The Disenchanted

She is in school, and breaks up with a boyfriend at the beginning of the film. She lives with her little brother, and a bed-ridden mother. They are supported by an older man, who visits the mother, and leaves money. Godrèche is pushed into service with the older man, and we see a brief full-frontal.

I am sure there is a lot of meaning in this film that escaped me, but I was ready for it to be over after the first 5 minutes. It fairly screams French art film. This is for die-hard genre fans.

DVD info from Amazon.

The letterbox transfer has a green tint, and more than a little color noise, and has terrible subtitles that can't be disabled.

Scoop's notes:

The meaning that escaped Tuna eluded me as well, but almost all the online reviews were positive, so consult Rotten Tomatoes, because the reviewers obviously understood the mysteries that remain unrevealed to us. I wrote the following in 1999 (never having seen a DVD version):

My recommendation is NOT to rent 1990's "The Disenchanted" if you are in North America. The print circulating now is dreadful, with the colors washed out, and the movie chopped to 75 ambiguous and often incoherent minutes. (It was a short film to begin with, but at least three minutes have been cut, and they are probably three minutes we wanted to see.) Possibly the original print of the director's cut is worth seeing if you can get it in Europe. It was an early effort from Benoit Jacquot, director of A Single Girl and Marianne.

The Critics Vote

Apollo 82/100

Rotten Tomatoes summary. The reviews were quite positive.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 6.5/10, Apollo readers 61/100

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C- as an arthouse film (we estimate).