The Aspern Papers

Awful, just awful. Fashion - gorgeous. Set designs - spectacular. Story idea - intriguing. Movie - BORING. Jonathan R-M's acting - awful, just awful. Why is he shouting his lines? Ending - waste of time. 90 minutes of your life you will never get back.

Visually stunning and although it was a slow burn, it was worth it in the end. My only complaints and reason for less than10 stars is because the character development just wasn't there and John Reyes Meyer was terrible in this movie!! I'm normally a fan (somewhat) but in this film he acted as though he was filming his first movie out of drama school, absolutely terrible acting, the way he spoke drove me crazy! It was like he was reading lines he had just read for the first time 10 mins before! He had NO emotion or understanding of the meaning behind the words/lines. It really distracted and annoyed me throughout the film. Other than that it was fine. The 2 main female roles were AMAZING! Especially the elder lady.

I liked this artistically done movie adaptation of the Henry James story. It's beautifully shot in Venitian palazzi and the music is so appropriately used especially the Liszt piano music and Wagner at the end.

The Aspern Papers is a short novel so there's not a lot of story in this movie. But what's there is a still affecting tale of a writer with an ulterior motive and the spinster who might be able to give him the dead poet's letters he wants.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers acts strangely here - stiff and unconvincing. He delivers his lines theatrically with a strange American accent that doesn't quite convince. Joely does a convincing job as a whithered spinster who blossoms. Vanessa Redgrave really knows how to act like an old person who is in her final chapter of life.

Worth a watch.

Had high expectations but few minutes through the film I knew, it's a waste of time in spite of Vanessa Redgrave in it. The lead male act is a disaster. I think he's trying so hard, he sounds and acts like a robot.

I have old-fashioned ideas about movies. I want (1) a story that interests, (2) characters that engage me, and (3) good writing with wit. That said, I must say that this film is, simply, stilted and entirely dull. Why would anyone suffer themselves to endure the bewildering collection of disjointed dialogue. Misses, entirely the story-ideal of beginning, middle, and, end.