Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19968 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-17
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Synopsis
With SILK, director François Gerard (THIRTY TWO SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD, THE RED VIOLIN) brings Alessandro Baricco’s bestselling novel to sumptuous life. Michael Pitt stars as Herve Joncour, a Frenchman who lives in a small town that has hit hard times. A local silkworm magnate (Alfred Molina) stumbles upon a solution for his town’s troubles, and enlists Herve to travel to a hidden corner of Japan in order to smuggle back a boundless supply of rare silkworms. Travelling in disguise so that he won’t be exposed, Herve succeeds in his mission. Upon returning home, he reunites with his beautiful, supportive wife, Helene (Keira Knightley). While Herve and Helene have a loving relationship, their inability to produce a child creates an undercurrent of distance between them. This is compounded when Herve meets a beautiful concubine (Sei Ashina) during one of his subsequent journeys, sparking a passionate encounter that will haunt him for the rest of his life.


Gerard’s adaptation of Baricco’s novel spans several continents and many years. The production is aided by the lush imagery of cinematographer Alain Dostie and the haunting score from acclaimed composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (THE LAST EMPEROR). Featuring yet another standout performance from Molina, SILK tells an epic tale of love and loss in the 19th century.

Customer Reviews

A Story of Obsession
I read the novel `Silk' by Alessandro Baricco and loved it. Therefore, I was rather wary of seeing the adaptation. But when I saw the film, I was not disappointed; the visual imagery is beautiful and the Japanese symbolism was well-related.

The location of the story is France in 1862. Herve (Michael Pitt) is convinced by Baldabiou (Alfred Molina) to travel in search of silkworm eggs in order to save the silk-making business. Herve travels to Africa and Japan. During his trip to Japan, he falls in love with a Japanese concubine. When he returns home to France, he cannot forget the Japanese beauty and continues to obsessively long for her.

The untranslated Japanese conversations allows the audience to relate to the main character, as he too does not understand the language. Keira Knightly made a wonderful `Hélène' but I wasn't convinced by Michael Pitt as the main character `Hervé Joncour'; the obsessive inner turmoil wasn't portrayed well on screen. Overall, however, I think the film is well-worth seeing.

Beautiful, but boring
The cinematography is superb with wonderful shots of dramatic scenery. However, the story has so little action and evolves so slowly the film becomes tedious to watch. I haven't read the book upon which the film is based, but I guess it contains a lot of introspection by a narrator and descriptions of feelings which are difficult to portray on screen, and certainly are not by lead actor's (Michael Pitt) performance, which is wooden and unconvincing as an intrepid traveller. Much of the story is conveyed by a voice-over narrated by Pitt in a mumbling, monotonous voice with little variation in tone that adds to the feeling of boredom.
Disappointing.

Avoid it, it Silk is pretentious and Booooooooooooooring!
How can anybody use energy and so many still life beautiful pictures to make anything so boring, is beyond me.
You are kept outside looking on something that hints at a tragedy you cant be bothered with, because you never get engaged in the story.
Molina is the only positive element in the film, and he stands out the few minutes he is present, but what at waste of a good actor.

The traveler (Pitt) Goes abroad, looks, meets, gets what he comes for and go home to a wife who is barren and later dies of some mysterious illness that leaves her a very pretty patient, while the husband looks like he is dying of cancer. There is practically no dialog, and you are left with the impression of having seen the longest melancholic introduction to a flop and when it is finally over - You are left with the irritation of having been hijacked to see a film from a trailer which was the most interesting part of the whole thing.