Planetarium (2016) User Reviews

Unfocused

[catschasemice9594 · 4/10 · 21 March 2018]

I made it through this movie only to ask myself "why" at the end. The script is unfocused and never seems to develop a coherent theme. There are two psychic sisters who link up with a Jewish film maker. The anti semitism in this film is hohum. The psychic portion is a soporific. Arrow jewelry and bobby pins are sprinkled throughout the film for some reason. The cinematographer must be in love with Portman since the best parts of this movie are of Nat in many guises. Planetarium is in French. The actors speak clearly and the dialogue is slow. Maybe that's why I stuck with it. A good chance to practice my language skills. I can't recommend this film.

artsy, but disappointing

[aleks-dlugosz · 4/10 · 11 September 2016]

The movie, despite being beautifully shot, was boring. Natalie Portman and Lilly-Rose Depp were both great in the film, Lilly-Rose Depp especially, but sadly their great acting, and good cinematography, the plot was so boring that I could barely force myself to stay awake. Covering the story of two sisters who can communicate with the dead, this movie starts with promise. The mystery of their ability, and the stellar performances from the two lead actresses carry you through the first half hour or so, but quickly their good performances are over shadowed by the bad performances from the supporting European actors, most of who were heavily accented and clearly didn't speak french as their first language. I waited over an hour in pouring rain at TIFF to see this film and regret every second of time wasted waiting and watching. Do not recommend this movie for anyone

Just a Sketch Of A Movie

[vanapa9 · 4/10 · 29 March 2017]

What this movie needs is more SUBSTANCE! We haven't a GHOST of a chance of being drawn into this play, because there is only loosely knit ideas..a faint line outlining what may become...something..but what ?? What a waste of talent!! Teaming Ms. Depp and Ms. Portman had me waiting impatiently to view this movie. typically...my favorite actors choose worthwhile projects. Natalie's last couple of endeavors, have left MUCH to be desired.

This movie needs to be connected...those dots of ideas need to be connected by story line we can understand and follow. Leave the abstract included....but fill it in with good ol creative action and dialogue that we can follow and appreciate. Better yet..make the story line COMPELLING !! Who better than Ms. Portman and Ms. Depp to carry a compelling theme ?

We must give Ms. Portman and Ms. Depp their due for taking such a bold chance..experimenting perhaps. But, ..IF they want to continue to be able to take such risks, they better choose a WINNER next few times round, or their names and past acting performances will be a distant, fond memory. Remember her?...Loved her in that one !

Please, what was that???

[qeter · 3/10 · 29 October 2016]

Seen at the Viennale 2016: it started grandios. The intro, the first pictures with Natalie Portman, the music. I was thinking and expecting: 'Ah, now this starts good! This will be a great movie!' And with this good feeling I waited 10 minutes, then 30 minutes, then 60, then 90. But it did not happen. The plot did not come to any conclusion. Did not aim for a certain direction. Okay, a man believes into the supernatural abilities of two sisters and destroys his life with that belief. But he would have been destroyed anyway, because he did wrong with business money. But also Nazis would have destroyed him. Seems, I did not get the point what this movie was all about.

Many better films to spend your valuable time on

[tomdickson · 3/10 · 5 March 2017]

Planetarium (2016) This movie , similar to the directors 2013 "Grand Canal" tackles a worthy theme with mixed results. The former film main premise was the French nuclear industry workers plight, in Planetarium the fate of French Jewish entrepreneurs during WW2. Each film mixes some romance massages and the in the case of Planetarium a sub plot around trying to film paranormal experiences and a manipulative obsessed movie mogul. Sadly for this viewer neither of this filmmakers realisations manages to engage me sufficiently to care about the lead actors plight. In not being engaged with story (both written by this young director )they fail to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Planetarium has some big name actors held back by inadequate direction of a script which meanders around its themes. Added to this are large continuity errors (Portman lifts and coats hood and next cut she walking without) and technical clichés (sound boom in camera) . these things are overlooked in a compelling movie but stand out when the realization is so lacklustre. Planetarium is a large glossy production with excellent costumes and period rendition (WW2) these can not save the movies fate. Shame that budget might of made some really good movies.

