Emile (2003) User Reviews

A very thoughtful story, a great character movie. If you're looking for another meaningless blockbuster don't try it.

[theunholy-1 · 7/10 · 23 June 2009]

Emile is an upper-class British man, a university professor who just retired. But also a man who has a past to deal with. Four decades ago he was a young farmer in Saskatchewan, living with his two brothers on the farm he was born. Their parents died young, making them responsible too soon of the family's farm.

The youngest brother wanted to be a writer, Emile wanted to be a scientist. They both didn't really care about the farm, which was unacceptable for their older brother for whom it was their fate. Therefore he became angry and violent, continuously putting them under pressure.

Emile found his way out with a scholarship to study in England, a premeditated way to abandon them and never look back. A country thousands of miles away to start all over, and forget. He only came back once ten years after when his two brother died to rent up the farm, learning he was the only family left of his young niece and left her in an orphanage without even seeing her. He went back alone to England and never came back.

Forty years after he first left, he has to go back for a second time, to receive a degree from a Canadian university. And now that he's an old man, he feels it's his last chance to make peace with his past and his niece...

Emile is a wonderful story about terrible choices we sometimes have to make. About unforgivable wounds you have to find a way to forgive.

During the whole movie there's a terrible tension between Emile and his niece. They both have a terrible need to know each other, and a terrible need to talk about the past, and you see them finding their way through, step by step.

Every moment has its emotion, every actor is brilliant, every line is thoughtful. You just let yourself go in the movie and finish it to think about yourself, about life, about your own choices. About things you've done and may need to be forgiven for. A true movie my friends

fans of Deborah Unger will not be disappointed.

[john-wildfong · 5/10 · 18 September 2003]

This is definitely a character based movie. As such it's never a total waste to watch Ian McKellan work - playing someone trying to come to terms with the difficulties and poor choices in his past, and Deborah Unger truly nails her character - a woman who is bruised and bitter but determined not to give up on life. It's always a treat to see a movie filmed in Canada that doesn't pretend to be somewhere else. Alas the resolution seemed a little too easy and contrived, and I found the soundtrack monotonous and intrusive.

Sir Ian McKellen turns in a masterful performance in modestly budgeted Canadian indie pic

[wonderdawg · 7/10 · 26 September 2009]

The title character, a retired professor played by Sir Ian McKellen, must come to terms with his past when he returns to Canada for a visit. Emile grew up with two brothers on a farm in Saskatchewan. He left to study in Britain 40 years earlier and never looked back. Until now. Invited to Victoria (British Columbia) to accept an honorary degree from UVic, he stays at the home of his troubled niece, Nadia (Deborah Kara Unger). Recently divorced and living with her rebellious ten year old daughter, Maria (Theo Crane), Nadia still smolders with resentment because Uncle Emile failed to adopt her following the sudden death of her parents. She spent her girlhood in an orphanage and the experience has left a permanent scar on her psyche.

"You seem like a pretty nice guy and I'm going to try to like you. But I don't trust people and you did that to me," she tells him quietly. "Now I'm sure you had your reasons but I just want you to know there was a little girl waiting for you a long time ago. And you left her. Waiting."

That's a haunting image to deal with but Emile also has to confront his feelings of guilt over deserting his two brothers, now deceased, both of whom we meet in flashback scenes: Freddy (Chris William Smith), fragile, artistic, a bit of a dreamer, slowly withering under cruel, insensitive treatment at the hands of older brother, Carl (Tygh Runyan).

Writer/director Carl Bessai (Lola) has McKellen as Emile relive these memories as the old man he is rather than cast an actor to play a younger version of the character in flashback scenes. "I think that's important because the past for him is subjective," Bessai explains on the DVD commentary track. "It is a memory that is infused with who he is right now." Although this may prove confusing for some viewers I thought it was a bold move and well presented visually through artful use of transition shots and doctored cinematography.

