Oscar and Lucinda

source: Oscar and Lucinda

film of a state. not an ordinary one, not easy to define it , unique, provocative, refuge and desert, giving brilliant performances and special atmosphere. a film for remind. old lectures, pictures and situations, characters and meets. and, in same measure, good opportunity to escape. in a fragile, convincing, ambiguous universe. it is a film who must see. for performances and for great cinematography. for lovely trip in the essence of things. and for the delicate portrait of life. and, maybe, for the flavor of a surprising parable. it is it. a trip. across vulnerable worlds and steps in the middle of a kind of fairy tale.

Why hasn't this movie been released on DVD? If I'm wrong, please correct me. The palette of colors, the wondrous settings, the cast -- the beauty of Ralph Fiennes eyes, Cate Blanchette's cheekbones --, the way nature and industry, religious piety and intemperance conflict and coalesce is too magnificent to describe in a short review. See the movie and read Peter Carey's novel.

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.

I love Cate Blanchett and also admire Ralph Fiennes's acting skills. They are both superb actors and i was thrilled to see them together in a film. But i do wish they would've picked a more interesting project. This movie was so mind numbingly slow and boring that it's a disgrace to their careers (in my humble opinion). Sometimes movie can be a bit of a bore plot-wise, but it might have something in it that makes it worth your while. Actors do a magnificent job with character development; music score is specially outstanding or cinematography very good etc. Well, this movie was completely average. Acting was OK etc, but all in all i consider these two hours a waste of time. The movie left me no emotions - except maybe perhaps a pressing wish to go to IMDb.com and write a warning review. 5/10 points

This movie was truly awful. I don't know what movie the rest of you watched. But I found the acting atrocious, the plot trite, the characters incredibly clichéd and the lack of drama depressing. This was a low budget "character-driven" flop. Since I don't want to post spoilers I can't comment on specific scenes. But...there were so, so many scenes that just didn't work. Scene after scene, piled on top of each other. One bad directoral decision after another. And the actors were not -that- bad. But they weren't -that- good either. I watched this because I was looking for something 'Victorian'. And as a historical recreation piece it wasn't bad. In every other way it was god awful. And had one of the worst endings ever put in a movie. In summary? I hated, hated, hated it. There was not a single redeeming feature. Not a single scene in the last 45 minutes had an iota of believability. It was...jarring and rushed and poorly constructed. I gave it a 1.

There are many films that are so controversial yet so beautiful, they appeal to only a select number of individuals. "Oscar & Lucinda" is one such triumph. It manages to border on heresy and yet sustain profoundness. Altogether a masterful piece of work from one of my favorite directors (Armstrong also filmed "Charlotte Gray," and "Little Women"), with an absolutely stunning, star-studded (before they were "big") cast. You simply cannot comment on the film without considering the two leading cast members. Cate Blanchett is stunning here. She was beautiful, aloof, and impressive as "Elizabeth," but her role as the uncertain yet adventurous Lucinda is extremely memorable. Note her childish transformation into womanhood -- the discovery that not all tales have happy endings, that love eventually leads to sorrow. Her scenes with Ralph Fiennes literally crackle with intensity. These are two actors who manage to convince us they're not acting. The passion and devotion put into the role gives the film it's sparkle beyond the stunning cinematography and absolutely breathtaking musical score. Ralph Fiennes is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors. He's extremely versatile and never shies away from challenging roles, whether it's a heartless Nazi in WWII, a Cambridge professor caught up in the throes of a quiz show scandal, or the impassioned Evgene Onegin. With "Oscar" we see him literally at his finest. The appropriately-nicknamed Academy Award should have been handed to him the day this sweet little Australian film premiered. His Oscar is passionate, guilt-ridden, complex, and utterly sweet. If you're not in tears by the end, you've not managed to give your heart over to one of the most fascinating literary characters ever created. The sub-roles are all very good (Richard Roxburg in yet ANOTHER 'villainous' lead, but no one minds his untimely demise; Cirian Hinds in the upper-crust role of a minister shocked by his lady friend's gambling habits, even Geoffrey Rush as the unseen narrorator) and lend themselves to a highly romantic atmosphere. I love a slowly unfolding, deep love story but dislike superficial attachments. In the course of this film you believe Oscar & Lucinda actually get to know one another. They're involved in a series of "narrow hits and misses," which make the ending all the more tragic. They "connect" in a way other people cannot; in a world full of round holes, two square pegs make the perfect match. The religious aspect of this film is also highly interesting. As a Christian myself, I regard anything bordering on heresy with wary suspicion. At first glance, the film borderlines on blasphemy, as Oscar so prudently considers in a key scene ("... unless it is blasphemy to consider mortal pleasure on the level of the divine!") when comparing eternal salvation to gambling ("It's all a gamble, isn't it?"), but if you take the time to explore it more fully, there are very realistic truths tucked in with the uncertainties. Oscar eventually does find Truth and clings to his beliefs to the bitter end. The rivalry between different denominations is also notable. Older viewers seeking enthralling but not necessarily uplifting entertainment will find "Oscar & Lucinda" an excellent way to spend a couple of hours, particularly in a group. There is one scene of sexual content that is offensive (although clothed and necessary to the plot; for my own enjoyment, I always skip this provincial scene) but otherwise the film is surprisingly light in content. But it's a movie you shouldn't enter lightly. Out of the group of friends I showed it to one weekend, two out of five found it "depressing." But the rest of us were enthralled.

This is one of my favorite movies. Regular readers of my comments will wonder why I elevate it to my "must see" category Part of the reason I want you to see it is because of how well it pairs with Cate's masterpiece, "Heaven." Now, that film can stand on its own as a transcendent cinematic experience. It easily shifts us from a "real" world into one more magical and over the course of the experience that distance increases. It took Kieslowski's notion of cinematic distance and added the journey to that distance. It is one of the most important successful experiments in cinema and it owes much to the collaboration of Cate. That reflects on this. A smaller project. A less ambitious director, but still with an affecting emotional directness. A pre-existing story that has literary strengths that become cinematic defects. And yet there is that same collaboration with the creating of an alternative magical reality fueled by obsession. There is that same smooth slide from here to there. There is that same equating of wilderness (a Herzogian river) to the internal landscape. The same trigger of the gamble. And also, there is the remarkable glass chapel. One shot has it moving down the river, but it seems as if it is floating through the trees. You are dead if that does not stick with you for years. Alas, not much is made of a central image in the book — the tensed glass tears that explode when gently traced at their origin. The major flaw is Fiennes. Both brothers have a sort of forehead acting style which unravels much of the subtleties of Cate's acting by breathing. But she is so breathtaking an actress in both these films, even though she is only the referent in the last part of this. See the two films in one night. Any order. Ted's Evaluation -- 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.

After a slow beginning, Oscar and Lucinda meet and create a peculiar relationship with God on one side and the addiction of gambling on the other. The last half hour is quiet fascinating as Oscar takes a journey to sail a glass church down the river and into a small secluded town. This unfortunately was treated with rather hastily, not given the attention the early scenes received. But we still get the picture and by the end of it Ralph Fiennes' brilliant performance as the saintly manic, bible guilt-ridden, phobia riddled Oscar, makes it worth the while.

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.