[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    EmmysSuperheroes GuideSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideBest Of 2025 So FarDisability Pride MonthSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Oncle Boonmee (celui qui se souvient de ses vies antérieures)

Original title: Loong Boonmee raleuk chat
  • 2010
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 54m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
18K
YOUR RATING
Oncle Boonmee (celui qui se souvient de ses vies antérieures) (2010)
On his deathbed, Uncle Boonmee, recalls his many past lives.
Play trailer1:41
1 Video
99+ Photos
DramaFantasy

Dying of kidney disease, a man spends his last, somber days with family, including the ghost of his wife and a forest spirit who used to be his son, on a rural northern Thailand farm.Dying of kidney disease, a man spends his last, somber days with family, including the ghost of his wife and a forest spirit who used to be his son, on a rural northern Thailand farm.Dying of kidney disease, a man spends his last, somber days with family, including the ghost of his wife and a forest spirit who used to be his son, on a rural northern Thailand farm.

  • Director
    • Apichatpong Weerasethakul
  • Writers
    • Phra Sripariyattiweti
    • Apichatpong Weerasethakul
  • Stars
    • Thanapat Saisaymar
    • Jenjira Pongpas
    • Sakda Kaewbuadee
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    18K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Apichatpong Weerasethakul
    • Writers
      • Phra Sripariyattiweti
      • Apichatpong Weerasethakul
    • Stars
      • Thanapat Saisaymar
      • Jenjira Pongpas
      • Sakda Kaewbuadee
    • 95User reviews
    • 227Critic reviews
    • 87Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 11 wins & 25 nominations total

    Videos1

    Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
    Trailer 1:41
    Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

    Photos104

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 97
    View Poster

    Top cast26

    Edit
    Thanapat Saisaymar
    Thanapat Saisaymar
    • Boonmee
    Jenjira Pongpas
    Jenjira Pongpas
    • Jen…
    Sakda Kaewbuadee
    Sakda Kaewbuadee
    • Tong…
    Natthakarn Aphaiwonk
    • Huay…
    Geerasak Kulhong
    Geerasak Kulhong
    • Boonsong…
    Wallapa Mongkolprasert
    Wallapa Mongkolprasert
    • Princess
    Kanokporn Tongaram
    • Roong
    • (as Kanokporn Thongaram)
    • …
    Samud Kugasang
    • Jaai…
    Sumit Suebsee
    • Soldier
    Mathieu Ly
    • Farmer
    Vien Pimdee
    • Farmer
    Akachai Aodvieng
    Prakasit Padsena
    Nikom Kammach
    Chophaka Chaiyuchit
    Winai Ruenrerng
    Kumgieng Jittamaat
    Miti Jittamaat
    • Director
      • Apichatpong Weerasethakul
    • Writers
      • Phra Sripariyattiweti
      • Apichatpong Weerasethakul
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews95

    6.718.3K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    7garcalej

    Light on story, high on contemplative surrealism.

    I'll be frank. Whether or not you enjoy this movie will depend largely on whether or not you are a die hard film buff or a casual movie goer looking for a story. If you are the later, then aside from the eerie sight of the red eyed Monkey Spirits, you will come away disappointed.

    That said, there is much in Uncle Boonmee to like, but like the Buddhist aesthetic the film is steeped in, you have to be ready for it. Because this is one film that demands a lot of patience of the viewer.

    Set in rural Isan Province, Thailand, the story follows the last days of a well to-do farmer, the titular Boonmee, who is dying of a terminal illness. Like all dying men, Boonmee can't help but wax philosophic, both on the nature of death itself and on his own past mistakes, and one night while eating with his family is suddenly and abruptly joined by two spirits, the first of his dead wife, Huay, the second that of his missing son, Boonsong, who has inexplicably been transformed into a black monkey. Anyone even remotely familiar with the prior work of Director Weerasethakul (try saying that with a mouthful of marbles), particularly Tropical Malady, will know that such surrealism is a common theme in his films, with its signature mix of traditional Thai Buddhism and animist lore. As in Tropical Malady, the day belongs to the living and the mundane, but night brings on ghosts, animal spirits, the shades of ancestors, and the inner musings and anxieties of Weerasethakul's characters.