The film makes effective use of Victoria locations to add atmosphere, mood and emotional context to key scenes: Emile and Maria chatting on a bench in the Inner Harbour with the Empress Hotel in the background; a blustery walk along Dallas Road; Emile receiving his honorary degree at University of Victoria's Convocation Hall (with 200 extras in attendance.) McKellen turns in a masterful performance, Ms. Unger (Crash) is hypnotically watchable as always and the complex emotional dynamic between their two characters is well worked out. Young Miss Crane, in only her second film, displays a wonderfully natural screen presence. Fans of traditional Hollywood dramas should be warned. As Bessai explains on the DVD, this is not a movie about big dramatic moments, "it's the little things that create the tensions between people, that make them recognizably human." Works for me.

Slow but satisfying

[rps-2 · 6/10 · 22 September 2005]

You are well into the second quarter of this film before you can figure out just who is who. The frequent flashbacks, done in a style that would work better on a stage than on the screen, are confusing until you figure out what is happening. Nevertheless it is a warm picture with a good cast and a straightforward plot that generates some very human moments. At least it's a film --- and a reasonably decent one --- that shows Canada as Canada and not disguised as a stand-in for some place in the US. It's obviously done on a low budget with an unknown cast but that does not have a heavy impact on quality. There is some young talent here on both sides of the camera. Not a great film, but not a bad one either.

Finding Family

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 10 April 2007]

In the second part of a twin bill for Ian McKellen, he stars with Deborah Kara Unger in a compelling drama about a man who goes back home after 40 years and has to deal with the past he left behind.

In contrast to Cold Comfort Farm, in which McKellan played a small role, this movie is all about him. He goes back and forth from the present to his life in Canada 40 years before. He even engages in conversations with his brothers, who appear in the present. he works to resolve his crisis and, with the help of 10-year-old Theo Crane, is able to come to a comfortable conclusion.

For those of us who leave home and return, there is a lot of things familiar in this very good movie.

Appealing and endearing character drama, that is underplayed in comparison for what passes an a contemporary North American indie, but played honestly and fruitfully.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 27 June 2011]

Emile is a Canadian independent film which, unlike some of its more recent American counterparts, isn't afraid of exploring bare-boned, delicate territory without either constructing portraits of its characters as total freaks or necessarily feeling the need to deceptively 'mainstreamise' its overall content with generally offbeat material and off-colour, idiosyncratic dialogues. Sure, they touch on some rather delicate topics, ranging from unanticipated pregnancy to various mental illnesses to those fond of sadomasochism, but rarely do we feel as if the characters in projects such as Juno or Secretary actually exist – they are fanciful excursions into realms populated by those we are wary of rather than sympathetic of, and more often than not carry with them excess levels of vanity. In Carl Bessai's 2004 film Emile, we feel as if we could live down the street from them; his film is one of which explores a man and the results that came about after his decision, during young-adulthood, to put himself before others, regardless of the riches that decision had him end up with, before returning to the locale of his young-adulthood years and piecing together the second generation of his family's situation that has been brought about because of this.

The film covers that of the titular Emile, played extraordinarily by British actor Ian McKellen; a performance full of nuance and delicacy, a performance seemingly lost amidst the bigger budgeted, larger distributed Lord of the Rings and X-Men sequels of the same year in which he additionally starred, but a performance fraught with authenticity and affluence as he comes to integrate with varying supporting acts of differing ages; genders and apparent class backgrounds. Indeed, the film will open on the England based, but Canadian born, author of later on in years Emile; the aftermath of a speech at a large function seeing him very much the centre of attention and seemingly at the peak of his proverbial academia-imbued game. The camera decides to track in on Emile, in a wavy and distorted manner, as if cause for concern was required amidst the rapturous applause and success story that is this man: the film's eventual framework alluded to as here, as the bearing in on the surface qualities of a man and into something more troubled, plays out.

Through one means or another, Emile winds up back in Canada again; the receiving of an honorary degree from an institute in his home province of Saskatchewan the catalyst from the outside forcing him back to his roots, allowing apparent issue and such to be buried. It's here the character of Nadia, Emile's niece, enters proceedings; someone brought to life by that of Canadian actress Deborah Kara Unger, whose general facial expression in whatever film she's in always seems to epitomise that of anguish or one that is wrought with the weight of the world. She has certain things on her shoulders here, the woman clearly outspoken and rather vocal – refusing first impressions on that of anyone; her daughter Maria undergoing, what we presume to be from an early exchange with her mother, a rather strict upbringing as she comes to terms with her own life situation of being forced into moving states to get away from an ex-husband.

