bright sunlight, white clothing, blond hair,etc. But the minute Isabelle comes on the scene everything goes dark, dank and miserable. Pretty obvious symbolism. Isabelle claims to be Pierre's long lost sister and Pierre decides to turn his life upside down and take care of Isabelle which leads him into a fast spiral downward. Golubeva's recitation regarding her previous life and her delivery of it in an irritating voice that sounds like a young, drunk Marlene Dietrich is one of THE most irritating scenes in movies that I have ever been unfortunate to witness. The only small saving grace of this movie, besides Deneuve, was the sex scene between Pierre and Isabelle (Yikes!). It was mildly erotic.  "A brave & beautiful mess"Why good old Leos would think to turn Melville's infamous classic "Pierre or the Ambiguities" into a film is beyond me. Aside from the fact that the book is loaded with themes which cannot be communicated through the medium of film, it's a problematic novel in and of itself. The fact that the book is problematic though should not be seen as a slander because it is reveals itself as one of the book's virtues (with many). That being said, with POLA X, you have a film filled with impressions and beautiful visions, but a work that needs the focus that Leos is incapable of giving. Guillaume Depardieu deserved to win awards for this film, for his work is truly quite brave and moving. I however cannot make the same statement about Golubeva, someone who's only reason for being cast is that wild head of hair she's got. Golubeva est terrible. Deneuve is well Deneuve, which is to say she's quite above reproach (at least to me). Now, is one is looking for a film of strength aesthetically, look no further. THe scene where Isabel tells Pierre of her past in the woods is quite a sight and worthy of a review by itself; Brother and Sister (possibly) walk through the ashes of the past, both ghosts of what has never been and always been, doomed to die by corrosion and the discovery of the meaning of death, which is to say, of the unknown. Along the same lines, when Pierre's mother (Deneuve) gets on his father's bike and rides through the black woods only to crash and lay wounded as the flaming bike comes towards her, we get a feeling for what the entire film could have (and should have)been. THe problem with the film is that it concentrates where perhaps it shouldn't and wanders where it should be still. Leos Carax is far from being a useless filmmaker, and his attempt at something great here is quite commendable. But, his films are never perfect (as are many of the masters' works)and this is no exception. Pola X is a beautiful, disquieting, pusillanimous mess of a film. I'd like to give it five stars for risk but risk alone doesn't make masterpieces. (For those interested in a real examination of incest, death, God, and existence, check out Bergman's similarly themed 'THE SILENCE', a five star film!) "A complete mess"Pola X is beautifully filmed and well made, but that's about it. You don't feel anything for the characters, no matter how good the actors are and no matter how hard the director tries to get the viewer involved. This movie is a complete mess and even that explicit love scene can't make up for it. Pass this one by!  "il y a pola x"it's french, from france, a country located in europe.  "Gloomy and repellent"This movie was a pretentious, confusing mess. Sure it had alot of pretty scenary and Depardieu is a handsome leading man and a good actor. But everyone in this movie was sullen and/or morose in almost every scene throughout the entire movie. (They all could have used megadoses of Prozac to boost their spirits for sure!) And when the brother and his continually whining half-sister have explicit sex, it made me feel uncomfortable and repelled rather than conveying any kind of sensuality or tenderness. Sitting through Pola X was like attending a very long, depressing funeral on a dismal, rainy day. You just want to leave and go home and put on a good music tape to forget about all the gloominess you've been subjected to. |
