Themes: Bohemian Life, Self-Destructive Romance, Writer's Life
Main Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, David Thewlis, Romane Bohringer, Dominique Blanc
Release Year: 1995
Country: BE/UK/FR
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This historical drama, directed by Agnieszka Holland, focuses on the rocky relationship between the renowned 19th century French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a teenage wunderkind known for his rebelliousness against conventional society and his surrealistic writing. He disrupts the life of Verlaine (David Thewlis), a more conventional writer who is older and married to a dutiful young wife, Mathilde (Romane Bohringer). The drunken Verlaine is unkind to Mathilde, even though her father is providing him with a house and an income to live on while he pursues his writing. Rimbaud overwhelms Verlaine, mocking his conventionality, constantly disrupting his domestic life, and somehow attracting the maniacal love of the older man. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Review
Filmed during that strange post-What's Eating Gilbert Grape, pre-Titanic phase when Leonardo DiCaprio was busy turning out admirable performances in movies nobody wanted to see, Total Eclipse proves a rare misfire from the normally consistent Agnieszka Holland. Although it boasts a script by Oscar-winning dramaturge Christopher Hampton and committed performances from noted thespians David Thewlis and Romane Bohringer, Total Eclipse quickly devolves into "the Leo show." For an interminable 110 minutes, DiCaprio showily engages in all manner of outré behavior: climbing trees, braying at animals, screaming at lovers, talking in funny voices, showing off his bony shoulders, submitting to rough bouts of sodomy, declaiming pretentious verse, and otherwise acting like, well, a capital-A Actor. It's anyone's guess whether the extreme tedium that ensues says more about DiCaprio the journeyman performer or Rimbaud, the drama-queen poet he's portraying. Either way, Total Eclipse fails miserably in its quest to present poetry as the rock & roll of the 19th century. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Denise Chalem - Mrs. Maute De Fleurville; Christopher Chaplin - Charles Cros; Nita Klein - Rimbaud's Mother; Andrzej Seweryn - Mr. Maute De Fleurville; James Thierree - Frederic; Christopher Thompson - Carjat; Christopher Hampton - The Judge
Credit
Nathalie Buck - Art Director, Dominique Lacour - Boom Operator, Margot Capelier - Casting, Philip Hinchcliffe - Co-producer, Cat Villiers - Co-producer, Pierre-Yves Gayraud - Costume Designer, Christophe Cheysson - First Assistant Director, Julien Zidi - First Assistant Director, Serge De Closets - First Assistant Director, Fabrice Nordmann - First Assistant Director, Agnieszka Holland - Director, Isabelle Lorente - Editor, Staffan Ahrenberg - Executive Producer, Jean-Yves Asselin - Executive Producer, Anny Arguedas - Hair Styles, Dany Beughin - Hair Styles, Esther De Goey - Hair Styles, Michel Demonteix - Hair Styles, An Schiettekat - Hair Styles, Didier Carrel - Location Manager, Lieve Vyncke - Location Manager, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - Composer (Music Score), Laurent Quaglio - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bernard Floch - Makeup, Sylvie Lorthiois - Makeup, Anthony Gaillard - Makeup Special Effects, Pierre-Olivier Thevenin - Makeup Special Effects, Jean-Louis Angelini - Camera Operator, Dan Weil - Production Designer, Georges Arvanitis - Cinematographer, Guy De Lombaert - Production Manager, Pascale Faubert - Producer, Jean-Pierre Ramsay-Levi - Producer, Christian Renaud - Special Effects, Philippe Teissier - Special Effects, Guy Vanderplaetsen - Special Effects, Francois Groult - Sound/Sound Designer, Laurent Quaglio - Sound/Sound Designer, Michel Boulen - Sound/Sound Designer, Joelle Balland - Stunts, Patrick Cauderlier - Stunts Coordinator, Christine de Jekel - Unit Production Manager, Christopher Hampton - Screenwriter, Mario Van Donnick - Production Assistant, Krystyna Wydzga - Executive Music Producer, Fabrice Moindrot - First Assistant Camera, Jean-Claude Neveu - Gaffer, Stephane Rouillon - Grip, Gerard Mienville - Key Grip, Martine Barraqué-Curie - Post Production Supervisor, Francoise Piraud - Post Production Supervisor, Jean-Pierre Lemoine - Properties Master, Bruno Terriere - Re-Recording Mixer, Marie Saby - Script Supervisor, Patrick De Ranter - Steadicam Operator, Etienne George - Still Photographer, Elly Verduyckt - Assistant Location Manager, Diana Dresen - Assistant Makeup, Veerle Martens - Assistant Makeup, Michel Bubola - Best Boy Electric, Henri Frerebeau - Construction Coordinator, Benjamin Lubet - Costumes Assistant, Safira Adam - Costumes Assistant, Lydie Charpentier - Costumes Assistant, Francoise Dumoulin - Costumes Assistant, Claudine Leliart - Costumes Assistant, Emanuelle Pelletier - Costumes Assistant, Pascaline Van Heddegem - Costumes