Utterly ravishing and incredibly dull. This film adaptation of one of Colette's most famous ( infamous?) books is sadly one lacking in depth and it fails to capture the sharp wit and bite of the original work.
Michelle Pfeiffer as always looks ethereally beautiful, if somewhat tired as the high-class Courtesan Lea and Rupert Friend's Cheri is suitably immature, dissolute and spoilt. Their love affair, one of almost Oedipal proportions, never rings true and the great subtleties of the book are sadly more or less missing.
Unfortunately the acting takes a poor second place to the astonishingly ravishing costumes and sets and the stunning cinematography. Anyone with even the remotest interest in Art Nouveau should find enough in this movie alone to satisfy their lust for Belle-Epoque art and design.
The movie however languishes and fizzles rather than sparkles and I must admit being rather bored by lack-lustre direction. There is no chemistry between any of the actors and no sense of the deep passions aroused. What is an elegy to the vagaries of ageing and time as well as Love is lost in a vapid production of lukewarm performances. Cheri leaves you cold.
I was disappointed because Colette's work deserved a much subtler and yet more vigourous handling and I could not help but feel distracted by the almost perfect aesthetic look of the piece. Such beauty should have been a perfect setting for a potential jewel of a film but the opportunity was missed, able actors wasted and one is left with a certain ennui at the end .
Lacking in vibrancy and "elan", Cheri fails to impress despite a most impressive cast (even Kathy Bates fails to truly entertain) and the most polished of film designs I have seen in a while. Perfect for period details but lacking in wit, a real missed opportunity.
Michelle Pfeiffer as always looks ethereally beautiful, if somewhat tired as the high-class Courtesan Lea and Rupert Friend's Cheri is suitably immature, dissolute and spoilt. Their love affair, one of almost Oedipal proportions, never rings true and the great subtleties of the book are sadly more or less missing.
Unfortunately the acting takes a poor second place to the astonishingly ravishing costumes and sets and the stunning cinematography. Anyone with even the remotest interest in Art Nouveau should find enough in this movie alone to satisfy their lust for Belle-Epoque art and design.
The movie however languishes and fizzles rather than sparkles and I must admit being rather bored by lack-lustre direction. There is no chemistry between any of the actors and no sense of the deep passions aroused. What is an elegy to the vagaries of ageing and time as well as Love is lost in a vapid production of lukewarm performances. Cheri leaves you cold.
I was disappointed because Colette's work deserved a much subtler and yet more vigourous handling and I could not help but feel distracted by the almost perfect aesthetic look of the piece. Such beauty should have been a perfect setting for a potential jewel of a film but the opportunity was missed, able actors wasted and one is left with a certain ennui at the end .
Lacking in vibrancy and "elan", Cheri fails to impress despite a most impressive cast (even Kathy Bates fails to truly entertain) and the most polished of film designs I have seen in a while. Perfect for period details but lacking in wit, a real missed opportunity.