It is a situation, the escaping of one's family-imbued problems and leaving on negative terms as trouble brews within a family unit, that echoes that of Emile's; his decision to initially leave Canada being what it is, when the establishment of his back-story to do with his two brothers is what it is. Out of these beginnings, it is made obvious that Emile and Nadia's friendly connection might be read into as being born more out of other items than merely that of quaint family ties. Being relocated in Canada for this brief period allows Emile to hark back to the past; specifically, the ability to look back at his time as a young man with his thoughtful and more humane brother Freddy (Runyan) and his bigger, more primitive sibling Carl (Martin), whose aggression and such on the farm that they're based spawns degrees of conflict. Emile's consequent leaving of this aforementioned unit to study in England, usually the land of academia in these instances, leads him to be the man he is now but seemingly at the cost of a close tie with Freddy, whose own promise leads to its own respective conclusion. Bessai weaves the back-story to that of what happened to Emile in with the present strand wonderfully well; the execution, as specific analeptic manipulations play out furthermore within the flashbacks, are handled with such competence and guile, that it is difficult not to become so involved. Indeed, the results are naturalised; involving, brooding and really rather good.

Brilliant acting, but flawed direction

[postglock · 5/10 · 10 September 2005]

Wonderful performances by all actors involved, Ian McKellen especially gives a typically intelligent and nuanced rendering. The plot is solid, but the main flaws lie in the tedious direction, cinematography and editing. Flashbacks are overused and signalled with horrendous transparency. The direction is terribly heavy-handed, which is unfortunate; plot-lines that are already capable of arousing viewer sympathy are then dwelled upon with even less subtlety. The ponderous soundtrack would be palatable under normal circumstances, but rapidly becomes irritating when prefaced by a "have you ever...?" question and combined with slow-motion, sepia effects. There is also a problem with the audio, where inconsistent mixing/mastering have allowed too many low-mids in the mix about half of the time, making some of the dialogue indistinct.

Worth watching if you appreciate Ian McKellen's work, but expect to lose interest by the end.

Ian McKellen's performance could very well be his best ever.

[Tom Murray · 9/10 · 6 February 2004]

Emile is one of the best Canadian films that I have ever seen. Ian McKellen is superb as Emile, a loner who abandoned his family many years ago and finds himself visiting his few remaining relatives.

Emile lived with his two brothers on a Saskatchewan farm. Karl, the eldest, was an insensitive controller. Emile, the educated one, left to be a professor in England, leaving Karl and the youngest, depressed brother on their own, with tragic consequences. Karl married and had a daughter, Nadia (Deborah Kara Unger). When Karl and his wife died in an accident, Emile was sent for to get his niece, Maria (Theo Crane), who was in an orphanage. Emile returned to look into business about the farm but made up an excuse why he could not take the niece back with him. These details from the past all appear in flashbacks, as seen in Emile's own mind. He remembers everyone as he last saw them: his brothers as they were when he left them but himself as he is now. Remembrances of things that he never witnessed are all portrayed as he imagined them or as he would like to imagine them.

In the present, his Alma Mater, a university in Victoria B.C. is bestowing an honorary degree upon him. His niece, Nadia, invites him to stay with her and her daughter, Maria. Everything is in turmoil; Nadia has just left her husband and taken Maria with her. They have just moved into a new home and Maria is quite distraught and taciturn; everything in her life has just been changed. Now, a great uncle, whom she has never seen, appears. At first Maria is aloof but soon they become the best of friends and all relationships reconfigure.

Deborah Kara Unger and Theo Crane both played their roles convincingly. McKellen's performance could very well be his best ever. His portrayal of a personality in flux is subtle and clear. He must come to terms with the suffering that his decisions have caused others and whether to stay a loner or become involved.