No idea what it's about

[Gordon-11 · 29 February 2020]

I watched the whole film and still have no idea what it's about. It's beautifully shot, but the story is unintelligible.

I sat open-mouthed in amazement at how bad this movie was

[tommymato · 1/10 · 16 October 2020]

15 minutes into the movie I started to feel unsettled, then I brightened up a bit when I realised I was watching a masterpiece of bad cinema. The story was bizarre and incoherent, the direction was laughable (I did actually laugh at several points), and the editing was performed by a psychopath on speed.

Natalie Portman struggled bravely through, but Depp was out-acted by the houseplants. The only good decision the director made was giving her as little to do as possible.

This movie could rival 'The Room', achieving cult status because it is so bad. I can honestly say this was the worst movie I've seen in my 60 years on the planet. Even the titles were bad - they were in a font so tiny as to be unreadable. I'm guessing the actors bribed the title guy so that nobody would see their names. I've given it one star for wardrobe, and because I feel sorry for Portman.

promising lead but weak scenario

[GridoulovesTO · 5/10 · 19 November 2016]

So I guess it didn't help that with a cast like this my expectations where quite high. However I felt like there was a lot of cliché a lot of historical approximation about the second world war, the film crisis pre WWII that it felt a bit overdone, as if they didn't wanted to talk about it but did it.. to cover the all thing.. And that's kind of the issue here, I feel like the film was a bit all over the place like a person suffering from ADHD. Too many topics, issue, character... not enough development. The acting was great, the scenario was close to it too but something was off...something seemed too fake..like this scene where they go out celebrating the first snow of the winter " overdone and clearly..it was some feather and not snow(right??). Or maybe I didn't like it cause all the characters were lost or not found yet ( lily) and that situation seems not appealing to me... Give it a look and let me know about your experience.

Another Boring Film about French Rich people UHG!

[scottamac · 3/10 · 31 March 2017]

Well.. How should I explain this with out giving away the Plot, wait what Plot? Here we have another Stupid boring Film About Rich French people.. sort of. The worst Medium story iv'e every seen in a film. The Acting was good, for what they had to work with. Natalie Port-man, Lily-Rose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger Did really well so I gave them 1 star each.

I Personally thought that Lily-Rose Depp's Part as Kate, was the Most believable out of all the characters. The other Actors were fine, a lot of rich socialites getting drunk, and share holders getting bent out of shape. For the Most part, this Film just meandered along , no real twist and turns, don't even remember the music Score. It has the DUMBEST P.O.S ending I have ever seen for this type of film. Rated as a Drama, Fantasy Mystery? WTF? The Drama, a little over boiled, the Mystery was wondering when something was actually going to happen? So now the Fantasy part? ............................that's right, there is none, unless they considered that a fantasy like ending.. again STUPIDEST ending I've ever seen. it felt like this... ...okay folks we ran out of money... we have $158.00 left .. lets wrap it up. Don't waste your time with this film. The only reason I considered it was because I'm a Natalie Port-man Fan but this movie just didn't let her shine.( even though she tried real hard, seemed to me like the director wouldn't let her with that 40-50's cookie cutter starlet actress crap.) For Miss Depp, keeping an eye out for her future rolls. to see what she brings to the Screen.

Interesting proposals and topics that do not finish integrating and developing

[danybur · 6/10 · 31 December 2020]

Two American sisters, Laura and Kate Barlow (Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Deep) tour some theaters in Europe shortly before World War II with a spiritualism number, as one of them is a medium. When they are seen in Paris by André Korben, a film producer (Emmanuel Salinger), he becomes enthusiastic about them and proposes a project to them.

Plantarium is one of those films that contains interesting approaches (even intriguing and perverse) and several good ideas but that do not manage to integrate satisfactorily and that end up disintegrating, partly due to their nature, due to an ambiguity that is no longer effective and above all because of its cinematographic realization.

