Poeti dall'inferno

It's a good thing not too many people saw this film when it came out [no pun intended], because, if any of DiCaprio's female fans had seen him in this, one of his best early roles, his career would have been over well before he was involved in "Titanic." And that's because he's so utterly convincing as the tortured, bisexual teen genius poet Arthur Rimbaud, that it would undoubtedly set many of those young ladies to wondering if he'd played the part a little TOO well, if you get my meaning. If ever there was any such thing as a male femme fatale, It's Leo right here. Rumor has it that he tried to have the video pulled a few years ago, right after his "Titanic" success. It's a good thing he wasn't successful, because I think that this film rates right along with "The Basketball Diaries" as possibly his best performance.

But it takes two to tango, at least in this case, and David Thewlis is almost as good opposite DiCaprio as Paul Verlaine, who began as Rimbaud's mentor and wound up as his long-time lover. As Verlaine was ugly and overweight, whereas Rimbaud was lithe and handsome, the two seemingly would have made an unbelieveably odd couple physically, but were drawn together more by their mutual likes and dislikes rather than physical attraction. And that's what you sense through all of their scenes together, a meeting of minds more than a meeting of bodies.

There were many who praised this movie, there were many who hated it, but love it or hate it, it holds a strange fascination which makes you remember it long after you've seen it.

"Total Eclipses" narrates the romance that is born among the poets Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis, in a courageous and excellent performance, Thewlis plays strong scenes with experience and professionalism) and Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo Di Caprio, before being thrown to the Hollywood's stardom in "Titanic"). The film documents, without make-ups,Paul Verlaine's slow destruction,a man who is consumed by the love and hate that he fells for Rimbauld.Director Agniezka Holland accomplished a touching and beautiful work,counting with a perfect plasticity that reconstitutes the time and the romance among the two men in a detailed way and without shame, what can,in fact,shock Di Caprio's fans in some delicate moments.Even being a little slow in a lot of parts of the story, "Total Eclipse" is efficient when its seen as a drama that lectures about the difficulty of being homosexual, but besides this topic, it analyzes what happens when people abdicate of their happiness and suffer due to social conventions, and finally it ends up in a intelligent conclusion:that only through the courage and through the love it's possible not only to break such barriers but also to achieve redemption.Director Agnieszka Holland conducts with experience a story that, in the hands of another director, could be reduced into a common and not very innovative denominator, and the lenses of her camera shows, without make-ups and courts to alleviate the impact of the scenes, the whole suffering, the prejudice and the pain that marks the relationship between Rimbaud and Verlaine. The two poets' love is realistically developed by Holland, starting by the friendship, in which the two writers begin to know important things about theirselves and discover that they have a lot in common, in terms that both are unhappy with the path their lives acquired, the doubts, the fears and the frustrations,till the beginning of the romance. The scene in which the first kiss happens, when Rimbauld seduces Verlaine and tries to get closer to him and ease his nervousness,is strong,touching and beautiful,this decisive and provocative part is filmed and written in a sweet and human way. The focus that the production gives to the story, therefore,is natural and realistic, what can scare many people away of the box- offices for the context declaredly homosexual of the story."Total Eclipse" explores and studies the relationship without making concessions and without allowing any demagogy or fear. There are rough scenes such as the one in which Thewlis is tirelessly sodomized by Di Caprio, there are moments of fondness when the two kiss each other,but in the same way the sick and morbid aspect of the relationship is expressed, when, for example, Rimbauld stabs Rimbaud's hand to prove his love.Being a heterosexual, i concluded that, instead of adopting a dogmatic and racist posture, it would be better if i could appreciate the film not as just another plot about two gay guys who are in love but I tried to enlarge my point of view, understanding that the film was, actually, a simple feeble love history marked by the suffering and resignation. Thus, I recommend "Total Eclipse" as an intelligent and efficient drama, a work that deserves to be applauded by its initiative and courage, for the excellent performances and for the safe and kind work by Agnieszka Holland, who tells a love story in a distressing and realist form. "Total Eclipses" i rated for strong sexuality and nudity, language, and some startling violence and it runs 111 minutes.The Cast: David Thewlis, Romane Bohringer and Leonardo Di Caprio.

