Total Eclipse (1995)

A genius 16-year-old 18th century poet and his mentor fall for each other, but, over time, their romantic relationship becomes bitter and violent.

Director:

Agnieszka Holland

Writer:

Christopher Hampton (screenplay)

Stars:

Leonardo DiCaprio, David Thewlis, Romane Bohringer

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Arthur Rimbaud
David Thewlis	...	Paul Verlaine
Romane Bohringer	...	Mathilde Maute
Dominique Blanc	...	Isabelle Rimbaud
Felicie Pasotti Cabarbaye	...	Isabelle, as a child
Nita Klein	...	Rimbaud's Mother
James Thiérrée	...	Frederic
Emmanuelle Oppo	...	Vitalie
Denise Chalem	...	Mrs. Maute De Fleurville
Andrzej Seweryn	...	Mr. Maute De Fleurville
Christopher Thompson	...	Carjat
Bruce Van Barthold	...	Aicard
Christopher Chaplin	...	Charles Cros
Christopher Hampton	...	The Judge
Mathias Jung	...	Andre

Storyline

In 1871, Paul Verlaine (1844-1896), an established poet, invites boy genius Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) to live with Paul and his young pregnant wife, Mathiltde, 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.

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Plot Keywords:

poet | genius | pregnant wife | mentor | pistol | 

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Taglines:

Impassioned by genius. Inflamed by desire. Imprisoned by love.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality and nudity, language, and some startling violence

Details

Official Sites:

Fine Line Features

Country:

UK France Belgium

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

El fuego y la sombra

Filming Locations:

Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium

Box Office

Gross:

$339,889 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

FIT Productions, Portman Productions, Société Française de Production (SFP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ouzo was used as a replacement for absinthe for the drinking scenes filmed on the first day. Because the scene turned out so well, method drinking was adopted for the rest of filming. As a result, Thewlis had admitted in a interview that he can't really remember making the film at all.

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Goofs

In the Café Andre where the adult Isabelle Rimbaud meets with Paul Verlaine, the typeface on the window is clearly in Helvetica, a typeface that was not created until 1954.

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Quotes

[first 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. ...

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Connections

Referenced in Entourage: The Scene (2004)

User Reviews

Painful but worthy film

This art-house film is not a crowd-pleaser but is nevertheless an excellent film. It is one of DiCaprio's best independent films before he became a titanic superstar.

Rimbaud"s painfully self-destructive bisexual life and his affair with Verlaine is not a "nice" story to tell, but the drama is interesting as a study in the eccentric mind of the artist. Beneath the plot is the age-old question of whether the artist's oddness hinders his creativity or is actually the fuel for his art.