Genevieve Bujold, looking like a marvelous sprite or a princess waif, plays Isabel, a 20-year-old from Montreal who returns to her childhood farm on the Gaspé coast for her mother's funeral; there, she reconnects with the remains of her relatives and becomes especially intrigued by a handsome young man who resembles her long-deceased brother. Inscrutable drama from writer-producer-director Paul Almond (Bujold's then-husband) has melancholy atmospherics to spare and unsettling bursts of sound. The film begins with a flurry of jagged past-and-future edits which, I assume, are supposed to show the jumble of Isabel's thoughts, but nowhere else in the film are the edits this quick (the pacing slows way down once Isabel reaches her destination). Almond's handling in general is smooth and languid, as if in a sleepwalking state. The combination of a creeping sense of dread, Bujold's maybe/maybe not hallucinations, plus a looming secret about Isabel's parentage hold interest for awhile, but Almond fails to come up with a strong final act and the movie just dribbles away. Cinematography by Georges Dufaux is excellent and the supporting performances are casual and relaxed. Bujold's lightly offhand manner is appealing, and her elfin face (accentuated with high fashion makeup) is endlessly fascinating. ** from ****
8 Reviews
The Projectionist's Cut was better!
WHORNER8 December 2004
As a comment on religious repression, familial ostracism, and subliminal incestuous urges, this film might have some value. I'll never forget seeing it in 1968 just when the theater had a new automated system that would raise and lower the curtain in time with the beginning and the end of the movie. On a mid-week night, there were probably only 3 others than myself watching the film. At some point after about one confusing hour, the curtain went down, and the house lights came up. We sat looking at one another in bewilderment. I went out to the lobby and asked the old grouch of a manager if the movie was over. Irritably he asked, "Did it say, 'The End'?" No. He huffed off to the projection booth, came back and said there was one more reel. I returned to my seat. The first ending made more sense than the real one.
Isabel is a fairly boring, half-baked movie.
barlenon11 March 2001
Isabel, the movie, is kind of boring. The female lead is gorgeous and a decent actress but that is not enough to compensate for the tedious pace and confusing plot. The depiction of the Gaspe part of Quebec is interesting but filmwork is amateur (filled with abrupt 'one-take' cuts and stilted acting) and actually disorienting in parts. Despite some moments of interest, I can not recommend this movie.
Slow, dull, obscure
ofumalow11 March 2024
Bujold was married to this director at the time, and they made several films together. She plays a young woman who returns from Montreal to the rural Quebec community she was raised in because her mother is dying--though unfortunately she's already passed away by the time her daughter gets there. She sticks around ostensibly to care for a spinster uncle, though he doesn't really seem in need of care mentally or physically. She meets a handsome young newcomer (Mark Strange), who at first vaguely frightens her, then doesn't. She fends off some grabby-handed locals. She sees ghosts, or perhaps specters from her own troubled past here. None of this really goes anywhere.
The prospect of seeing Bujold in a "Repulsion"-type thriller is appealing, because she's almost always a compelling actor...but this movie can't decide whether it wants to be "Repulsion," "Straw Dogs," a ghost story, or what. We get hints that her character may be mentally unstable. Yet that turns out to be sort of a red herring, as does really every plot element in the very sketchy script. There's a sexual/violent assault towards the end that comes out of nowhere, and is so darkly staged you can't really tell what's going on anyway.
For a while the atmosphere is intriguing enough, despite the irritating, then-voguish overuse of jump cuts. But after a while it becomes clear the movie can't/won't develop any of its ideas enough to generate suspense, character insight, or any kind of point to the narrative, and that Bujold alone can't carry the whole undercooked enterprise. One always hopes these obscure, often hard-to-find Canadian features will turn out to be gold. But so frequently it's the case--as here--that they are forgotten because they were conceptually muddled and executed without enough boldness of style to compensate. This is just another theoretically interesting misfire that is ultimately rather tedious and unrewarding to watch.
The prospect of seeing Bujold in a "Repulsion"-type thriller is appealing, because she's almost always a compelling actor...but this movie can't decide whether it wants to be "Repulsion," "Straw Dogs," a ghost story, or what. We get hints that her character may be mentally unstable. Yet that turns out to be sort of a red herring, as does really every plot element in the very sketchy script. There's a sexual/violent assault towards the end that comes out of nowhere, and is so darkly staged you can't really tell what's going on anyway.
For a while the atmosphere is intriguing enough, despite the irritating, then-voguish overuse of jump cuts. But after a while it becomes clear the movie can't/won't develop any of its ideas enough to generate suspense, character insight, or any kind of point to the narrative, and that Bujold alone can't carry the whole undercooked enterprise. One always hopes these obscure, often hard-to-find Canadian features will turn out to be gold. But so frequently it's the case--as here--that they are forgotten because they were conceptually muddled and executed without enough boldness of style to compensate. This is just another theoretically interesting misfire that is ultimately rather tedious and unrewarding to watch.
