Chéri (2009)
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Reviews Counted: 132
Fresh: 67 | Rotten: 65
A too-short script and a romance lacking in heat detracts from an otherwise haughty charmer.
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 21
A too-short script and a romance lacking in heat detracts from an otherwise haughty charmer.
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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 13,016
Movie Info
Stephen Frears, the director who bolstered his international reputation with his Choderlos de Laclos adaptation Dangerous Liaisons (1988), returns to the annals of period intrigue over 20 years later with this melodrama, which reunites him with Liasons scripter Christopher Hampton and star Michelle Pfeiffer. An adaptation of Colette's 1920 novel of the same name, the tale unfurls in late 19th century Paris -- La Belle Époque -- where numerous courtesans (or female companions of noblemen who
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Cast
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Michelle Pfeiffer
Léa de Lonval, Léa de ... -
Kathy Bates
Madame Peloux -
Rupert Friend
Chéri Fred Peloux, Ché... -
Felicity Jones
Edmée, Edmée, Edm -
Iben Hjejle
Marie-Laure -
Frances Tomelty
Rose -
Anita Pallenberg
La Copine -
Harriet Walter
La Loupiote -
Bette Bourne
La Baronne -
Gaye Brown
Lilli -
Tom Burke
Vicomte Desmond -
Nichola McAuliffe
Madame Aldonza -
Toby Kebbell
Patron -
Hubert Tellegen
Ernest -
Joe Sheridan
Marcel -
Alain Churin
Priest -
Andras Hamori
Silver-Haired Industria... -
Rollo Weeks
Guido -
Jack Walker
Monsieur Roland -
Natasha Cashman
Madame Roland -
Jim Bywater
Clerk
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Chéri Trailer & Photos
All Critics (133) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (67) | Rotten (65) | DVD (5)
A movie like Cheri needs the time and space of The Age of Innocence. Instead, it's rushed along in an hour and 40 minutes.
Top CriticIt's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away.
These two lovebirds are playfully mismatched, and that's just why they fall for each other.
Cheri is a serviceable period piece, but not much more.
Michelle Pfeiffer is quite good, but the script leaves Kathy Bates -- talented as she is -- with a bit of a cartoonish performance.
Where is the passion? Where is the heat?
Insubstantial bit of fluff, with whores sitting around dishing each other.
For a movie that is so steeped in sex and carries an R rating, there's a pretty scant amount of titillating sex.
full review at Movies for the Masses
Gallic liaisons that aren't especially dangerous - or intriguing.
Un correcto cuadro de época, entre la comedia picaresca y el drama romántico, con sólo una excusa para verlo: el regreso protagónico de Michelle Pfeiffer.
Director Stephen Frears made a nice job of The Queen but this is 'King awful.
Frears does a fine job of capturing the look of turn-of-the-century France, as well as the essence of Colette's story.
Clever, charming, and slightly superficial, Cheri is the kind of pert period piece that gets by on a great deal of creative goodwill.
(T)he chemistry of these performers makes it not just believable but almost inevitable: emotionally guarded beauties who inadvertently allow affection into their relationship.
Scene after scene unfolds, with colourful costumes, attractive sets, knowing glances and innuendo, but also a feeling that this is a pedestrian read-through of a stage play.
A limp whore's tale set in the turn of the 20th-century in Paris.
The film is a comedy of manners with a powerful undercurrent of tragedy. Cheri is funny, sad and charming, and the ending may shock you.
Sadly the few good elements of Cheri only serve to highlight the films considerable inadequacies, and the only bedroom-based action it will inspire is a comforting nap, possibly before the end of the film.
What a drag it is getting old.
Remember Boyle and MacDonald's names: you'll be hearing them a lot when awards season comes around.
The challenge here is to make a film in which the protagonists frequently say one thing and feel another. It's a film which has to work on two levels, and it does.
Stretching out like a cat on the wide screen, Michelle Pfeiffer shows off her durable glamour in the star role of Lea de Lonval, a high-class courtesan in pre-World War I France.
At the centre of this film is the luminous Pfeiffer who knows only too well the ravages of time in an industry where youth and beauty are so valued.
The intense chemistry between Pfeiffer and Friend is what really elevates Cheri above the sum of its slender parts.
While it's not likely to be as admired as much as his Dangerous Liaisons, Frears - who is heard as the narrator - has given audiences an elegant treat that's easy to escape into, and there are skilful performances by the entire ensemble.
Audience Reviews for Chéri
Super Reviewer
A romantic story of a young boy who is attracted by a prostitute older than him
So the movie inst so bad, i thought it could have been worst, way worst, its an elegant movie, that is visually pleasing, nothing out of the ordinary. In terms of costume this movie is fabulous, amazing stylish outfits that should inspire a lot of people out there. In terms of the story, there isn't anything special, its a semi-erotic build up plot. But one thing has to be named, Pfeiffer is amazing!
So is you want to go see it, its up to you. I don't recommend it to everyone, but if you like historical romances with a spice of sensuality , go ahead.
Lea de Lonval : I can't criticize his character, mainly because he doesn't seem to have one!
Super Reviewer
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Movie: ID: 770780774 Title: Chéri Release Date: 2009-06-26 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Chéri - Eine Komödie der Eitelkeiten (DE)
- Cheri (UK)
Playwright/screenwriter Christopher Hampton collaborated with director Stephen Frears in 1988 to produce one of the most vicious battles of the genders ever put to film, Dangerous Liaisons, and their most recent collaboration seems like the aborted product of their imitators or merely the vain scribblings of old men who can no longer hack it. In every way Cheri is a Frears/Hampton film, but in every way it falls short. In what few moments of manipulation there are, we see none of the mischievousness and guile that made Valmont a man we love to hate. In what few moments of sexual passion, we none of the allure of the young Uma Thurman (all of the actresses in Cheri must have had a no nudity clause). And in what few moments of loving tenderness in Cheri, there is none of the passion we saw in Tourvel and Valmont's torrid break-up and reunion. What remains is a sterile imitation of Dangerous Liaisons.
And Cheri's motivations are occasionally mysterious. Even after he explains his reunion with Edmee, it still doesn't make any sense.
I must say that this is a courageous role for Michelle Pfeiffer as much of Lea's character development takes place in the sad lines on her aging face. But this was but one ugly moment in a whole film in which she is made to look as beautiful as she can. Also, the script reduces the eminently talented Kathy Bates to a mere cartoon.
Overall, see Dangerous Liaisons, and when you're done, you can say that you saw Cheri too.