    The film itself feels much like a Buddhist temple; with its long uninterrupted and unadorned shots, and its devotion to capturing trivial moments, it is not so much a vehicle for storytelling as contemplation. The last film to be shot with celluloid as opposed to digital, it is the director's self-admitted funerary ode to a dying medium.
    chaos-rampant

    A state of concentration..

    This movie is meditation, a state of concentration. I only wish I wasn't tired when I saw it last night because my concentration waned, I could feel the movie slipping between my fingers and trying to wilfully sustain the experience can't work. This is a Buddhist film, but it's Thai Buddhist (the form they practice in Thailand came from Sri Lanka and is from the earliest strata of Buddhism), it's spiritual but it's not esoteric in the manner of the Tibetans, ancient but not arcane. It's not Buddhist because Boonmee may or may not be recalling on his deathbed his past and future lives, or because there are ghosts and demons and a talking catfish, this is colorful lore, the illusory flowers of mind. It's Buddhist because it's aware of the moment. Not so strangely, it's the fantastical bits that seem to make the film watchable for most people, yet if we come to this film to satisfy our need for something to happen, we break the spell. The spell here for me is the awareness of life as is, the clear vision of a heaven in the present world.

    Here's a camera that doesn't describe a world, it allows it to emerge in its own time. Sometimes this tests my patience but I appreciate that it doesn't make amends and concessions. Cessation, stillness of mind, true perception, these are all vital and desirable here, and they can only happen in their own time, they can't be forced. I appreciate that and I appreciate the limitations of my own viewing. In those moments that my eyes and the movie adjust, I am blissful. Two moments exemplify this, the one is a table out in the verandah by night, insects buzzing around a light and everything is quiet, this is the summer night for me. The other is Uncle Boonmee lying down on a bed in his honeykeeping shed, it's noon and crickets are humming from the trees, this is the summer day. It reminds me of the remembrance of spring in Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us.

    The finale is rather interesting, despite the above. A lot of viewers seem to regard it as Weeresethakul's comment on the alienation fostered by the niceties of modern society. It is its own comment on the place of Buddhism in one such society, where the garments of the monk mean nothing, but instead of inferring that a day's hard work out in the open is preferable to watching TV Weeresethakul could have not made a movie to begin with (that calls for us to sit alone from one another in a dark room where flickering lights are projected).

    But I don't think that such a simple conclusion was what was intended. I see vision that wants to encompass the world of ambiguities. The family may be sitting in the silent, staring at a box, but I got the sense of quiet warmth coming from the simple togetherness, a certain soothing affect that is possible only in people who can sit together without a need for words. Who can relax simply in the presence of each other.

    This is valuable work, and I believe it will be cherished by viewers who feel the chakras of cinema should be purified and set ablaze now and then.
    6jaychou_21

    Elusive.

    Incoherent, unpredictable, mystical, yet undoubtedly original, "Uncle Boonmee Who Call Recall His Past Lives" is a pseudo-profound cinematic venture that reeks with allegory and mythical undertones. After watching this film, I've come to a conclusion that it is certainly not for everyone.

    Despite its strange recurring themes about supernatural beings, spirits, Buddhist philosophy, karma, and reincarnation, it will bathe you with its gentleness and natural ornateness. It is intimate and surprisingly elegant, though not without its flaws.

    Much like Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life," this motion picture lacks a linear narrative. It doesn't have what most of us would require from a movie: a plot. It heavily relies on hypnotic images captured into still wide frames that often drag longer than the easily-bored viewer can bear.

    Then there's the noticeable absence of a musical score. You never get to hear music until the last few minutes of the film; all you'll hear besides the dialogues are crickets, the rustling of leaves, a water buffalo, the sound of an electric fly swatter zapping flying bugs, footsteps, a waterfall, and a talking catfish that made love to a disfigured princess.

    Simple and ambitious; primitive and modern; eerie and comforting; senseless and driven; and dull and brilliant, this Thai film gives you a one-of-a-kind viewing experience. If you are into esoteric art films, this is something I would highly recommend. If you loathe movies that seem to have no meaning, then this is not for you.

    Confounding as it is, "Uncle Boonmee..." is a film that doesn't need to be understood; it simply has to be FELT.
    4YourMovieSucksDOTorg

    Beautiful shots, but not much else.

