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Critics Consensus: Superb performances hindered by weak script and incoherent story.
Critic Consensus: Superb performances hindered by weak script and incoherent story.
All Critics (82) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (45) | DVD (4)
All sorts of questions go unanswered, and there's little of the density found in Campion's early work; this is mainly smoke, not fire.
Original in every sense, this often difficult film about family, relationships, sexual politics, spiritual questing, faith and obsession further explores the director's abiding fascinations in excitingly unconventional terms.
Ms. Winslet is, by contrast, champagne and caviar for moviegoing grown-ups with good taste.
It's brave, adventurous, refreshingly frank -- qualities also marking the performances, particularly those of the leads.
At once hilarious and serious, cruel and tender, and bristling with vitality, Holy Smoke is the right movie for the millennium, envisioning new possibilities in the way people view and relate to one another.
Nice try, but there's not a laugh in sight.
...a sexual awakening of sorts for both of its characters.
A profoundly generous treatise on how men and women misunderstand and torment one another.
Jane Campion is busily dismantling gender myths that few people take seriously any more.
It's too bad that such an artist of such obvious ambition and power seems inclined to dismiss the greater part of humanity...
Behind the philosophical smoke burns a genuine comedic fire.
Filmmaker Jane Campion has displayed genius, passion, insight, and self-indulgence in her work. Now, she reveals a sense of humor.
Holy Smoke is right! Kate Winslet definitely sets the screen on fire, literally and figuratively, in this one as Ruth Barron, a young, idealistic woman, whose parents (Julie Hamilton, Tim Robertson) become concerned when she joins a commune of like-minded seekers in India, under the sway of a charismatic guru. Tricked into returning to her native Australia, she is ambushed by her family and whisked away to a secluded hut for deprogramming by a highly successful American deprogrammer, PJ Waters (Harvey Keitel). What takes place in this desolate location is outside the bounds of any reputable therapy. This is a game (or is it) of cat and mouse and the power shifts back and forth quite precipitously and nearly devastatingly. Excellent performance by the leads, and convincing character development by the supporting cast propel this compelling tale. Surprisingly light moments of wry humor keep this from becoming too unrelentingly dark but without causing it to descend into parody. The control of the plot by Jane Campion feels sure-handed and exhibits a director firmly confident in her craft. The scenery is beautifully desolate and the cinematography is striking. Only a slight letdown at the end detracts from the overall impact.
Super Reviewer
Although this movie lacks in coherent ideas, it managed to keep me interested the whole way through. It touches on concept after concept, but never settles on a particular intention, or, for that matter, a particular genre. Being a fan of both Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel, I was interested in seeing this to watch them act together. Their work here is not disappointing. Both actors deliver fearless, intently psychological performances that prevent this film from being a total disaster. The sexual relationship between their characters is unpleasantly explored and often quite perverse, but they are talented enough to make it work better than it probably should.
Unsustained comedy drama with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel in the Australian outback.
Odd, but good.
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