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      Three Lives and Only One Death

      1996 2 hr. 4 min. Comedy Drama List
      70% 10 Reviews Tomatometer 58% 250+ Ratings Audience Score The same characters experience different realities across four separate stories in this experimental exploration of truth and identity. In one, Parisian salesman Mateo Strano (Marcello Mastroianni) abandons his wife, Maria (Marisa Paredes), then reemerges two decades later. In another, a professor becomes a panhandler. Next, a butler serves a young couple that has inherited a large house. And finally, a business mogul is confronted by a family he thought he had made up. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      s r 1001 movies to see before you die. I started this one with a family member and we were both interested despite skepticism regarding the quality of the filming; it felt like a tv show. It had an interesting plot that bordered on fantasy. However this all changed a little later as other characters were introduced and our interest waned. It became tedious and harder to follow / care. Regardless, I give it credit for what it tried to do, but I don't plan to see it again. It was on youtube. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review William L A series of interconnected, fantastical parables based on folklore, Three Lives and Only One Death is so convoluted and branching in its overarching narrative and particularly fast-paced in its tempo that you can't help but enjoy it based on the virtue of variety alone. Oftentimes, the film requires your full attention in order to keep the order of the crossed wires across the four narratives accurate (particularly since Mastroianni's role varies between each of the stories) and the occasional reliance on wordplay; however, it is still a rather creative design and an interesting experience. The stories delve into an almost Twilight Zone-esque style at points, emulating the occasionally maddening nature and the horror associated with sudden, profound change in one's lifestyle. Being unfamiliar with Ruiz's body of work, this is a film that will teach you as a viewer to avoid being set in expectations of plot when he has control of the pen. Unlike many accomplished actors of later years when the entered the later stages of their careers, Mastroianni was not satisfied with simply carrying on based on the strength of his name alone, continuing to involve himself in interesting films up until his last project. (3/5) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/04/21 Full Review Audience Member Another great director I missed at the time. Chilean expat Raul Ruiz' take on multiple personality disorder - incredibly playful, often surreal - as if Luis Bunuel and Chris Marker had decided to do a remake of The Three Faces of Eve. Who needs Hollywood? Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Raoul Ruiz' Three Lives and Only One Death is a what the title suggest. In this case it's the schizophrenic man, played by Marcello Mastroianni. He's playing three different people, from a butler to a politician. We don't know whom of them he really is. He's a dangerous man, who makes it worse for the people around him. But one thing is for sure, is that it's all are about to collapse, because of all his personalities. This might sound like a great premise for a story, and it is. I liked how it all in the begining feels like three different short films with Mastroianni playing different roles, but it rounds up with some of the stories merged with each other and we understand it's one person. I liked the story concept, some of them I liked more than the other, some of them I can't stand, specially when all kinds of genre is blended, but one can argue that because it's many different stories of different genres that it's gonna be a mess in the end anyway. But for my taste, it kind of destroys itself when they decides to have a fantasy story in the beginning. When it comes to the characters, they are basically just marionettes for Mastroianni's crazy actions, and seems to be helpless from all of his pranks and charades. It's basically him who controls the story. The other characters hasn't any control of their own actions, which I'm not sure if I like or not. But I certainly loved Marcello Mastroianni's performance which was one of his last before he died the same year. And he tops it all with a quarter dozen splendid roles. And it's thanks to him that I give this movie a marginal thumbs up. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member Marcello Mastroianni, best known for starring in Fellini's definitive surrealist masterworks, gives an endlessly amusing and beguiling swan song in "Three Lives and Only One Death", one of his final screen performances before his death in 1996. The film, written and directed by Raoul Ruiz, while not quite comparable to those Fellini classics (but what is?) is none to short on postsurrealism itself, inventively telling four separate (yet sneakily similar) Paris-set stories - all featuring Mastroianni - with wit and an eye unique imagery. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member An entertaining tale for much of its run time, as Mastorianni enjoys his multiple roles and the stories progress. However, the bow that ties all the stories together makes a good bit of what passed before a lot less intriguing than on first glance. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

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      Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Three Lives stars Marcello Mastroianni in one of the last and most enchanting of his screen appearances. Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Nathanael Hood Audiences Everywhere Three Lives and Only One Death may be a puzzle. But don't look too hard at the image at its center. You'll miss all the beautiful pieces. Rated: A Dec 27, 2018 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews There's enough stuff crammed into the four stories to write a Ph.D thesis. Rated: B+ Jul 26, 2006 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 4/5 Aug 1, 2005 Full Review Michael Drakulich Star Newspapers (Chicago, IL) Rated: 2/5 Nov 13, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis The same characters experience different realities across four separate stories in this experimental exploration of truth and identity. In one, Parisian salesman Mateo Strano (Marcello Mastroianni) abandons his wife, Maria (Marisa Paredes), then reemerges two decades later. In another, a professor becomes a panhandler. Next, a butler serves a young couple that has inherited a large house. And finally, a business mogul is confronted by a family he thought he had made up.
      Director
      Raúl Ruiz
      Genre
      Comedy, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $11.4K