Silk

Based on the best-selling novel by Alessandro Baricco, Silk is a visually stunning epic spanning two continents. Hervé Joncour's (Michael Pitt) devotion to his beautiful bride (Keira Knightley) is tested by increasingly, dangerous trade missions in search of silkworms for his towns survival. From his journeys to Japan, Hervé brings great wealth for his village, but with each return to the Far East he becomes torn by the temptation of a local warlords sensuous concubine and his love for Hèléne.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Just some mess!
This movie is a rushed, half-hearted mess! I've loved Alfred Molina since "Frida" and I hope this bad film doesn't negatively impact his career.

This film works by the concept "less is more." The lead characters are always tight-lipped and have close to no lines. I think it's meant to imply that they are too deep for words, but it'll definitely make the viewer think, "Who chopped all the dialogue out of this?!" As a period piece, this work is kinda plain. You see a few nice outfits and a few, very small settings. The makers must not have had a budget to do more, or something. You'll see better outfits and settings of Europe and Japan in films like "Farinelli" or "Memoirs of a Geisha."

While a lot of stuff is rushed, a lot of stuff is painfully prolonged. The main character and his French wife are instantly in love. You never see their courtship develop. It's like they just become a couple because he's a man and she's a woman. There's no reason why the main character should fall in love with his Japanese paramour. Again, there is no dialogue or development for that. I highly doubt in conservative Japan, elders would let a young lady get down with a foreigner to whom she is not married so easily. On the other hand, when the main character first travels from France to Japan, he doesn't just take a boat. It's like he took a coach, then a train, then a camel, then a unicorn, and then he practically swam the Sea of Japan.

Whereas Huang's "M. Butterfly" made an interesting and needed twist on "Madame Butterfly," this film does nothing fresh to address East-West schisms. Like always, the West is masculine, the East is feminine. This film is highly disappointing. It is not a well-done arthouse piece; it's a cheap impostor.

1 Star lemme even the score out…. where's the "zero star" rating?
I rented this on the single, only, recommendation in existence (5-star) at the time. My wife says it better than I; "I'm glad that was a free rental; too bad we got suckered right through to the end. That's 2 hours lost."

She and I rate this movie between a 2 and 3–excruciatingly plain, with no more substance that is obviously apparent. A weak story line that can't be saved by either lead performer's presence. It might qualify as an "art house" movie, but that's as good a description as it deserves. Skip it, unless you're trapped indoors and can't bear watching paint dry.

5 Stars A quiet , visually stunning gift of Love
This Italian-Japanese production is a quiet and visually beautiful tale of Love. This a movie for those that appreciate the power of the unspoken. Stunning cinematography, and tender and graceful music by Ryuichi Sakamoto. A film to be felt on many levels. Like a fine piece of classical music, each instrument (person/character) had a specific role to play in experiencing its message. There are no hero's or villians here. While this film may be considered too slow for some, it is a welcome change from the frantic, action-driven pace of most films of today.

5 Stars 'Come back or I shall die'
For those who fell under the spell of Alessandro Baricco's novel SILK, a meditation about love, desire, and conflict, this cinematic transformation adapted as a screenplay and directed by Fran?ois Girard will not disappoint: reservations about making Baricco's poetry visual are for the most part put to rest. The resulting film, SILK, is supported by a sensitive cast, wondrous cinematography by Alain Dostie, a haunting musical score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, and is an appropriate extension of the beauty of Baricco's short novel.

Set in France in 1862, Herv? Joncour (Michael Pitt) is following his family tradition of military duty until a somewhat mysterious man named Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) approaches Herv?'s father Mayor Joncour (Kenneth Welsh) with an idea to increase the tiny French town's revenues by capitalizing on the manufacture of silk. He talks the town council into fortifying his project and in a short time Baldabiou has several silk mills running. A problem arises when an infection attacks the silkworm eggs and threatens to destroy the business. Baldabiou convinces Herv? to travel to Africa to buy silkworm eggs to solve the dwindling supply. Herv?, meanwhile, has met and fallen in love with the beautiful H?l?ne (Keira Knightley) who is loving enough to encourage Herv?'s travel to Africa for the eggs, a trip Herv? makes and returns with eggs that make the town's mills thrive, allowing the prospering relationship between Herv? and H?l?ne to result in marriage and hopes for a happy future.

The eggs are again attacked by disease and this time Baldabiou sends Herv? to Japan where the perfect eggs can be smuggled out of the country: the trip is arduous, long (through Europe, Russia, China to Japan), and while Herv? succeeds in securing the precious eggs, he also loses his heart to the seductive eyes of the baron's concubine (Sei Ashina). Upon returning home the town prospers, Herv? and H?l?ne try to have children, but Herv? is again forced to travel to Japan for more eggs - and to fulfill the longing to see the concubine again. Japan is now at war and the trip is far more harrowing than before and while Herv? doesn't satisfy his desire for the concubine, she gives him a note in Japanese as he departs for France. Upon returning to France, Herv? has the note translated: 'Come back or I shall die'. His love for H?l?ne remains strong and he shares the experience he had in Japan. A letter is delivered to Herv?, a beautiful love letter, and it is at this point that H?l?ne becomes ill and the events that transpire bring life to the real meaning of love in an unexpected way.

There are problems with the film: the Japanese conversations are not translated by subtitles (perhaps the director wants us to feel the alienation of a Frenchman in a strange land) making the viewer feel that chunks of the story are missing; the emphasis of the film is more concentrated on the beauty of the various locales than on the character development; Michael Pitt is a fine actor but the inner conflicts of his character are not explored well. But these flaws are minor when the scope of the film is viewed in full. It is a beautiful work and one that will satisfy the readers of the novel from which it was adapted. Grady Harp, February 08

2 Stars Did not get it…
I must say that part of my problem with this film was that it was so dark. Not subject matter only, but the actual lighting of the film Now I know that there was not electric light in mid-19th century French villages and not in Japan either. But, I actually was peering at the screen trying to make some of it out.

I have not read the book and so am basing my remarks simply on the movie. I do not understand the life-changing attraction between Herve and the concubine. They hardly look at one another, do not share any words, know nothing about one another and yet yearn to be together. Was it just the excitement of someone new, or the allure of someone exotic? For an oriental woman who belongs to someone else to write "Come back or I shall die", there has to be some major reason. Maybe we are to assume it was just love at first sight?

How did Helene know about the concubine? In one scene, she and Herve are making love and she is crying. Is it because she cannot conceive a child, or does she feel that something has changed with Herve? I will say that the twist in the plot regarding the long letter was interesting and touching.

Buy/More Info