Chaos and Desire (2002)

Touches You

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This movie is unbelievably corny, and it's pretty disappointing at the end. I didn't mind it for most of the movie, but I was sort of appalled come the end--or, rather, a few minutes before the end, when the whole thing comes to wrap (or, in my opinion, completely unravel).In fact, this movie is what inspired me to finally register at IMDb to write a review.Julie Gayet earns the first three stars. The fourth goes to the rest of the cast and a fifth to the overall production being decent.But yeah, this script seemed to be written by a high school junior who just got dumped and was trying to woo back his love...or otherwise attempting--and failing fantastically--to be profound.

First it starts with a great sci-fi looking introduction set in Japan. Then we get thrown into a little place in Quebec, and everything falls apart into a mystic's delirium. Oh well. I don't need to add anything to this comment since Greg Novik wrote it all in here already. Thanks Greg for saving me the effort with your excellent review.I also was quite puzzled and disappointed since this movie was rated 7 at the time when I rented it. I just don't get it, usually high ratings at IMDb are well deserved. Not so in this case.I can add this though, I have watched a few movies from Quebec lately and this is definitely one of the worst. Save your time... watch Quebec-Montreal for example, much more clever and fun!

This film has a lot of good things going for it. The cinematography is awesome if too artificial at times. Some of the takes are too clearly references to classic images but still make for a nice overall look. The acting is generally convincing and precise although a few lines drops the ambiance too abruptly.The plot itself is interesting if taken as an artistic process. Suspension of disbelief helps greatly as it's best to immerse oneself in the overall experience rather than nitpick on details. Quite a few counterfactual errors are to be expected in such situations. In a way, this could have been a great film if some things had been taken out. At times, the viewer is spoon-fed an interpretation of the "poetry" of the film. Letting the art speak for itself would have helped greatly.For some reason, the same is true of the previews. Simply put, they seem to say too much although it's hard to tell what effect they would have on someone who knows nothing of the movie.Let's hope that, next time, Manon Briand will let her artistic sense free and not impose it on the viewer.

When I saw this was a movie produced by Luc Besson, I was reluctant to see it, because his choices are obviously not mine. But the topics and the Canadian location made me see it anyway. And, for the first time, a Besson production (through his company Europa Corp.) is a movie worth seeing! Amazing! Of course, you can't go without the obsessive Asian sub-plot Besson seems to put in all the movies he produced (is it in the writer's contract to add it???), but the slow pace of action and the ethereal music takes you in quite an interesting universe.A good surprise, then, that I don't recommend to fans of other Besson productions (Watch out: No martial arts and no poor dialogs in this movie!!!).