"Total Eclipse" Movie Review

"Total Eclipse" movie DVD cover.

"In 1871, Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)(David Thewlis), an established poet, invites boy genius Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) (Leonardo DiCaprio) to live with Paul and his young pregnant wife, Mathiltde (Romane Bohringer), in her father's home in Paris. Rimbaud's uncouth behavior disrupts the household as well as the insular society of French poets, but Verlaine finds the youth invigorating. Stewed in absinthe and resentment, Verlaine abuses Mathiltde; he and Rimbaud become lovers and abandon her. There are reconciliations and partings with Mathiltde and partings and reconciliations with Rimbaud, until an 1873 incident with a pistol sends one of them to prison. Codas dramatize the poets' final meeting and last illnesses." Written by jhailey@hotmail.com (Link below.)

Leonardo DiCaprio.

At first, I didn't think I would finish the movie because the characters are so awful to each other. But I did watch the whole thing. This film starred Leonardo DiCaprio, David Thewlis, Romane Bohringer, and Dominique Blanc.

Lots of sex, including gay sex, in this film. If you don't like butts you might not want to watch this film. Although you also get to see Ms. Bohringer's lovely boobs if you wait long enough. Verlaine's and Rimbaud's relationship is mainly sex and violence, lots of slapping and hitting and it eventually culminates in a gun shot and an arrest for sodomy.

David Thewlis (L) and
Leonardo DiCaprio.

I don't think I will watch it again, but it was an okay film. I think it would've benefited from some finessing of the characters. The costumes were well done and the acting was good, apart from Leonardo DiCaprio's lack of an accent, which I found at times to be distracting. The music was okay, but there were a lot of moments where it kind of fell flat and didn't help the story. It was just sort of there.

You can read a scene from the script here: http://roadside6.tripod.com/eclipse.htm.

Favorite Lines:

Paul Verlaine: Sometimes he speaks in a kind of tender dialect of the death which causes repentence, of the unhappy men who certainly exist, of painful tasks and heartrending departures. In the hovels where we got drunk he wept looking at those who surrounded us, the cattle of poverty. He lifted up drunks in the black streets. He had the pity a bad mother has for small children. He moved with the grace of a little girl at catechism. He pretended to know about everything, business, art, medicine. I followed him, I had to! 

Leonardo DiCaprio as
Arthur Rimbaud.

Arthur Rimbaud: I have no intention of taking a job. My work is going far too well - I can't afford to waste time earning money. 

Arthur Rimbaud: The only unbearable thing is that nothing is unbearable. 

Arthur Rimbaud: I've found it. 

Paul Verlaine: What? 

Arthur Rimbaud: Eternity. It's the sun mingled with the sea.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114702/.