First Love, Last Rites (1998)

TOMATOMETER

40%

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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.

AUDIENCE SCORE

43%

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Movie Info

Jesse Peretz made his directorial debut with this intimate romantic drama adapted from a short story by Ian McEwan, switching McEwan's setting from an industrial English seaside town to the Louisiana bayou. Joey (Giovanni Ribisi) and Sissel (Natasha Gregson Wagner) live in a drab house on stilts, along with Sissel's lonely younger brother Adrian (Eli Marienthal). After Sissel introduces Joey to her father, Vietnam-vet Henry (Robert John Burke), the two men form a business catching eels. However, mistrust, anxieties, and arguments threaten the love Joey and Sissel share, and they begin to drift apart. Shown at the 1997 Toronto Film Festival.
  • Rating:
    R (adult situations/language, sex)
  • Genre:
    Drama
  • Directed By:
    Jesse Peretz
  • Written By:
    David Ryan, Jesse Peretz
  • In Theaters:
     wide
  • On Disc/Streaming:
  • Runtime:
  • Studio:
    Strand Releasing

Cast

Natasha Gregson Wagner
as Sissel
Giovanni Ribisi
as Joey
Eli Marienthal
as Adrian
Robert John Burke
as Henry
Jeanetta Arnette
as Sissel's Mom

Critic Reviews for First Love, Last Rites

All Critics (10) | Top Critics (1)

Jesse Peretz's feature directing debut is a dull portrait of an idyllic first love between two misfits.

Aug 16, 2011 | Rating: C | Full Review…
EmanuelLevy.Com

Doesn't seem destined for box office success, but it's an impressive first film, and one I found myself thinking about for days afterward.

May 26, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
Combustible Celluloid

Watching the film is an experience more akin to being trapped in a dying relationship: lifeless, painful and unbearably dull.

Jan 1, 2000 | Full Review…
Film Journal International
View All Critic Reviews (10)

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