Product Details

• Actors: Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend, Kathy Bates, Frances Tomelty, Tom Burke
• Directors: Stephen Frears
• Writers: Christopher Hampton, Colette
• Producers: Andras Hamori, Bastian Griese, Bill Kenwright, Cameron McCracken, Christopher Hampton
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Miramax Films
• DVD Release Date: October 20, 2009
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002K0WBXM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,403 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Cheri" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Filled with luxurious gowns and lush grounds, Stephen Frears's Colette adaptation depicts an affair too perfect to last. Parisian courtesan Lea de Lonval (Michelle Pfeiffer) retains her good looks and has invested her earnings wisely, so her colleague, Madame Peloux (Kathy Bates), persuades Lea to celebrate the inception of her retirement by teaching the Madame’s self-centered son, Chéri (Rupert Friend, recalling T.Rex's tousle-haired Marc Bolan), how to treat a lady. Lea, who has known Chéri his entire life, has genuine affection for the unformed lad, although, as she quips, "I can't criticize his character, mainly because he doesn't seem to have one." To her surprise, their weekend in Normandy turns into a six-year-relationship. Then, Madame Peloux announces that she has found an appropriate 18-year-old bride for her now-reformed 25-year-old boy. Afraid to admit the depth of their feelings for each other, the duo grudgingly goes along with the plan since Belle Époque society demands that a proper gentleman marry a proper lady, and Lea realizes that matrimony to a man half her age isn't an option. But real love--even the co-dependent kind--can't be banished quite so easily as a bad habit. Frears and Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton, adapting Chéri and The Last of Chéri, previously collaborated with Pfeiffer on Dangerous Liaisons, but their reunion is a comparatively somber affair that comes recommended more for fans of the actress, who gives the role her all, than for fans of the filmmaker, whose direction feels perfunctory, particularly during the blink-and-you'll-miss-it epilogue. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Stephen Frears… makes thoroughly professional and immensely entertaining stories that pay particular attention to characters, their flaws, emotions and deepest desires. In Cheri, he has another dandy.  The chemistry between Pfeiffer and Friend is positively combustible. One feels the hunger in each, the rising physical passion and emotional vulnerability in two people who, if asked, would scorn love as a human weakness.

Darius Khondji’s mood-catching cinematography, Consolata Boyle’s eye-catching costumes and Alan MacDonald’s gorgeous sets are all entertainment in themselves. But the greatest contribution comes from composer Alexandre Desplat whose nostalgic, romantic, melancholy score evokes the period perfectly.
                                                                                                            - Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Thematically True and Tragic December 10, 2009

By G. Charles Steiner

Format:DVD

This film is fine. It belongs in the canon of great movie classics because it stays thematically true to Colette's vision of a culture full of witty flippancy without sacrificing the profundities of love and intimate bonding between two people. I agree with many reviewers that Michelle Pfeiffer may appear too thin (although quite lovely to look at) or that Kathy Bates overacts and doesn't seem well-suited for her part. But these flaws are small and trivial in comparison to the huge canvas on screen showing the historical Age of the Belle Epoque and revealing the central drama of love between an older, experienced woman and courtesan and an innocent but hedonistic young man. What Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend manage to create together on screen is the love that Colette wanted her readers to understand and experience, however odd and even tasteless it may seem on first glance, and that love story unfolds beautifully on screen, although tragically, for both. It's a memorable film and makes you want to read Colette's novels. It was also quite lovely to experience vicariously two people on screen loving each other throughout difficulties and watch them sensually appreciate the loveliness of each other's looks as well, directly, without pretense, tenderly and without reserve, where the outer and the inner person for the other were one.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Haunting Story Told So Well March 25, 2010

By RareRare VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Colette would have approved. Despite some uneven casting, "Cheri" ultimately works onscreen. Kathy Bates is terribly miscast and misdirected. Michelle Pfeiffer struggles in the beginning, but ends up breaking your heart. Surprisingly it is the newcomer Rupert Friend (real-life boyfriend of Keira Knightley) as "Cheri" who is the glue that holds the piece together. He takes the viewer on a remarkable journey through the selfish psyche of a young man lost in a world he thinks he knows all too well. He shows us the callousness of a young spoiled rascal in the milleu of the Belle Epoque of courtesans and opium. It is Cheri who keeps us guessing as to what is going to happen. Pfeiffer ruins the surprise because a third of the way through she is already playing the ending.

I argued with a friend of mine who didn't think Pfeiffer was a convincing prostitute. But in the Belle Epoque, these women were not mere mortals. Kings gave their kingdoms away for the love of such beauties. And Pfeiffer is certainly in that category. Plus she does play the dichotomy in her character: a woman who loves Cheri as both a mother and a lover.

I can tell you're interested. I'll write no more, except to say, as I always say, take a chance on love. It's well worth it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Enjoyed Cheri November 25, 2009

By G. Givan

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

The movie Cheri, based on Colette's novel, is a rich and satisfying romance. I enjoyed the fabulous costumes, and the attention to detail in the historic settings. There are fine performances by all of the actors, and of course Michelle Pfeiffer is stunningly beautiful.