Emile (2003)
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 10
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 1,191
My Rating
Movie Info
Independent Canadian filmmaker Carl Bessai directs Emile, the final entry in his identity trilogy that started with Johnny and Lola. Ian McKellen plays Emile, a retired university professor who travels from England to his hometown in Canada in order to accept an educational honor. Visiting the family farm in Saskatchewan, he recalls his childhood relationships with brothers Freddy (Tygh Runyan) and Carl (Chris William Martin). He stays with his grown-up niece, Nadia (Deborah Kara Unger), who
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Cast
-
Ian McKellen
Emile -
Deborah Kara Unger
Nadia -
Theo Crane
Maria -
Chris William Martin
Carl -
Tygh Runyan
Freddy -
Ian Tracey
Tom -
Janet Wright
Alice -
Nancy Sivak
Superintendent -
Frank Borg
Taxi Driver
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Emile Trailer & Photos
All Critics (24) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (10) | DVD (1)
A routine memory piece about long-buried family secrets that bubble back to the surface to wreak havoc.
Top CriticConfusing the profound with the pretentious, director Bessai packs the story with elliptical, ominous flashbacks that undercut all the advances he makes with the contemporary tale.
Tenderly touches our emotions.
Sir Ian McKellen is at his tweediest and most persnickety as the title character in Emile, the portrait of an eminent scientist who returns from England to his homeland, Canada, to receive an honorary degree from the University of Victoria.
It's appropriate that the director calls this the final chapter in a trilogy about struggling with one's identity -- he shows none of his own while mishandling someone else's.
At heart a reverie, a meditation on the past and its treacheries, the ways in which people become flawed, and the eternal though often elusive possibility of forgiveness and redemption.
Sensitively played but ultimately undone by its unconventional approach.
Poignant and well acted, though not very memorable.
It's ultimately more simplistic and contrived than provocative.
While this dreamily photographed piece contains fine performances by all, it loses its way as it lingers too long in the past and moves too slowly in the present.
McKellen and Unger do a wonderful trudging through the dirt (and, finally, cheese), Emile never quite gets off the ground.
An honest and intelligent look into real relationships, impressively original in its execution and breathtakingly remarkable in its delivery.
a film of tender hues, quiet intensity and elegiac melancholy that you may well find lingering in your own memory.
Technical shortcomings aside this is a good story well told, elevated by McKellen on top form.
Reminds us that Sir Ian McKellen is used to playing more complex characters than Gandalf or Magneto.
A small but excellent cast supports McKellen in what is a beautiful and intelligent film.
Beautifully filmed and edited by Bessai to take us into the mind of a man who has made too many life-changing decisions.
Audience Reviews for Emile
Super Reviewer
[center][font=Comic Sans MS][size=5][/size][/font] [/center]
[left][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3]In short, Sin City delivers a blistering ballet of bullets and blood, dames and danger at every turn. Sin City is smart, stylish, sexy and sick. It's also violent and funny. Certainly not a film for the whole family, but for those of us who enjoy our movies rated R, this movie kicks ass.[/size][/font][/left]
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[center][font=Comic Sans MS][size=5]Emile[/size][/font][/center]
[center][font=Comic Sans MS][size=5][/size][/font] [/center]
[left][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3]Ian McKellen is superb as Emile, a loner who abandoned his family many years ago and finds himself visiting his few remaining relatives. This is definitely a character based movie. It's never a total waste to watch Ian McKellan work - playing someone trying to come to terms with the difficulties and poor choices in his past. It was a nice little film.[/size][/font][/left]
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[center][font=Comic Sans MS][size=5]Being Julia[/size][/font][/center]
[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3]Anette Benning turns in a superb performance in a delightfully entertaining movie. Bening makes Julia bitchy and lovable at the same time. Jeremy Irons is also really good as Julia's husband. If you just want gentle entertainment then this film will do very well. [/size][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3]Donna A.[/size][/font]
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