We know that a planetarium is a device that projects an illusory sky onto a vault. One of the themes of Rebecca Zlotowski's film is the crossroads between reality and fiction through cinematography (reminiscent of some stories by Horacio Quiroga on the subject) and a reality that in this case is ambiguous and that also seeks the help of parapsychology and the dream. As for the title in Spanish (Connection of love) it alludes to one of the perverse aspects of the plot (perhaps the most original) that remains halfway. And all this in a climate of the time that wants to be emerging but without achieving it at all.

Planetarium offers a very good performance by Emmnuel Salinger and as usual in these productions, a beautiful art design.

Wasn't Expecting So Much Junk

[imajvmb · 1/10 · 3 January 2018]

Movie began ok but just lost me in a ton of different subplots and never ended up tying anything up. On top of everything there was so much male nudity and a scene of freakin' porn that made me almost lose my dinner. Thanks for nothing parents guide!

Wonderful Depth and Splendor in 1930s Paris

[Blue-Grotto · 9/10 · 16 October 2016]

In Paris of the 1930s reality and illusion combine in myriad ways for visionary American sisters Laura (Natalie Portman) and Kate Barlow. The sisters manage to convince an ingenious and successful film producer, Andre Korben, that they can communicate with the dead and thereby reveal significant truths. Andre convinces the nomadic sisters to stay and star in his new film. As Kate and Laura launch their careers in film they discover different aspects of themselves in romance as well as acting, that place immense strains on their finances, sisterly connection and their new found benefactor even as a looming war – and all the hatreds it invigorates - threatens to envelope them all.

The memories, visions and prophecies of Planetarium's characters are beautifully illuminated and invigorated by dream sequences, poems and imagery of snowfall, the night sky filled with stars and twilight. There is wonderful depth and splendor in these machinations. There is a lovely poem about creatures with wings, and the spectacular feeling that sweeps over you when the window is opened and they choose to stay instead of flying away. A main theme of the film, that art, acting and stories - like ghosts - lead us to important truths, is very compelling, yet I wish the links and transitions were clearer in this respect. Natalie Portman's performance is exquisite. She manages emotional ambiguities, such as between hope and bitterness, so well. She delves into the playful sexuality that I loved so much in Black Swan. I wish there were longer and more frequent dream sequences. Seen at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Planetarium - an enigmatic film if any ...

[thor2029 · 6/10 · 25 March 2017]

My opinion---

"Planetarium" is a film by Rebecca Zlotowski, we can say that we are in a movie with a rather singular atmosphere, a little enigmatic and fantastic. The movies has the merit of having three talented actors "Natalie Portman (incredibly efficient and beautiful), Lily-Rose Depp (fascinating) and Emmanuel Salinger (magnificent)" they knew how to make us feel all their emotions through their roles Respectively. There is a fairly successful plot in a rather special world too. The realization was perfect.

Disappointed

[kenbond-53805 · 5/10 · 18 October 2019]

Tuned in because of Portman & Depp, but soon saw that there was no real depth to the story. History is always useful...

spoilers.. takes a LONG time to get where its going

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 23 November 2020]

There's a good story in here, but it never really comes to fruition. SPOILERS ** we meet the very american sisters, who host seances for a living, and the younger, immature sister seems to really be able to see spirits trying to communicate. we meet a single man of means, who not only hires them, but invites them into his house. he's the director at a film company, who wants to film a personal seance, but the board does NOT approve! each of the main characters have their psychological issues, but we kind of breeze past them a little too quickly. the script is quite sparse, and for the longest time, we are left guessing as to what's going on, and why the characters do what they do. and the story is bookended by the worldly cosmos-connection (thus the title)... at the beginning and again at the end, we're staring into the sky, looking at shooting stars, but what we see and hear doesn't really have anything to do with the story. was awkward. the older sister gets to have a short-lived romance, but we're not really sure why it ends so abruptly. the script needed cleaning up. when the film director in the story gets canned, he is immediately shipped back to Poland... and the director of Planetarium (Rebecca Zlotowski) has a last name which appears to have origins in Poland; makes one wonder if this story is partially based on members of her own family? unknown. takes place JUST right around WWII, when it was NOT a good time to be in Poland. so many questions and issues are brought up, and never get answered. it's ok. i actually kind of liked the ethereal, light, random style of the story, but they leave so many things un-answered. Zlotowski had been making films for about ten years by this time.

