Das Kloster

Two stars for fairly competent cinematography. Good composition and good camera movement without glitzy focus-racking thru the forest.

Malkovich and Deneuve are there only for their names. The real acting takes place with the Porteguese? actors. And they struggle with the pretentious dialog.

The two worst offenses are committed by the director who explains the characters and their actions thru narration ( or awkward scenes with minor actors describing the main characters by using some vaguely occult terminology) rather than showing their characters and motivations thru their actions and their own dialog. It is a movie, after all, not an essay. Second offense is the music, which is overwhelming at times. Using Stravinsky with violent string passages to imply evil, danger, foreboding etc could work, but it didn't for this production. Just loud and annoying without any real matching action.

It reminded me greatly of a university master's thesis film I worked on 37 years ago--(fortunately not mine). Lots of fantasy, lots of literary allusions, lots of mood, pointless scenery long shots, more than a few long takes that the director fell in love with and the editor was not inclined (or allowed) to abbreviate, and some really over-the-top acting moments (as when Baltar meets the prof's wife for the first time). Down, boy, down! I rented it because I am trying to catch up on some Deneuve films that I missed over the years, but I'm sorry I did. She must have really needed some money to have done this one.

This film is absolutely beautiful -- a picture of cinematic craft, and has a complexity that is rarely found in American films. Contrary to what others have said, this film has a fantastically developed plot. It is sad that the others who have reviewed this movie found it to be lacking.

If you don't know Goethe's Faust, don't bother watching it. If you are so numbed by Hollywood that you can't stand to watch a movie without nudity, gore, blood, explosions, or sex, don't rent this movie. If you don't like to discuss nuance in films after watching them, don't watch this movie. If you hate French people, don't watch this movie. Rent something with The Rock in it instead.

To the others who reviewed The Convent, I would say bad films do not win prizes at Cannes. This movie is brilliant, and is the epitome of what art film should be.

A sparse movie, but under-appreciated. John Malkovich's intellectual curiosity threaten both his marriage and his soul. The conclusion flows, but is not obvious when it happens. I suggest watching this twice in succession (it isn't very long) in order to pick up nuances in the dialogue that you might have missed during the first pass.

Great premise: American academic (John Malkovich) and lovely French wife (Catherine Deneuve) travel to Portugal so he can research his theory that Shakespeare was really a Spanish Jew cast out in 1492 or on the run from the Inquisition. He winds up at a disused monastery (not a convent; there is no convent in the movie, despite the title) cared for by Satan worshipers, the viewer subtly becoming aware of this due to a big inverted pentagram hanging in the office of the "guardian" of the monastery, Baltar. Whether Malkovich and Deneuve are aware of this, or care, is unclear. Baltar gets the hots for Deneuve, while Malkovich is thrown together with the lovely young archivist (who seems to be a token non-Satan worshiper), but nothing comes of either pairing. Characters yak at each other, this tedium being broken by the greater tedium of extended silences, and then the yet greater tedium of extended silences with the screen virtually still. Despite the great setup, no gore, no nudity, all very tasteful eurotedium. Inconclusive conclusion. Ninety minutes wasted.

Regarding others opinions, this movie is not to bee seen vainly, or as a block buster from another big company. The plot although can be a bit boring in some way, it's enormously compensating by the story it self, the picture work (the movie photography is brilliant), and of course by the talent of the actors, the Convent (in fact was really a convent, i know, i have been there) is based upon a book of, Augustina Bessa-Luis called, "As Terras do Risco" (the lands of risk, as a free translation) if you do not like reading a good book,or if you are not interested in some of the Europe's culture, just go head, eat American trash. If you're reading habits are updated, (you may find it easy to understand it if you are familiarly whith Dr. fust's History), you really shuld not miss this one, it's a brilliant movie whith a great history from the oldest of film directors in the world (belive it see the date of his 1st movie).This is an artwork