AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

mamlukman I saw this at the Toronto Film Festival when it first came out in 2005. The director was there to answer questions, as was the lovely Marie Gillain. She is absolutely awesome in person! The NTSC DVD was released in late 2009.I think this is one of those movies where it depends on what the viewer brings to the theatre. I can see where it could leave some people cold, but to me it was extremely relevant and moving. The basic plot is how the father's actions affect his wife and children. But really it is about how the wife's actions affect the father and the children. Because ultimately it is not the action (or supposed action) itself that causes the issues, it's the reaction of the wife that causes the later reaction in the children. It's really a lesson in giving someone the benefit of the doubt, of loving them enough to trust them. The details of what the children do to screw up their lives is necessary, but only to show that they are screwed up. The details are unimportant, and those who focus on this aspect of the movie--although it obviously takes up a lot of time--are missing the point. I suppose you could try to psychoanalyze each daughter and her issues--is the one who's having an affair with a professor looking for a substitute father? etc.--but I think that is unnecessary. The real climax is the last line of the movie, as others have said. It really gives you something to think about and it puts the rest of the movie into context. It's downright chilling.The opening scene of the cuckoo and the nest was, according to the director, an accident. They were filming the father's release from prison, and they ran across this nest with the cuckoo, so they filmed it because it was so cool. So cool that they stuck it in as the opening scene. I know I spent the entire movie trying to figure out the analogy between the cuckoo and the rest of the movie...I suppose there's a vague connection, but don't lose sleep over it. Watch it as a segment in a nice nature movie, and then concentrate on the movie itself.

Claudio Carvalho In Paris, a family is victim of a tragic incident, when the patriarch is denounced by his wife of pedophilia. Years later, the three sisters have independent dysfunctional lives and never see each other. The middle sister Sophie (Emmanuelle Béart) finds that her beloved husband and photographer Pierre (Jacques Gamblin) is unfaithful and is having an affair with Julie (Maryam d'Abo) and he leaves her. When the lover discovers that Pierre has two children, she ends the affair. The youngest, Anne (Marie Gillain), is student of Sorbonne and has a crush and gets pregnant of her professor Frédéric (Jacques Perrin), who is married and father of her best friend. The oldest sister, Céline (Karin Viard), is a lonely woman that periodically travels by train to visit her handicapped dumb mother Marie (Carole Bouquet) that is trapped in a wheelchair in an asylum for elders. When the stranger Sébastien (Guillaume Canet) contacts Céline, she believes he is a shy admirer; however, after an awkward encounter, he reveals secrets from the past that will affect the relationship among the sisters."L' Enfer" is a heavy drama of sisters in love, actually doomed love, and is an analogy to the Medea Greek tragedy: Sophie loves her unfaithful husband; Anne loves her professor and father's figure; Céline is needy of love. In common, the three sisters have their lives affected in their childhood by a tragedy caused by the attitude of their mother that accused her husband of pedophilia, never listening to his explanations and giving the chance of defense. The trio of lead actresses are great actresses and extremely beautiful, and the gorgeous Carole Bouquet is unrecognizable in the role of an old and suffered woman living her personal hell. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Inferno" ("Hell")

kosmasp It's the title translated into the English title and a very appropriate at that. A shame in Germany they translated it into "Like in Hell". Why bother doing something like this, if you can translate literally? The narrative of the film is concerned with three women, who all have there problems, dealing with life, but also with something else. Some might have read the novel, on which this movie is based upon, so they know, but for all the others (including me), this is something that will be revealed later. But what happens in between the beginning and the end of the movie, is a great drama, that deals with life and everyday problems. You have three strong female performers here, that work great with the superb script they are given here. This is as gripping as life can sometimes be!

rowmorg All the French look as if they have parts in a French movie. They're just made that way, and it's a tribute to the French film industry that it has so reflected them. Here's a quintessential French movie, all the more quintessential in that it was written by Poles and directed by a Yugoslav. Paris has never looked better, and the three stars featuring as wronged women all play magnificently. Of course the three (even four) strands of storyline would be a lot to handle for most American youthful moviegoers, and many of the visual prompts require a degree of attention to detail and a knowledge of western culture (Medea, the Acropolis, the Age of Reason) that would be beyond them, too. That said, it's worth pointing out that L'Enfer follows the Hollywood trend of portraying men entirely negatively. Even the father, who is ostensibly vindicated in the end, behaves so brutally that he, too, is a villain. With the exception of a couple of cameo parts, every man in this picture is a villain, every woman a tortured saint. I'm sick of it, and I wish heartily that someone would pass a law against it. Another niggle: the painstakingly photographed title scenes showing the nesting habits of the common cuckoo --- what symbolism does this have with regard to the rest of the film? Or did it simply appeal to the director? These concerns aside, there is an irresistible allure to any film capturing the ambiance of Paris flats, squares, cafes, streetscapes and glimpses of the chateaux beyond, including the beloved TGV which is the only place where one of the women ever manages to get any sleep...and of course, it must all revolve around l'amour, l'amour, toujours l'amour.