Two sisters in the life of a French filmmaker!

[Reno-Rangan · 5/10 · 24 February 2018]

Very interesting characters. The pre WWII event. About two orphan sisters trying to make a living. The best they came up with is to help the people to make contact with their loved ones who had died. So far so successful. Especially when a notable filmmaker takes interest on them, their lives begin to change. Those were what shown to us in the rest of the film. But there comes a complication, especially the bond between the sisters was tested, and followed by the filmmaker's reputation.

There were many English dialogues. The casting was so good. The lead three was great. But there's something about the story. Overall, it looked decent, but I don't know that they cinematically well transformed. Looks like a literature kind of tale, yet it was not adapted from any such source. That is what's missing in here. You know, the good writer's perspective. They know how to take the story in a right direction.

I felt they messed the conclusion. All the sudden too much had happened. Even the twist did not feel like it was a twist. All the above, there's no strong emotional effect. The middle section was so plain. All I felt was the two sisters struggle. The rest did not make the film shine. Could be one time watchable, but I'm not sure you would like it at the end.

5/10

it didn't happen!

[betulkaraca2 · 4/10 · 16 September 2021]

With what head! It's a dumb movie. But the actors are amazing. It is not clear what they are talking about. I was surprised how the actors accepted this scenario.

A fall from grace

[sergelamarche · 6/10 · 13 September 2023]

This film recreates the epoch rather credibly. The fact that it is reproducing a real story except for the main subject is something of a side way to bring it up. The true story seems to me to have made a much better film. Maybe the true story is too much of a depressive story to even think of putting it there for people to see. So, in lieu of it, they made this film. Nathalie is certainly the woman to play terrible downfalls. The film is somewhat rendering lightly serious events and this is a bit like real life. The seriousness of the situations often reveals itself after the consequences. And in fact, taking things seriously as they come, is a sure way to get paralysed by everything.

A beautiful cinematic work...

[Robi-Wan731 · 8/10 · 26 June 2023]

I almost didn't watch this movie because of the reviews however I am glad I did. At the beginning of the movie we hear Natalie Portman's character Laura say "People talk about 'before the war.' The thing is, you never know you're living before a war." This line sets up the subtext for the rest of the movie. You might forget she even said it until the end of the movie if you make it that long but it raises the question "do we ever really know the significance of the times we are living in?" I think the way Rebecca Zlotowski weaves the story through this unprecedented time in history is worth reflecting on. There is no simple way to capture everything going on in the 1930s. It was a time of great achievement and innovation. It was also a time that saw the rise of the greatest horrors of the twentieth century. It's in this context that we see these characters making their way through the universe. The film industry is revolutionizing how we see the world and entertainment. It also becomes a medium for scientific knowledge and journalism. Spirituality, which saw seismic changes following the end of the Great War, continues to be challenged by skeptics just like Harry Houdini did in the 20s. But also finds new converts in people looking for hope in the uncertain future. Then we see the rise of anti-semitism, perhaps clear to us now, but was nonetheless overlooked by many people who were otherwise very forward thinking and missed the dangers right before their eyes. And as the movie makes clear it was not just in Germany. There's one quote that I think resonated tone of the movie for me by Fernand Prouvé played by Louis Garrel- "People say that they write poetry, but it is wrong. It is the poetry writing us." Art says as much about the observer as it does about the artist. And while the movie is certainly not for everyone, if you give it a chance, you might see it captures the beauty, complexity, ambiguity, and ugliness of these times. Personally I have enjoyed reflecting on how all these elements fit together into this story and why she chose this plot line to explore them. Much has been written about the excellent cast and cinematography but I thought these themes were worth consideration for anyone who might be on the fence about watching it.