    I just finished watching this movie for the second time. I saw it twice because I was torn between making the decision of whether it was absolute garbage, or a work of genius. It's pretty much garbage. Sorry.

    Picture this: you download some pictures of Thai forests and caves from National Geographic. You then download "Forest Sounds Vol. 2". You play a slide-show of these pictures whilst listening to the ominous and atmospheric sounds of the jungle. After about 10 minutes, you stop what you're doing and sit in a corner for an hour and a half. Then, you go back to your slide-show and sound effects for another 10 minutes. This is the movie in a nutshell.

    There are some beautiful shots within the movie, and it's obvious there was some talent because they make a point to keep these still shots on the screen for as long as possible. The background sounds add a lot to the movie as well, but everything else was just plain bad. All of the acting was quiet and monotonous, and it didn't make it seem more natural at all.

    The dialogue was terrible. Nothing made sense. As much as I would love to be even more pretentious about movies than I already am, and rave about how people don't understand this movie, there actually is really nothing to understand. All of the characters were the same. Any subtleties within them are just projections of the viewer filling in the blanks, and believe me, they are blank.

    The majority of the movie was filler.

    Garbage.
    8JoshuaDysart

    Elegant and sublime...

    In a spirit haunted primordial jungle a joyful man is quietly, harmlessly dying, though there is never less than a smile on his face.

    The phases of his life play out before him. He is a farmer, a soldier, teller of myths, a husband, a father, an uncle. All these things quietly take their place in the narrative until the time when he must enter the underworld and pass on, guided by those who love him, both living and dead.

    As Boonmee reflects on his life the arc of Thailand plays out as well. From contemplative agrarian past, through the time of fables, to the war with the communist and on into the disaffected, modernist future where we see ourselves seeing ourselves seeing ourselves.

    All told with a minimal amount of fuss and effects, sewn together with threads of human intimacy, small gestures, a little sly humor and an over all meditative, knowing, measured rhythm.

    There was another movie out last year that claimed it was about dreams... an American film. It made a lot of money but felt false and boisterous. Nothing about it felt like dreaming to me at all. This movie IS a dream. Everything about it feels like a dream. The difference between the two is the difference between spectacle and ritual. Uncle Boonmee is ritualized cinema in its purest form, ancient in its wisdom and avant-garde in its form.

    More like this

    Cemetery of Splendour
    6.8
    Cemetery of Splendour
    Syndromes and a Century
    7.3
    Syndromes and a Century
    Tropical Malady
    7.1
    Tropical Malady
    Memoria
    6.4
    Memoria
    Mekong Hotel
    6.1
    Mekong Hotel
    Beau Travail
    7.3
    Beau Travail
    A Letter to Uncle Boonmee
    6.8
    A Letter to Uncle Boonmee
    On Blue
    8.2
    On Blue
    L'ascension
    8.2
    L'ascension
    Mysterious Object at Noon
    6.7
    Mysterious Object at Noon
    Ten Years Thailand
    6.2
    Ten Years Thailand
    La Honte
    8.0
    La Honte

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Shot on 16mm film rather than digital. Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul wanted to film in this format as the film is all about dying traditions.
    • Goofs
      The first time a ghost appears, during dinner, the nephew passes the ghost a glass of water. You can see the ghost image superimposed over the nephew's arm when he places the glass of water on the table.
    • Quotes

      Huay: Heaven is over-rated. There's nothing there.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Cannes Film Festival 2010 (2010)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ

    • How long is Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives?
      Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 1, 2010 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • Thailand
      • United Kingdom
      • France
      • Germany
      • Spain
      • Netherlands
    • Official sites
      • Anna Sanders Films (France)
      • Geißendörfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion (GFF) (Germany)
    • Languages
      • Thai
      • French
      • Lao
    • Also known as
      • Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
    • Filming locations
      • Thailand
    • Production companies
      • Kick the Machine
      • Illuminations Films
      • Anna Sanders Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $184,292
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $23,540
      • Mar 6, 2011
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,214,424
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 54 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Oncle Boonmee (celui qui se souvient de ses vies antérieures) (2010)
    Top Gap
    What is the Hindi language plot outline for Oncle Boonmee (celui qui se souvient de ses vies antérieures) (2010)?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.