The Dying Gaul (2005)

Must See Movie...

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

hyped garbage

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The gay screenwriter Robert (Peter Sarsgaard), who is grieving the recent loss of his lover, writes a screenplay based on his biography and tries to sell it to the Hollywood producer Jeffrey (Campbell Scott). He offers one million dollars for his work, provided changes in the story replacing the dying man per a woman to make a commercial film. Jeffrey shows the screenplay to his wife Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), who loves to write and to plant flowers, and she is also delighted with the story. Robert works introducing the required modifications and Jeffrey, who is bisexual, has an affair with him. Meanwhile Elaine finds the gay website where Robert writes and she creates a fake profile to have conversation with him pretending that she is his deceased lover. Soon she learns the affair of her husband and she decides to leave him. But when the gay Robert discovers the truth, he has a breakdown and takes vengeance for Elaine with tragic consequences."The Dying Gaul" is a boring movie with an unrealistic story. The idea of Elaine pretending to be the spirit of the dead gay and luring Robert in a gay chat room is ridiculous. The use of the deadly flower to poison Elaine would be easily found by the autopsy despite his explanation about the impossibility of finding the traceability of the poison. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Triângulo Obsceno" ("Obscene Triangle")

When I fell into this film on a TV-channel I actually never before had watched, I found myself mesmerized. There was something pulling me into the stoat, and when I understood what was going on, it became even more interesting. I just couldn't let it go. I think the average rating on this film might have to be because of some homosexual scenes. These are made very beautiful and artistically, and far from any close ups. There's nothing distasteful about any of this.I must say I really enjoyed this immensely. The story is compelling, the acting is superb, and the direction is excellent. What's even better is that this movie has a drive towards something you don't know what will come out of.I really find myself loving movies you really don't know what to expect next from. This story has both a very pleasant and understanding tone, as well as a lingering unease, on a travel you hope is not a ending up as catastrophe. I found myself twitching in the sofa, while the this threesome tried to figure each other out. You all the way know who's to blame, but the excitement lies in what this will bring.You start caring about them, and see how dangerous such a nasty game is. Really deceitful and devious. But sometimes you get more than you bargain for, and I certainly did here. A very strong and different tale about deceit, that is really underrated. If you want to see something a bit different, this might be it.

Until it jumps the tracks near the end, THE DYING GAUL is an interesting and literate film about relationships and suffering. But when it goes to the bad it does so in a big way.Robert is a screenwriter who has written a script called THE DYING GAUL which derives from his own experiences. It's about a gay couple who sees the sculpture The Dying Gaul and how the pain of loss translates across the centuries. Robert has lost his life partner and is still suffering the loss.Jeffrey and Elaine are a very successful couple. He's a Hollywood producer and they live in a mansion which in and of itself makes the film impressive. Jeffery likes Robert's screenplay and offers him a million dollars for it, but with one catch. The film would be big budget and high profile, and to justify that the couple needs to be a man and a woman.To complicate matters, Jeffrey comes on to Robert. Big time.The material at any point could have veered into farce. Instead, writer/director Craig Lucas tries and- for a long time succeeds- in trying to plumb the depth of the characters' souls.Elaine begins to communicate with Robert through an online chat room. She pretends to be a man and, later, a man that Robert has known in the past. And this is where the story starts to unravel.Elaine begins to assume the personality of Robert's late lover and soon convinces him that he's communicating with a ghost, veering awkwardly close to making the story an updated BLYTHE SPIRIT.Eventually Jeffrey casually mentions to Robert how in Woody Allen's CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS a major character seeks to shed himself of an unwanted wife by homicidal means, and soon the project is off the tracks.And in the final scene Lucas has a major character do something so out of character, so irrational, so atypical.... How bad a miscalculation is this plot twist? So bad that Lucas can't bring himself to stage it. Instead, it takes place offstage and is revealed in a phone conversation.Flaws and all, this is still a mature and well thought out film. It's masterfully visualized and is a great vehicle for three talented performers. I'm convinced that fifty years from now film historians will be looking back and wondering why Campbell Scott wasn't a megastar from his first role on. As always his performance is rock solid.It's good to see a well produced film that's made for grownups and isn't a special effects nightmare. Check out THE DYING GAUL.

Craig Lucas took his comic fantasy "Prelude to a Kiss" and created an update for the internet age, a noirish exploration of the same body/soul dichotomy, but this one ends badly.By 'badly' I mean both the tragic arc of the story, and the failure to end the story in a cinematic way. What plays well on stage seems static here, wrapped up in confusion that poses as ambiguity.DVD UPDATE: the video release offers an alternate ending that is far superior to the theatrical release. Who decides these things?Regardless of a few problems with plot and direction, this is stellar work from a tremendous ensemble, and Lucas deserves high praise for the performances he draws from such singular talents. The three leads create a harmony that most movies never attempt, and for this alone the movie is a must see.