Moody and weird.
simonoid23 June 2002
I knew nothing about the film before I walked in the theatre. It turned out to be a "coming of age" experience. The face of the young Genevieve Bujold was captivating. Then the lovely locations, odd music and even odder characters took over. The movie held me spellbound with a sense of unexplainable, frightening acts about to occur. More than once I was jolted right out of my seat. Even though I didn't begin to comprehend the events in her life, I completely believed in Isabel as a person who could survive a series of random threats. Bujold's performance moved me deeply with beautifully understated moments of fear, confusion and hope. Her director/husband may not know how to tell a story but he can fill the screen with tension, misery and awe. This movie is a time capsule of a girl/woman's torn-apart and put-back-together life.
Girl visits uncle's farm
noisecore27 April 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I cannot see how a movie so dull can be called a 'thriller'. It's one of those where you spend a good hour waiting for it to pick up, then slowly accept that it's just not going to happen. The pace is very slow, the plot murky and undeveloped, the camera work not so great (the climax scenes are so dark you can hardly tell what is going on). The "repressed memories of mysterious deaths and unspeakable taboos" are only mentioned in one or two lines and passed over without comment. I am OK with the subtlety of the incest themes, but there is just so much time where NOTHING happens. On the plus side the main actress and the shots of rural Canada are quite gorgeous at times. It makes the perfect movie to fall asleep to then forget about the next morning... but if you watch it attentively, you will likely be disappointed.
The Ice Storm.
morrison-dylan-fan31 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Whilst taking part in an ICM poll for the best movies of 1968,I joined in a Canadian viewing challenge. Wanting to combined the two,I took a look at the Canadian titles from that year. Finding her mesmerising in Brian De Palma's Obsession,I was thrilled to find a rare Genevieve Bujold offering,which led to me meeting Isabel.
The plot:
Learning of her mums death,Isabel leaves Montreal for her uncles farm in Gaspé coast. From the moment she arrives on the farm,Isabel has feelings of something being "off" ,with Isabel becoming fascinated by a guy who looks like her dead brother. Attending her mothers funeral,Isabel starts to feel in the air that the spirit of her mum is still down on the farm.
View on the film:
Spending most of the film acting on her own in a house/farm, Genevieve Bujold (with a pixie haircut) gives an incredibly expressive performance as Isabel,whose hazy, sleepwalking state dips between a sense of wander body language,and a sharp intake of wide- eyed fear,from meeting all the "family" on the farm. Working with his then-wife Bujold,writer/director Paul Almond & cinematographer Georges Dufaux keep the soundtrack to a minimum in order to use each sound as an instrument,from the sound of animals who can't be seen on the farm,to chilling noise of bombs dropping on Isabel's brother.
Peeling the farm to its most stark state,Almond pulls Isabel between reality and a nightmare with jagged jump-cuts closing in on Isabel's grip on reality. Never going for a straight serving of Horror,Almond keeps everything lingering in an eerie atmosphere, where elegant,fluid camera moves sip up the dour dread on the farm. Keeping Isabel and family in a rough sketch form,the screenplay by Almond weaves Isabel's past in an icy, fragmented manner which brings to light the ghosts that haunt Isabel.
The plot:
Learning of her mums death,Isabel leaves Montreal for her uncles farm in Gaspé coast. From the moment she arrives on the farm,Isabel has feelings of something being "off" ,with Isabel becoming fascinated by a guy who looks like her dead brother. Attending her mothers funeral,Isabel starts to feel in the air that the spirit of her mum is still down on the farm.
View on the film:
Spending most of the film acting on her own in a house/farm, Genevieve Bujold (with a pixie haircut) gives an incredibly expressive performance as Isabel,whose hazy, sleepwalking state dips between a sense of wander body language,and a sharp intake of wide- eyed fear,from meeting all the "family" on the farm. Working with his then-wife Bujold,writer/director Paul Almond & cinematographer Georges Dufaux keep the soundtrack to a minimum in order to use each sound as an instrument,from the sound of animals who can't be seen on the farm,to chilling noise of bombs dropping on Isabel's brother.
Peeling the farm to its most stark state,Almond pulls Isabel between reality and a nightmare with jagged jump-cuts closing in on Isabel's grip on reality. Never going for a straight serving of Horror,Almond keeps everything lingering in an eerie atmosphere, where elegant,fluid camera moves sip up the dour dread on the farm. Keeping Isabel and family in a rough sketch form,the screenplay by Almond weaves Isabel's past in an icy, fragmented manner which brings to light the ghosts that haunt Isabel.
Strange movie.
rodcorvo2 April 2000
I saw Isabel last night on TV and it was strange. For the first fifteen minutes of the film its hard to understand anything about it. It has some weird creepy scenes in it too that just dont seem to fit in. The ending is horrible it leaves you thinking huh why the heck did I watch this horrible movie. It seems that the only reason I kept on watching was it felt like something exiting was going to happen but it didnt. There was some kind of weird ghost person who appears a few times. The movie just doesnt make any sense. I give it 3 out of 10 stars.
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