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One of Australian cinema's forays into the European market through the French, known for their particular style of filmmaking that is often period-based and focusses on character relationships more than anything. ISABELLE EBERHARDT is certainly not a failure, and does not deserve the rating of 4.5/10 as shown on the page - unfortunately with rating sites such as these, the less a film appeals to the status quo, the lower its rating will be. Having said that, the film is not a roaring success either. While the performances are quite passable, the script is a little murky (though perhaps it was intended that way - the story is certainly easy enough to follow), but the main problem with the film - aside from its constant darkness (did someone forget to turn on the lights in some scenes, or was that just the quality of print I saw??) - was the unclear development of the characters, particularly the central one, Isabelle. For me - and perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention - Isabelle went from naive journalist to floundering self-doubter in just over a minute... All in all, though, a well-made introduction to a period and place that has been seldom portrayed in conventional western cinema, and congratulations to the Australian and French film industries for attempting such a project. Rating: 6/10
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