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Total Eclipse

Play trailer Poster for Total Eclipse R 1995 1h 50m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
22% Tomatometer 18 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Youthful poet Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) drinks absinthe and neglects his devoted wife, Mathilde (Romane Bohringer). Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio), an even younger and more celebrated poet, enters their lives and alienates the couple even further, seducing Paul and haughtily mocking their bourgeois lifestyle even as he benefits from it. Mathilde stands by Paul after he is jailed for sodomy, but she cannot prevent the poets' self-destructive descent.

Critics Reviews

View All (18) Critics Reviews
Anthony Puccinelli Chicago Reader Ironically the film’s failure as a work of art about artists may be what helps it succeed as a trashy guilty pleasure... Rated: 1/4 Jun 7, 2022 Full Review Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine Despite its fascinating subject matter, Total Eclipse is both unflattering and loveless. Rated: 2/4 Jul 31, 2003 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times It lacks any sense of humor, and is under the delusion that its subjects are interesting because they are great poets. That only makes their poetry interesting. Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault “The unbearable thing,” muses Rimbaud, “is that nothing is unbearable.” Obviously he hadn’t seen this movie. Rated: D Sep 1, 2022 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com A misguided project from Holland: Watching Verlaine and Rimbeau engage in endless arguments about the nature of love, you wonder when they had time to create the poetry that revolutionized the world. Rated: C Jan 9, 2007 Full Review Thomas Delapa Boulder Weekly Rated: 2/5 Apr 28, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Mateescu E It was pretty intresting but a little chaotic Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/04/23 Full Review Linkle H Just read my review here I'm tired of getting "can't submit" on every site I go to. https://linklethehistorian.tumblr.com/post/721180096709443584/total-eclipse-1995-a-movie-review-by Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Family-friendly movie my kids loved it, the two of them are 3 and 5. they said it really inspired them and they started writing poetry and quite frankly, they are pretty good! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Expectations were completely overpass. Incredible performances! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Tremendous, passionate, wrenching movie about an amazing poet and his life and loves. I feel so lucky to have stumbled across it in a video rental store...and now it is so hard to find. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Watched it, and I gotta say it's terrible. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Total Eclipse

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Youthful poet Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) drinks absinthe and neglects his devoted wife, Mathilde (Romane Bohringer). Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio), an even younger and more celebrated poet, enters their lives and alienates the couple even further, seducing Paul and haughtily mocking their bourgeois lifestyle even as he benefits from it. Mathilde stands by Paul after he is jailed for sodomy, but she cannot prevent the poets' self-destructive descent.
Director
Agnieszka Holland
Producer
Ramsay Levi
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Dec 21, 1999
Box Office (Gross USA)
$339.9K
Runtime
1h 50m
Sound Mix
Surround