An unpleasant exercise about the pointless, dehumanization of war, as well as the pointlessness of sex and perhaps even the pointlessness of existence itself.
Comment
06/22/07
Flanders (2006)
69
%
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Reviews Counted:54
Fresh:37
Rotten:17
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Though Bruno Dumont recycles his typical themes and motifs, Flanders is also just as beautifully shot and convincingly acted as the director’s previous movies.
Theatrical Release:May 18, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Flanders. Demester shares his time between his farm and walks with Barbe, his childhood friend. He loves her, secretly and painfully, accepting from her the little that she can give him. Along with... [More]
Starring: Samuel Boidin, Adelaide Leroux, Henri Cretel, Jean-Marie Bruveart
Director: Bruno Dumont
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Reviews for Flanders
For its depiction of (very) simple country folk coping with war, Flandres has some of the force that’s been missing from Dumont’s work since La Vie de Jésus.
09/23/06
It's more provocative than realistic and his naturalism is contained in an arch structure, but his directness is affecting ...
08/02/07
Flanders is relentlessly bleak, but as it works its way into your bloodstream, the aftertaste is somewhat akin to relief...For those who allow it, Flanders offers the comfort of recognition, and acceptance, of what it means to be human.
07/10/07
Like Dumont's best work, it echoes uneasily in the mind.
07/06/07
A dud with zero Milk Dud appeal.
05/17/07
mont doesn’t hate his characters; he just thinks they’re stupid: no one thinks, no one learns, everyone acts. It’s the most Godless film you’ll see all year.
07/06/07
Dumont is one of those rare directors who knows what it means to shoot the unspeakable truth. God knows, but we should be grateful. But God should also know about the shame.
07/06/07
...while it is a difficult film to relate to, one cannot dismiss its director's visual acuity and ability to provoke the mind.
07/01/07
A congealed shrug
08/27/09
This deeply felt vision of the human condition has more resonance than yet another movie concluding that war is hell.
06/08/07
Top CriticMemorably compassionate.
07/06/07
This film has few tangible pleasures, such as some somber shots of Demester walking far away in a field. Its achievement is theoretical.
08/17/07
Top CriticA soul also lurks underneath the shocks. When the director turns the most overused three-word phrase into a devastating reinstatement of humanity, you’re quickly reminded of why [director] Dumont was so lauded in the first place.
05/19/07
The film arrives at a familiar conclusion -- that war is hell -- but the getting there is made uniquely unsettling by Dumont’s relentlessly anti-psychological disposition.
06/07/07
It's as though [director] Dumont decided to distill all that's good about his work into one potent and satisfying feature, and the result ranks among his best efforts to date.
05/22/07
Why would anyone want to spend time with these characters in the first place?
05/19/07
Once you've connected to its off-beat vibe, the result is a memorable and highly original experience.
05/27/07
Enough is left vague that an abstract quality is achieved, and the effect is one of amplification of the themes running throughout the film.
01/07/08
Dumont's ideas and insights have narrowed with this picture, his relaxed pacing now lethargic, his physically and mentally thick characters too familiar, and his ice-water shocks a bit predictable. It would seem self-parodic if it weren't so damn tragic.
05/18/07
Latest News for Flanders
November 14, 2007:
Sexual sneak peak at low IQ characters. 
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May 17, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Third Time's Not the Charm for "Shrek"
America is going green this week: "Shrek the Third" (featuring the voices of Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, and Antonio Banderas) is our single new wide release. Critics... More...
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