Customer Reviews

Cheri

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

After all the critical acclaim this movie received i was looking forward to see this movie.
The story was quite good,the acting too,the music was particularly nice also.
Michelle Pfeiffer is beautiful but unfortunately i thought that she looked painfully thin and the dresses she wore seemed to just hang on her ,women in that era were quite plump and i just did not see her as a believable courtisane.
Cathy Bates was miscast in this role i feel.She was badly overacting and i think they should have used an english actress to play the part, maybe Emma Thomson or Miranda Richardson.
Rupert Friend was good and believable in the part and i see a great future for him at the movies.
Don't get me wrong it wasn't unpleasant but but it could have been so much better.

The movie was pretty good, I just did not care for the narrator's voice. Don't get me wrong, the voice was pleasing but it did not fit with this type of film. I went into watching this movie not knowing much about it--so in the opening scene the narrator's tone led me to believe it was a comedy. This movie was not a comedy.

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.

A rapture of visual, audio and cinematic emotional brilliance all tied with a killer last line. What a wonder is set before the viewer when one enters the world of "Cheri".
The visual richness of this parfait of the Belle Epoch is breathtaking from the rich creamy art neuveau architecture to the gloriously realized costumes of the early 20th century. What they only indicated in "Titanic" of the same period costumes. Explodes in luxury and in a sense informs the eye to the scene at hand and seems less costume than authentic clothing.
As Cinema "Cheri" succeeds as more than an adaptation of a Collette novel but becomes a world unto it's own. Here we are presented with some of our finest female performers at the top of their game. In short I am speaking of Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates. As former courtesan rivals who are now aging friends they come together to define the last part of their lives and the beginning of Bates' son's life in a remarkable way.
Kathy Bates goes deep into the complexities of her mix of comedy and nuanced drama in the same way she did with Annie Wilkes. Not to say that the characters of Annie and Madame Peloux are anything alike. But Miss Bates takes this role to a superior level while all the while not letting you see her do her magic. She is just THERE! The scene where her face decays from a radioactively sunny laugh to reveal her true deepest disgust her spoiled soul is priceless.
Then there is Michelle Pfeiffer as Lea de Lonval, at fifty one she may be older that the literary Lea but she has never been more luminous or nearly goddess like. To look at her is to look upon a woman of a certain age that is ageless in her embrace of times changing hands upon her face. But there is more. This may be the pinnacle of her career, the role of her lifetime. She is Lea in so many levels both within her acting and in a sense as an actress. She is stunning and brings forth the soul of a great character as only our finest actors can.
But all of this would seem a delightful trifle, a light story of an aging courtesan and her young lover if it were not for the narration that gives the film added depth and gravitas. I asked a friend today what he thought of the final outcome of the story. Of what the narrator reveals of what became of Cheri. He tossed it off lightly and said that it seemed an after thought. He could not have been more wrong. He missed the whole point of the film. The last lines of the film that tell us of the ultimate fate of Lea and Cheri are what give this film an emotional strength, irony, and ultimately heart wrenching tragedy. It is the final twist set into a stunning jewel of a film that is as captivating and spellbinding as Lea's mysterious emerald ring.

Amazing. Watched 3 times. Own the book. Upon reading the book I found the movie followed perfectly. This is a rare thing. Wonderful acting.

I love this movie! I wanted to buy it but couldn't find it in stores so I purchased online from Amazon.com. This movie is one of my favorites - the plot is great and so are the actors. I could watch it over and over again. If you like movies set in the 1900's and also like romance; then you're going to love this movie as much as I do!!

This movie is about a certain social milieu of the Golden Age of Paris (the early 1900s). It is the Americanization of Colette but it works for a more mainstreamed audience. A more serious adaptation would be NC-17, at least, and the subject matter in this movie never becomes that risqué.

We meet a great beauty nearing the end of her career as a courtesan in Paris. We meet a lot of other aging courtesans as well, one of them the unscrupulous mother of a handsome young man nicknamed Cheri. Everyone knows they are having an affair but it is only too late that the main characters realize that they also fell in love. This story has been told several times and this rendition is very good. I felt the pain of the aging beauty having to let go a much younger love. I felt the aimlessness of Cheri as he leads a pampered life that cannot fulfill him. Yes, it's a classic tragic tale but is it worth watching? If you are a fan of star-crossed lovers or period pieces - absolutely!

*** 1/2

With "Cheri", Michelle Pfeiffer returns to the period drama genre that has served her so well in the past ("Dangerous Liaisons", "The Age of Innocence"). This time, rather than play the innocent or unattainable object of desire, Pfeiffer plays Lea, an aging, semi-retired courtesan having a May-December romance with the son of her friend.

Pfeiffer, one of my all-time favorite actresses, plays Lea as a woman who has spent her life choosing wealth, freedom, and privilege over genuine relationships. She's not cruel or heartless, but more of a composed, world-weary realist whose experience has taught her how to manipulate most situations to her advantage using charm and her still considerable beauty. Madame Peloux (the always formidable Kathy Bates), Lea's longtime friend and another retired courtesan, may not have maintained her stunning youthful beauty, but is perhaps more manipulative and shrewd than Lea. When Peloux's 19 year old son, Cheri, is becoming too troublesome, Peloux is shrewd enough to take advantage of the mutual attraction shared between Cheri and Lea, knowing that Lea will help refine the boy and teach him what he needs to know to become a good husband for the right girl. Lea and Cheri enter into a relationship meant to be casual, but end up living together happily for six years. Unfortunately, the two's unconventional relationship is threatened when Peloux decides that it's time for the boy to marry a young girl and give her grandchildren.

Rupert Friend seems to be getting mixed reviews for his performance, but I thought he did quite well. He plays Cheri with the appropriate mannerisms of a beautiful, fatherless, neglected young man who's spent his life surrounded by privilege and debauchery. And despite their age difference, Friend and Pfeiffer share enough chemistry and heat to make the film's central relationship believable.

The performances are all good, and the art direction is sumptuous, making the film very lovely to look at. The script and direction are just adequate, however, making this a decent film, but not a great one. As in all period pieces, the Mise-en-scène is of a different era, but the themes are timeless. The characters in "Cheri" struggle with familiar human things ... being true to themselves vs. fulfilling the expectations put upon them, the sacrifices made for wealth and luxury, and the fleetingness (and benefits) of youth and beauty.