McKellen is great, otherwise it failed to fascinate

[catherine-albrecht · 3/10 · 8 May 2014]

This movie gets a rating of a 3 by me because of Ian McKellen. His acting and his character are superior to everyone else in this film. I did not like the acting of Ms. Unger nor Ms. Crane. It seems as though they were sleepwalking. Also, the movie's score was incredibly annoying and downright intrusive. This is how the score was: 4 to 7 notes on the piano, 3 to 11 notes on the cello, repeat and repeat and repeat. Do you get the picture? I cannot tell you how many times I had to mute the sound on my player because I could not take any more of this mind bending tedious music. Also, I did not like how the director set up the flashback sequences. I noticed that on the DVD special features section he felt it was really creative. However, I felt that it just gave Mr McKellen more screen time. Also, it was equally not compelling to cast the mother and daughter in other roles for the flashback sequences. I was so confused and exasperated with this director. The other reason I am giving this movie a 3 is because it was wonderful to see Vancouver and British Columbia for all its beauty. Well, if you want to watch this film and you're sensitive to music, I would suggest you do the same that I did. Simply put, press mute when you see a lot of sequences where there's no talking because you can bet your bottom dollar that horrendous score is going to be creeping into your ears.

Easy to identify with

[marysia · 8/10 · 2 September 2004]

I liked the movie a lot more than I expected. Not that I thought it was going to be a bad movie, but I had no real concept of what I'd think of it so really enjoying it was a nice surprise. We had heard it was slow, but I actually found it to be quite gripping and as such it didn't appear slow at all. At first it was a little distracting watching the movie with Ian McKellen two rows behind us and a couple of seats along, but my focus settled down as we got further in. Not particularly helped by the antarctic blasts of cold coming from the air conditioning right in front of me. I'm lucky I didn't die of hypothermia before the end of the evening. The movie was much more easily identified with than you might expect, being a movie about a 65 year old man and me being anything but. The theme was something I think can get to anyone and what really got me was the story of Emile leaving his two brothers behind and what happened to them subsequently. I think anyone who moves away from their family can understand the need to separate and how easy it can be to let that separation become too vast. As someone who has never lost a close member of my family, and lives in vague terror of the day it finally happens (as it must do unless I'm hit by a bus in the near future), I found the movie very touching and even teared up a couple of times. On a less precise scale, Emile's flaw was that he ran away from responsibility and difficulty and as a result never really lived his life, as far as we can tell. It's always easy to tell ourselves that what we're doing is for the best, but often that can be an excuse for not doing something that seems too hard.

The only flaw I would pick with the movie is that occasionally the music was a little too much. Aside from that the acting was excellent, the script was excellent and the shooting was beautifully done. I think a lot more people will find something to associate with in this movie than might think they would. Have you ever moved away from home? Have you ever not kept in touch when you knew you should? Have you ever been hurt by or betrayed a family member?

Slow start and plot faults mar Canadian redemption movie

[rowmorg · 5/10 · 10 August 2009]

McKellen plays a senior UK academic returning to Canada to receive an honorary degree. He stays with his niece (Unger) who is newly separated (that's her hubby off the budget) and her grumpy adolescent daughter. Relations are frosty at first until the issue gets aired, which sets our hero off on a journey down memory lane to his troubled family farm on the prairies. Everything revolves around McKellen and his character, whom we have to believe and care about. Sadly, we learn almost nothing about him apart from an initial glimpse of his college rooms and a dumpy woman "assistant" (with the muted suggestion that he is gay). We do not even learn anything about his scientific studies, the focus of his life's work, so his character would not pass the elementary requirements of a screen writing software package. How scripts with structural problems like this get green-lighted by national film-funding bodies is beyond me. There is a further problem with Unger's character, when she asks the professor: "Do you remember my mother?" and he says "not really", thus removing any possibility of dealing with the orphaned Unger's most important relationship. A further problem arises with the flashback passages in which we glimpse his brothers, but not well enough to understand their motivations or his relationship with them. Finally, the script fails to provide an adequate breakthrough to resolve his situation, and the pay-off is therefore unsatisfying. However, because the film is intelligently filmed and directed, these faults are not hidden, and the film works in spite of them, particularly for McKellen fans who love his puckish face and plummy accent.