Total Eclipse is the story of the relationship between two men who definitely made their mark on French literature. Poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud have been compared to Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, but aside from being gay the pairs have little in common. Wilde is a universally recognized talent who had the misfortune to fall in love with a spoiled young aristocrat in Douglas who had some pretenses to literary talent. Douglas was spoiled, but both he and Wilde conducted themselves well in public.

Verlaine and Rimbaud were a pair of talented louts as Total Eclipse shows us in graphic detail. Wilde married for convention's sake at the time and did have two sons and was a loving husband. His is a Victorian Brokeback Mountain story. Verlaine was a drunk and an abusive husband who regularly beat on his wife and child who was totally fascinated by young Rimbaud. He was ten years older than Rimbaud in real life, the film does make him seem a great deal older. He did read some of Rimbaud's work as a teenage prodigy and sent for the country lad. You can feel sorry for Wilde and do in the films that tell his story. Verlaine as played by David Thewlis is a really hateful person, gay audiences can't work up any sympathy for him.

However Rimbaud as played by Leonardo DiCaprio by look and talent makes you perfectly understand why Rimbaud became so obsessed with him. Verlaine was a political man, he was a supporter of the Paris Commune and was in fear of the police who would have loved to nail him on a morals charge if not on a political one. Rimbaud didn't have a political opinion in the world, he was a peasant kid from the Ardennes who partied hardy, drove Verlaine crazy and jealous, but both learned and fed off each other artistically. I found it interesting that Rimbaud and Verlaine flee to Great Britain of all places to be freer, the same place that in the next generation would persecute poor Oscar Wilde.

DiCaprio and Thewlis play a couple of louts, but a fascinating pair of louts. Total Eclipse has both these guys eclipsing the supporting cast around them, that probably is the main weakness of the film. Still fans of both men shouldn't miss this film.

Arthur Rimbaud was famous for what? For changing the face of French and possibly all modern poetry. At the age of 17. Do we see any of this in the movie? No. We have a director who thinks that being gay was Rimbaud's muse. All through the film, I kept wondering, "when are they going to let him read his poetry, and show us WHY it was important, HOW it contrasted with conventional poetry at the time?" I mean, if you're brave enough to try to sell graphic homosexual scenes to a Merchant Ivory audience, then why not be brave enough to "bore" us with some literary analysis?

Genius is by nature sui generis. Most of us can only observe and wonder, and from time to time pretend we are similarly gifted. As for the actual behavior of genius, it almost always entails what is commonly known as bad manners.

The other striking feature of genius, for some but not all, is what is commonly known as insanity. Although modern science has defined various types of mental disorder and found causes and cures for some of them, it really begs the question to try to judge character or morality on the basis of scientific data. Art lies after all outside the realm of science, and always will do.

Having said that, I believe the film Total Eclipse must be reviewed or criticized solely on whether it is a good work of art. My opinion is that it succeeds at some levels, and fails at others.

I accept that the writer and director knew exactly what they were doing at every step. Except for a few quibbles about editing, I agree that the artistic concept and the technique are first rate. The musical score is excellent. The camera angles are generally adept at conveying the actions and emotions of the cast. Outdoor scenes tend to be well conceived.

Unfortunately, all that falls by the wayside because of flaws in relating the story accurately and well to its origins. Anyone familiar with the lives and work of Verlaine and Rimbaud can only cringe at the superficiality of this film. As many others have pointed out, scant attention is paid to verse, and then only in a language -- English -- that only approximates the original. It would have been a graceful beginning to make this film in France with French characters speaking French, then allowing the subtitles to fill in the gaps for non-French-speaking viewers.

What that conclusion implies, of course, is that the primary cast is wrong for this film. I really hate to say that, because DiCaprio and Thewlis are great actors doing the best they can to carry the film forward. Although I would have picked a different physical specimen for the role of Verlaine (for some odd reason the face of the late German director Fassbinder comes to mind), the choice of an androgyne for Rimbaud was physically right on target.

Finally, I am appalled at some of the comments here that betray a preoccupation with sex. "Zany" is the only word one can apply to subjective and even judgmental interpretations of this film about this or that scene or bit of action not in accord with a viewer's personal sexual expectations. My own view is that this was, if anything, a highly bowdlerized adaptation of reality.

In short, recast this in French, and focus more on the full text of Rimbaud's genius.