Assistant, Jean-Pierre Goilard - Dolly Grip, Bert Haemelinck - Electrician, Christian Krithari - Electrician, Michel Michau - Electrician, Gilles Oeuvray - Electrician, Jo Voets - Electrician, Heleen Verhelst - Extra Casting, Marie-Sylvie Caillierez - Extra Casting, Katia Meulemans - Extra Casting, Julie Jouaffre - First Assistant Editor, Santiago Thevenet - First Assistant Editor, Laurent Levy - Foley Artist, Pascal Maziere - Foley Artist, Jocelyne Millet - Key Hairstylist, Odile Fourquin - Key Make-up, Kasia Adamik - Storyboard Artist, Katarzyna Adamik - Storyboard Artist, Francoise Benoit-Fresco - Set Decorator, Sven Derbaix - Set Decorator, Geert Loyens - Set Decorator, Bart Luypaert - Set Decorator, Didier Colin - Focus Puller, Willy Bulterys - Generator Operator, Thierry Debove - Generator Operator, Bruno Garny - Generator Operator, Alain Darthou - Assistant Set Decorator, Anne-Marie Duval - Assistant Set Decorator, Julien Grisot - Assistant Set Decorator, Eric Jolly - Assistant Unit Manager
Total Eclipse is a 1995 film directed by Agnieszka Holland, based on a 1967 play by Christopher Hampton, who also wrote the screenplay. Based on letters and poems, it presents a historically accurate account of the passionate and violent relationship between the two 19th century French poets Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) and Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio), at a time of soaring creativity for both of them.
The older Paul Verlaine meets the dead Arthur Rimbaud's sister in a café in Paris. Rimbaud's sister and mother want Verlaine to hand over any copies he may still have of Rimbaud poems so that they can burn them; they fear the lewdness of his writings. Verlaine reflects on the wild relationship he had had with Rimbaud, beginning when the teen-aged Rimbaud had sent his poetry to Verlaine from his home in the provinces in 1871. Verlaine, instantly fascinated, impulsively invites him to his rich father-in-law's home in Paris, where he lives with his young, pregnant wife. The wild, eccentric Rimbaud displays no sense of manners or decency whatever, scandalising Verlaine's pretentious, bourgeois in-laws.
Verlaine is seduced by the 16-year-old Rimbaud's physical body as well as by the unique originality of his mind. The staid respectability of married, heterosexual life and easy, middle class surroundings had been stifling Verlaine's admittedly sybaritic literary talent. His taking up with Rimbaud is as much a rebellion and a liberation as it is a giving in to self-indulgence and masochism. Rimbaud acts as sadistically to Verlaine as does Verlaine to his young wife, whom he eventually deserts. A violent, itinerant relationship ensues between the two poets, the sad climax of which arrives in Brussels when an enraged and practically insane Verlaine shoots and wounds Rimbaud and is sentenced to prison for sodomy and attempted murder.
In prison, Verlaine converts to Christianity, to his erstwhile lover's disgust. Upon release he meets Rimbaud in Germany, vainly and mistakenly seeking to revive the relationship. The two men part, however, never to meet again. Bitterly renouncing literature in any form, Rimbaud travels the world alone, finally settling in Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) to run a "trading post". There he has a mistress and possibly a young boy-lover. A tumor in his right knee forces him back to France where his leg is amputated. Nevertheless, the cancer spreads and he dies at the age of 37.
Rimbaud's sister asserts that her brother had accepted confession from a priest right before he died and shown Christian penitence, which is why only the censored versions of his poetry should survive. Verlaine pretends to agree but tears up her card after she leaves. Later, Verlaine, drinking absinthe (to which he has become addicted), sees a vision of Rimbaud, returned from some transcendent realm to express the love and respect Verlaine has thus posthumously earned.
The most common criticism was that the film never explained the importance of these two poets' work, especially their role in the development of the Symbolist movement. Critics also said the film had little character development aside from showing the two famous French poets at a critical and radically unhappy moment in their lives.
Critics did generally feel that the acting, musical score and cinematography were all well done, although some felt that DiCaprio played the character too closely to his role in the film The Basketball Diaries.
Gay film critics noted that the film allowed the two poets to come out of the closet, and made a point of dealing with gay and straight love scenes even-handedly.
DVD
In 1999, a DVD edition of the film was released. It does not have any of the special features that people have come to expect from a DVD such as deleted scenes, cast or director audio commentaries. However, it did feature both a widescreen and fullscreen version of the movie on the same disc as well as the film trailer.
