Unforgivable

2011

1h 52m

Drama

List

76%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

35%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

An author moves to Venice to write a novel and falls in love with a woman he does not fully trust.

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Chris Chang

Film Comment Magazine

Francis's fluster-as evinced by Dussollier and nurtured by Tchin-makes for a pleasure both subtle and mildly sadistic.

Jun 17, 2013

Full Review

Tirdad Derakhshani

Philadelphia Inquirer

An exquisitely crafted, brilliant, confusing, disordered, maddening, and wonderfully flawed film that tries to show life as it is lived.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 6, 2012

Full Review

A.A. Dowd

Time Out Chicago

Unforgivable is a bit too relaxed to function as a thriller. Though admirably unpredictable, its plot is also spread thin among these fickle lovers.

Aug 11, 2012

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Neely Swanson

Easy Reader (California)

What isn't very good is the meandering story that has so many points to make that it makes none. Luckily, there is a romantic ending, but how could there not be - it's set in Venice, after all.

Sep 18, 2017

Full Review

Robert Denerstein

Movie Habit

Techine's latest is rich in emotional intrigue

Oct 20, 2012

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Lawrence Toppman

Charlotte Observer

Though the movie lasts a reasonably brief 107 minutes, Tchin is in no hurry to reveal his characters. We're still learning about them in the last few scenes, and our loyalties and attractions change.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 7, 2012

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Serge L

French films are always wonders. The intellectual equivalents of action films. This one has a story with twists and turns hard to believe. It is highly improbable, even if the protagonists were all somewhat psychopathic. Which might explain the title. But of course I Iiked with, Dussolier in good shape, Bouquet stunning, Venice, what is not to like? The characters are all very frank and honest, intelligent, daring, with a touch of psychopathy for the cinema. Except for the psychopathy, they come out as great to hang out with. Great time.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/28/15

Full Review

Audience Member

French films are always wonders. The intellectual equivalents of action films. This one has a story with twists and turns hard to believe. It is highly improbable, even if the protagonists were all somewhat psychopathic. Which might explain the title. But of course I Iiked with, Dussolier in good shape, Bouquet stunning, Venice, what is not to like? The characters are all very frank and honest, intelligent, daring, with a touch of psychopathy for the cinema. Except for the psychopathy, they come out as great to hang out with. Great time.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This French drama was directed and co-written by one of the stalwarts of the French film industry Andre Techine. It has an all-star cast which includes the veteran award winning actor Andre Dussollier and the very talented Carole Bouquet.They make it out to be a much larger age difference in the movie, but Bouquet and Dussolier are in fact only twelve years apart. He just looks much older, as Carole Bouquet is youthful and extremely attractive for her age. Is it a stretch such a good looking woman would so desperately choose and want to be with him? is interested not so much in plot details as the phenomenon of characters who seek peace yet wind up in eternal conflict.Techine keeps his characters at an intimate distance from the viewer. You get to know them better with each passing season, yet they remain unknowable. Because they barely know themselves! Until the final moment, Francis isn't sure what is it he wants. He thinks it is to finish his novel. But there the novel finally is, in his own hands, and he's still unsatisfied. As befits a film made mostly by old hands in front of and behind the camera, Unforgivable is as smoothly made, as those waters between Venice and Sant' Erasmo are choppy and unstable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

Audience Member

venice plays another character here

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting story and characters with some solid performances.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

With UNFORGIVABLE Andre Techine once again shows what a master he is at exploring the complexity of human nature. Never a showy director, Techine breaks all the rules when it comes to character development and plot construction. Each scene naturally ends with a major surprise that undermines all else we understood prior but it's all logical, so in effect, it's not a surprise. Watching UNFORGIVABLE I kept thinking "Who would write this?" And yet it's all so logical in an illogical human way. All of Techine's characters seem so in sync only to become totally at odds. UNFORGIVABLE is like those times in life when you rehearse the outcome of a situation over and over, only to find it all collapse in the end, spiral out of control or in a different direction. No one behaves as we wish. No one is who we think. Including ourselves. UNFORGIVABLE is a truly stunning work that left me mesmerized.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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André Téchiné

Director

André Dussollier

Francis

Carole Bouquet

Judith

Mélanie Thierry

Alice

Adriana Asti

Anna Maria

Alexis Loret

Roger

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Synopsis

An author moves to Venice to write a novel and falls in love with a woman he does not fully trust.

Director: André Téchiné
Screenwriter: André Téchiné, Mehdi Ben Attia
Genre: Drama
Original Language: French (Canada)
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 10, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $150.4K
Runtime: 1h 52m

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