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Ennui

Play trailer Poster for Ennui Released Oct 8, 1998 2h 0m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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54% Tomatometer 13 Reviews 46% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Martin (Charles Berling) is a middle-aged philosophy teacher in the midst of a crisis. Lacking direction or purpose in his life, he initiates an affair with Cécilia (Sophie Guillemin), a young artist's model who might have killed her former lover with the intensity of her sexual appetite. They share a purely erotic relationship as an intellectual abyss separates them. Before long, Martin needs to possess Cécilia and cannot resist a sharp descent into violent jealousy.

Critics Reviews

View All (13) Critics Reviews
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle Rated: 1/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 4/5 Jun 11, 2005 Full Review Greg Muskewitz eFilmCritic.com Rated: 1/5 Dec 22, 2003 Full Review Carol Cling Las Vegas Review-Journal Rated: 4/5 Aug 22, 2003 Full Review Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid A solid achievement. Rated: 3/4 Jun 5, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (25) audience reviews
Audience Member This is one of those movies where I watched it, then immediately watched it again !! It was that good !! Charles Berling is outstanding as a philosophy professor whom is obsessed with a much younger girl. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member A tedious watch. This had potential but it was basically two hours of him shouting and her replying with one word answers all the way through the film. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Another Stupid movie which learns you how to avoid further stupid movies and false ratings in your coming life! Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review walter m [font=Century Gothic]In "L'Ennui," Martin(Charles Berling), a philosophy professor, has not had sex in the six months since he got divorced from his wife Sophie(Arielle Dombasle) in the hopes that he can now focus on writing a book. It's not working. What he does instead is drive around the seedier parts of town, eventually coming upon a bar where Leopold(Robert Kramer), an artist, cannot pay. Martin rescues him by paying his tab and accepts a painting as collateral. Three days later, he returns the painting only to discover that Leopold has died in the interim, finding Cecilia(Sophie Guillemin), a 17-year old model and lover of Leopold's in his place.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"L'Ennui" is a graphically sexual movie about obsession that gets tedious long before the drawn out conclusion. No matter how good a performance Charles Berling gives, there is no getting away from how truly tiresome Martin is. The simple truth is that he thinks too much and his being a philosophy professor cannot excuse this(we are all philosophers). He was most likely responsible for driving away Sophie and cannnot totally put his old life behind. At the same time realizing that he is too old and wrong for the much younger Cecilia, he cannot get away from the hot sex. By contrast, Cecilia just goes along with the flow, simply agreeing to whatever is suggested.[/font] Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting, watchable and completely un-sexy - with a great ending and some truly terrible paintings. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member The story of an older guy getting it on with an oversexed, much younger gal is the most overused trick in the Gallic film textbook. Itâ(TM)s a credit to helmer Cedric Kahn that he manages to breathe fresh life into the well-worn genre with âEnnui.❠Eventually, however, the film becomes as tiresome as the lead character , and the finale is simply self-indulgent. But pic contains plenty of richly comic moments and some fine acting from the leads. âEnnui❠is rarely boring and might excite some specialized distribution interest. It is also bound to raise temperatures on the fest circuit. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Ennui

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Movie Info

Synopsis Martin (Charles Berling) is a middle-aged philosophy teacher in the midst of a crisis. Lacking direction or purpose in his life, he initiates an affair with Cécilia (Sophie Guillemin), a young artist's model who might have killed her former lover with the intensity of her sexual appetite. They share a purely erotic relationship as an intellectual abyss separates them. Before long, Martin needs to possess Cécilia and cannot resist a sharp descent into violent jealousy.
Director
Cédric Kahn
Producer
Paulo Branco
Screenwriter
Cédric Kahn, Laurence Ferreira Barbosa, Alberto Moravia
Distributor
Phaedra Cinema
Production Co
Centre national de la Cinématographie, Gemini Film, Canal+, Madragoa Filmes, Ima Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 8, 1998, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Dec 20, 2000
Box Office (Gross USA)
$36.7K
Runtime
2h 0m