Time Regained

Released May 16, 1999

2 hr. 38 min.

History

Drama

List

72%

29 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

The film begins in 1922; Marcel Proust is on his deathbed. Looking through photographs, he reflects on his past, recalling his life and the people he has known and loved. Gradually, the memories of his life are supplanted by the memories of the characters in his novels, and soon, fiction overwhelms reality. The happy days and lost paradise of his childhood alternate with more recent memories of his social and literary life.

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Critics Consensus

Time Regained's unorthodox approach to adapting its classic source material is flawed, but the end result remains a curiously compelling drama.

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William L

Time Regained is a difficult film to judge. It's a comprehensive adaptation of the final volume of Marcel Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time', heavily integrating the author's concept of 'involuntary memory' - the idea that certain details serve as stimuli to invite recollection of targeted events. As a result, Ruiz structures the narrative as a series of flashbacks that are radically out of order and complements this design with interesting choreography in which characters and set dressing intermittenly 'float' ethereally, which is really interesting in and of itself (inviting comparisons to films that show the hand of Kaufman or Lynch), but there's a catch or two: there is a rather substantial cast to keep track of that maintain individual relationships in a network, subplots that provide context to each other sporadically, and the content at any given moment is often relentlessly stuffy (and excessively 'French', for lack of a better term). The film is, frankly, dense and long. So now you have to compare Ruiz's clearly comprehensive understanding of his subject, access to sumptuous sets, and targeted artistic vision with just how confusing it often is and how little enjoyment watching it often invites. Reflecting back, I think the strength of its narrative devices does outweigh some of its more obvious detractors, but it's a film I am in absolutely no rush to rewatch. Took me a while to recognize John Malkovich in a heavy French accent and a fake mustache. Wish he had spoken that way in Rounders. (3/5)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/21/21

Full Review

s r

1001 movies to see before you die. Despite its visuals, the story was still not one I appreciated. Impressive cast and the moving stationary pieces was unique. It was on Roku.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Beautifully shot and ambitious beyond its budget as flashbacks are too confusing to those not familiar to the work; beauty of film and cast does not make up for being devoid of any drama

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Serge L

The memories of the whole life, out of order. It's like time travel for adult with The Doctor. Complex and intelligent, this film is hard to follow really. More like a series of points made. And travel in the past in France.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/07/18

Full Review

Audience Member

Here's a film that I adored that I can't recommend without pretty serious disclaimers. Ruiz nominally adapts the final book of Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past", but uses the loose structure as an excuse to pick freely from the entire mammoth work. He is clearly attempting to capture the stream-of-consciousness approach of Proust, and I would say he succeeds admirably. What this translates to is a glacially paced 2 1/2 hour trip through various parts of the protagonists life. I found it mesmerizing, but I like slow films that draw me inward. If you don't, the lack of a clear narrative will probably be torturous.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The stream-of-consciousness structure effectively captures a mind lost in thought; what it doesn't effectively create, however, is drama. Moody, opulent, and just decadent enough, Ruiz's film is elegant all over and perverse around the edges, just as it should be.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

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Raúl Ruiz

Director

Catherine Deneuve

Odette de Crecy

Emmanuelle Béart

Gilberte

Vincent Perez

Morel

Pascal Greggory

Saint-Loup

Marie-France Pisier

Madame Verdurin

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Empire Magazine

Rated: 4/5

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

BBC.com

Rated: 4/5

Feb 20, 2002

Full Review

J. Hoberman

New York Times

All about remembering (cinema not least), this luxurious bath in the river of time is, to lift a phrase from Proust, consecrated to "the miracle of an analogy.

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Guy Scarpetta

Positif

More than a film adaptation of Proust, a cinematographically Proustian film.

May 3, 2022

Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

Ruiz's surreal, allusive approach weaves together more of the novel's themes and plot strands than you would have thought possible. For those not expecting a straightforward, linear narrative, Time Regained is as delicious as a Madeleine dipped in tea.

Nov 23, 2020

Full Review

Charles Mudede

The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

The best moment in the film is not in fact from Time Regained, but is the best moment in my favorite of the books, volume five, The Captive.

Jul 5, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

The film begins in 1922; Marcel Proust is on his deathbed. Looking through photographs, he reflects on his past, recalling his life and the people he has known and loved. Gradually, the memories of his life are supplanted by the memories of the characters in his novels, and soon, fiction overwhelms reality. The happy days and lost paradise of his childhood alternate with more recent memories of his social and literary life.

Director: Raúl Ruiz
Executive Producer: Paulo Branco
Distributor: Kino Pictures
Production Co: Blu Cinematografica, France 2 Cinema, Blu Film, Centre National de la Cinematographie, Les Films du Lendemain, Le Studio Canal +, Gémini Films, Madragoa Filmes
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: French (Canada)
Release Date (Theaters): May 16, 1999, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $467.2K
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, DTS, Surround

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