BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

chriskirk_filmmaker A film that fails to live up to the provocative brazen confidence of the lives it depicts. DiCaprio manages to capture the arrogance of Rimbaud, but he has no opportunity to slide his youthful body into the intensity of Rimbaud's raw genius. Instead the filmmakers fetishise DiCaprio's body and his precocious pretense. They filmmakers suggest that Rimbaud has no care for love, sex or violence, taking them or leaving them with little thought, but they shy away from any sensuality or depth in their depiction of these perversely human tendencies. 150 years after the events they are depicting, the filmmakers, scandalised as they are with the bent of their material, are somewhat embarrassed about diving into the implications either visually or emotionally. Nothing is explained, the legend is barely depicted. This film is no excuse for other filmmakers to not deal with the material themselves.

Stacey B Arthur is a cocky teen who's in-your-face poetry has caught the eye of Paul, a traditional French poet. When Arthur is invited to Paul's home to meet his family, they are shocked at the belching, thieving, insulting, insanity that is Arthur Rimbaud. However, Paul is enlivened by him and puts him up. Arthur shows no gratitude and makes a public spectacle by climbing to the roof stark naked and throwing his clothing into the street. Oddly, Paul is enchanted with Arthur's wild and unpredictable nature. They begin an oddly matched homosexual relationship over flowing with absinthe, violence, obscenity and even more insanity. They travel, urinate on other poet's works, eat hay from fields, beat each other, hate each other, love each other and eventually someone is shot. The movie is choppy, understandably jumping from scene to scene as the film is based on letters they exchanged. It's a bit hard to follow and a bumpy ride, and definitely a movie you'll love to hate.

its_raining247 Total Eclipse really is the best film I have ever seen. Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant, 13 years have past since it's release and he still has to top his performance in this film. I was familiar with the Rimbaud-Veraline story before seeing the film and I personally fin Arthur Rimbaud one of the best poets ever. He is brilliant and this biopic is too. Great acting, a marvel of a film, great scenic locations and that soundtrack!!! I loved it, the music is wonderful, I thought it was a breathtaking film, I really did love it. The storyline, the characters, the subject matter, the actors, the music, the locations, the whole film! it truly is a masterpiece. I encourage anyone who likes dramas and biopics because this is one of the best biopics. Arthur Rimbaud himself would be proud with the efforts of the cast and crew because they bring his life story to life again, for our generation and to be honest, they do him proud.

Leor Segal I found out about the movie "Total Eclipse" by chance and I was immediately captivated by its subject. On the first occasion that it was showed on TV, I recorded it. Meanwhile, I have also checked the commentaries of other people on this site and they all sounded very intriguing indeed. I have to admit that the beginning of the film was rather promising and I was expecting an interesting, mind challenging experience. However, after less than 30 minutes I was already totally appalled by the way the two main characters were presented. I was prepared to watch all kind of unusual behavior generally associated with artists, but this movie made a point in showing us how awful both main characters were. I can hardly accept that being an artist justifies such despicable conduct towards everybody around, be them wives, friends or fellow poets. Taking into consideration that the movie was about two of the greatest French poets, I was somehow looking forward to enjoying their great minds and spirit, and not just learn about their destructive love affair that seemed to be the main issue of the script. The main issue, so be it, but why the only one! Very depressing and very boring after all! At the end my general feeling was that I wasted almost two hours watching a movie that had very little to say about two great artists, besides their madness and eccentricity and I felt so embarrassed for them. To be fair, I would add that the film had its good moments and the acting was very impressive indeed. But still, what a miss!