Boring

[sexybodymtl · 3/10 · 22 January 2022]

Only Canadians are able to hire a great actor and make a poor movie.

If that movie it's 6.4/10 it's because of Ian mckellen. Without him it would have been 2.

Wonderful performances

[bmatt-1 · 10/10 · 8 January 2004]

Ian McKellan does a compelling rendition of an aging man come back to revisit and face his past indiscretions. This is augmented by some wonderful performances by some remarkable Canadian actors. Particularly Tygh Runyan and the young Theo Crane. They give refreshingly honest and real performances.

Beautiful......

[yukino_hhwang · 9/10 · 19 September 2003]

Unlike many movies discussing family, Emile focuses on the relationship among brothers, among uncle and nieces. Sometimes, it is a lot of so-called obligations between father/mother and son/daughter. The bond is too strong to escape from it. It is more romantic, as holiday hobby is more romantic than weekday job. There are a lot of space for one's free will, a man doesn't have to scarify just because he is someone else's whoever.

It is why I can only partially agree with the footnote of the movie `it is a movie about human being rather than human doing.' He has choice, what he has done of course decides what he is. I just grasp something from existentialism.

Compare to the director's previous work, Lola, the movie with a younger woman as leading character, I can identify myself with the characters in Emile more. People in Emile suffer more struggles inside their hearts. Lola does experiences many exciting and fantastic, and she does suffer something. However, I can't find any identity in her `innocent' expression.

It is an interesting thing when the movie reminds me of another Ian McKellen's great acting, Gods and Monsters. Maybe it is because of the way of describing, putting now and then, reality and imagination together in the same picture. (It made me think that `Ian McKellen's acting is similar to his previous one' at first. Actually, Emile and James Whale are built much different.) Director Carl Bessai spent much effort to build up such the atmosphere of what happens in an old man's mind, much more than Bill Condon did, in my `humble' opinion, a little too much. Carl Bessai chose still rather than action. It seems to express the idea `human being rather than human doing'. It is also a trade off a director must take.

In a picture, a motion picture, the present and the past are seamlessly married, but not in a logic. The screenplay doesn't give a good and strong reason to release the ice wall between Emile and his niece, Nadia. A strong ending doesn't mean exciting action or whatever else. Of course, you can choose a tranquil way, but the most tranquility has huge surges beneath.

Ian McKellen's acting is so convincing, Emile seems a part of himself. (Maybe he would protest that there is no a single character can present himself.) It is rare that a veteran actor can bring a sense of innocent. And Deborah Unger surprises me much. Her coldness toward Ian is the most incredible, because it is also rare that a young actress can build up such tense to someone much older than herself, rather than go in the same direction. Tygh Runyan did not act much in the movie, but he has a sensitive looking.

Beautiful

[greenheart · 9/10 · 1 August 2022]

What a gentle, understated movie this is. A few views of Victoria, Vancouver Island that brought back memories for me. The soft score complements the scenes in an unobtrusive way. Sir Ian McKellen underplays his role with generosity and skill. So gentle, the plot is almost an irrelevance.

I think a little longer could have been spent on the past flashback scenes to give the closing scenes more of an impact.

There is an overriding sadness throughout, this is a movie about being old, a movie about being young and a movie about family.

An unexpected gem.

Excellent.

[martin_beaulne · 10/10 · 17 February 2007]

I don't often have the chance to see a good movie like this one. Beautiful image, excellent music, great acting ( from the always talented McKellen and the good Deborah ); but most of all, a great movie with a "Les fraises sauvages" flashback style, which is an excellent way to "renew" this old and easy flashback method. Takes place in beautiful places honored by Carl Bessai's expert lighting and photographic style. The story, also, is very good, a story of regrets about the past that cannot be changed. You have to see this movie if you love great images, great acting talent ( what is this guy doing in x-men anyway ?? --> I understand, lots of money... i'd do the same... ), and good moments.

11/10 !