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Silk

Play trailer Poster for Silk R 2007 1h 49m Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
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7% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 29% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
French silkworm trader Hervé (Michael Pitt) is married to the beautiful Hélène (Keira Knightley). When an outbreak of disease ravages European silkworms, Hervé must travel to Japan to retrieve healthy eggs. After a long journey, Hervé finally arrives at a village where he can buy them. Here he becomes infatuated with a young concubine (Sei Ashina) and goes to great lengths to see her again. But, when war breaks out in Japan, the concubine flees, forcing Hervé to return home to his wife.
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Silk

Silk

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Critics Consensus

Silk contains a simple love triangle story but director Francois Gerard goes to painstaking lengths to turn it into a protracted and wearisome art film.

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Critics Reviews

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Anna Smith Empire Magazine A flat story, lean characters and a miscast lead make this a poor facsimile of period epics like Farewell My Concubine. Rated: 2/5 Nov 23, 2007 Full Review Anthony Quinn Independent (UK) Tremulous eroticism a-go-go, but it's all completely lifeless. Rated: 1/5 Nov 9, 2007 Full Review Peter Bradshaw Guardian Dralon is more like it. Rated: 1/5 Nov 9, 2007 Full Review Toni Vall Cinemanía (Spain) Neither more nor less than exactly what it was expected to be. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 2/5 Nov 5, 2020 Full Review Brandon Fibbs Christianity Today It is worse than a straightforward bad film, it is a middling, stagnant film that could have been extraordinary. Rated: 2/4 Feb 28, 2008 Full Review Joseph Proimakis Movies for the Masses i sta narkotika tha se riksei, i stin katatonia, an kaneis to lathos na tin pareis sta sobara os otidipote allo para eykairia eksaskisis ton kanibalistikon soy enstikton Rated: 1/5 Jan 14, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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James K A simple but beautiful love story, well acted and filmed. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Highly elegant, carefully photographed, richly casted and exquisitely costumed albeit a bit hollowly plotted. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Beautiful movie, not for everybody.Slow paced , sometimes doesn't make any sense at all, but the story is very moving about a platonic impossible infatuation while true love wasn't very far... Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Dreary, slow, dull and depressing is all you need to know. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Absolutely gorgeous film to look at, which is about all you get as the story and most performances are dramatically flat. The worst offender is the completely miscast Michael Pitt as the main character, appearing both out of time and place as an Englishman, and showing absolutely none of the passion required to drive the story passion required to spark this story of conflicting desires. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the worst movies I have ever seen. I would give it less than one start if possible. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

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François Girard

Director

Keira Knightley

Helene Joncour

Michael Pitt

Herve Joncour

Kôji Yakusho

Hara Jubei

Alfred Molina

Baldabiou

Miki Nakatani

Madame Blanche

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Silk

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Movie Info

Synopsis French silkworm trader Hervé (Michael Pitt) is married to the beautiful Hélène (Keira Knightley). When an outbreak of disease ravages European silkworms, Hervé must travel to Japan to retrieve healthy eggs. After a long journey, Hervé finally arrives at a village where he can buy them. Here he becomes infatuated with a young concubine (Sei Ashina) and goes to great lengths to see her again. But, when war breaks out in Japan, the concubine flees, forcing Hervé to return home to his wife.
Director
François Girard
Producer
Niv Fichman, Nadine Luque, Domenico Procacci, Sonoko Sakai
Screenwriter
François Girard, Michael Golding
Distributor
Picturehouse
Production Co
Bee Vine, Fandango, Rhombus Media Inc., Vice Versa Film, Medusa Film
Rating
R (Sexuality|Nudity)
Genre
Drama, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 14, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.1M
Runtime
1h 49m
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