The Aspern Papers

Oh dear me, what a frightful mess. Really no or little story line with such wooden acting from the main protagonist it was painful to watch. Avoid.

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.

This is a first-time director's outing, IIRC. As such, it's usually bound to be bare-bones budget and limited sets and resources. That means a lot of people talking, or, if euro, a lot of people looking. And then on top of it, this is about some obscure, mysterious poet and those who crave to know more about him.

Someone made a creative decision for the lead (probably the director-cowriter), ryhs-meyers, to speak as if he were speaking off the pages of henry james' novel dialogue, only more robotically. It was the worst decision in this project. It repeatedly distracts and pulls us out of the story because it offends the modern ear.

Otherwise, this is a series of sparse acting gems for fans of vanessa redgrave. Richardson and rhys meyers just support the script and redgrave.

On the plus side, if you're in the mood for a moody, quiet, costume-rich period piece set and shot in venice, where not a single car chase or gunshot is to be found, then this will do adequately. I gave it a six for that reason. You don't come away from this film any stupider than you started, and that gets me at least a five these days. If it's about literature and costume-set pieces, then that's one point in general.

The thing about this particular movie is that it had a good story. And it could've been a great movie just telling said story. But the movie decided to be artsy. And it was ruined for that. Then it got messy, dragged itself for ages in senseless scenes, and its greatest sin, wasted a solid performance for Vanessa Redgrave.

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.