Simply Perfect

Good concept, poorly executed.

Crappy film

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Odd, unique, beautifully photographed character study/love story. Two eccentrics, one the rich owner of a glass-works (Cate Blanchette), and one an emotionally damaged and physically fragile young minister (Ralph Fiennes) are united in friendship, and eventually romance by their obsession with gambling. Blanchette is luminous and wonderful. Fiennes pushes at times, going right up to the edge and occasionally over it with his tics and quirks, but he's ultimately very deeply effecting. A strange mix of tones, comic, romantic; it behaves both like an epic and a parody of one. But it has never failed to move me, and it's full of moments where the beautiful imagery dances so well with Thomas Newman's delicate score that I get a shiver.

This film has shown that Australian filming industry has something to say. Almost everything is done with a lot of attention to detail. For instance, the plot is coherent and includes a great deal of figurative, meaningful scenes, for example water plays an important role as a symbol of life and cleansing all sins. As far as acting is concerned, I would give the highest note for that without a moment of hesitation. R. Fienes and company have done a lot of good work to show convincingly the hectic, unusual protagonists. If it comes to music, it enhances the power of the film, however it passes rather unnoticed. One thing I did not like is that this film depicts relations between white settlers and the natives in politically correct approach; namely the whites shoot indigenous people, rape them, do not respect their rituals, etc. I feel that this great theme of Australian cinema needs a bit of differentiation, things not always looked like that. Besides that little thing seeing, I consider this work as a masterpiece.

This is a beautifully filmed movie about absolutely nothing. Happily, I saw it on television or I would really have felt cheated. The only reason I watched it to the end was to see how many anachronisms, absurd improbabilities and historical inaccuracies the film would commit; there were enough to keep me slightly amused for about an hour. After sixty minutes of so, the movie seemed to drag on for ever because it was so full of nonsense that would never have happened in Victorian times or any other time for that matter. Just being beautifully shot wasn't enough. What a waste of a fine cast! That may be the thing that got me most vexed about this movie.

Based on Australian novelist, Peter Carey's award-winning book, Oscar and Lucinda, this is a faithful period piece about iconoclasts and their attempt to find love and purpose in strait-laced society despite their fears and obsessions.Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett have glorious, quirky chemistry in the title roles. Ralph Fiennes is such a mercurial actor that while watching this film, it's hard to believe this is the same man that played Amon Goeth in Schindler's List and Charles Van Doren in Quiz Show.Cate Blanchett was discovered by Director Shekhar Kapur and awarded the title role in Elizabeth as a result of her natural, unforced acting in this little-seen Gillian Armstrong film. Brilliantly adapted, visually stunning, and (above all) extremely well-acted this is a film that it would be sad to miss.