Customer Reviews

The Kiss

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Literature, books, and love are the themes of this dramatically small, but absolutely touching movie. A radiant Francoise Surel (in her first major movie role) stars as Cara Thompson, a keen-eyed book editor. Cara has recently been appointed by a steely Joyce Rothman (Illeana Douglas) to a new position as a copy editor for a major publishing house.

On her first day, she sifts through a selection of dusty manuscripts, which have been buried in her predecessor's office. Over worked and probably under paid, she takes a pile of them home to read in her spare time. Drawn to one in particular, she is entranced and seduced by the passionate love story that leaps from the pages in front of her. But the story remains inexplicably unfinished.

Taking place in Paris, the tale involves Claire, a young girl who, confesses outside a Parisian café, undying and eternal love for her boyfriend (Billy Zane), but then freaks out and runs off. He races after her shouting her name, and distraught he combs the streets of the City, but it's all to no avail as she's suddenly and bafflingly vanished.

Realizing that the story parallels events in her own life, Cara, with the help of Megan, her feisty roommate (Eliza Dushku), embarks on a trip to find the author. Like Claire, Cara had also fallen in love, and like the character in the story, she had also hesitated just at the last moment. Part driven to find the rest of the story, and also driven to settle with her own lovesick demons, Cara eventually finds Philip Naudet, the elderly author of the story. (Terence Stamp).

Now, however, Phillip is a broken and sickly man, an embittered old loner, who is hiding away in the country in the back of a run-down gas station. Shattered after the death of his wife, Claire, the aged writer is slowly dying of cancer. But Cara encourages him to finish his words and Phillip eventually finds strength in his new friendship with his would-be publisher. Cara and Phillip end up forming a close, protective bond, which produces surprising results for them both.

The Kiss is an absolutely lovely mediation on love, and what love actually means. Cara and Phillip are mysteriously drawn to each other, not only through their deep respect for, and love of literature, but also through their shared experiences of once having been in love, but suddenly having lost it. And it is only though their chance friendship that they can both reconcile with the ghosts of the past, and possibly reconnect with respective true loves.

Surel's performance totally anchors this film. With her Annie Lennox-like features, she imbues a gracefulness, elegance, and a sense of innocence that just fills the screen. The camera just loves her. I'm just amazed that she hasn't done more work (there's been nothing since 2003 when this film was made.) Why aren't we seeing more of her? Stamp is also good as Naudet, and his scenes with Surel have a tenderness and intimacy that could only be captured with such an accomplished, flexible and experienced actor.

Lovely, intimate, and touching, and also quite mysterious, The Kiss is not just a marvelous exploration on true love, but it is also an effective account of how fiction can often mysteriously parallel real life. Beautifully observed and sincerely directed, The Kiss is a quiet little gem of a film. Just exquisite. Mike Leonard May 05.

I seriously question if either of the two reviewers for this movie (so far) actually watched, listened, and understood what was going on. I caught this little gem accidentally while channel surfing and was instantly hooked. I was fascinated by the plot, unfolding story, and intimacy of the tale; the only other time I experienced something similar was when I stumbled upon "The High Line." Good entertainment! Dushku? Eye candy? She rocks? Not in this movie. Rather, be enthralled by Francoise Surel's questing innocence and captivation for solving a mystery that has touched her character deeply.

The storyline was great. Looking for the last chapter of a love story that was written years earlier had fantastic potential. I always enjoys a good romantic movie and this designed to be one.

However the entire movie focused on finding and finishing the last chapter and the love between the author for his wife and the desire of the editor to see the book published. The level of expectation was built so high that no ending could possibly live up to the internal fantasy that we all hoped for.

The acting was somewhat bland and understated and through out the film there was a sense of missing something. Having said all this, I loved the movie and continue to watch it however, I also enjoyed sheena.

I would reccommend this to anyone to is a romantic, enjoy

I first saw this movie on a cable/movie channel ans absolutely enjoyed it. It's a girl looking for love whose a book editor and gets a script across her desk and starts nto read it only to discover it's not finished and the goes on the hunt to find the author and her her journey finds other things missing in her life.

Great movie

The Belarus daily called "The Kiss a hugely important movie for the country to enjoy for generations to come." The Belarus Times calls it " A masterpiece of tension and a thought provoking journey through hell." What happens when a movie company hires the entire staff of a San Jose motel 6 to star in a political thriller. The plot is a complex one involving the impact of a Russian incursion on Belarus soil. Lead actress Francoise Surel is stunning as a KGB spy sent to Belarus to take over a gas station straddling the border. The gas station owner is mortified when he sees the anorexic spy and yet is drawn to staring at her breasts at the same time. Will he or wont he sign the modern facility over to the Russians. The agent, "Clara" is sparing no time at all to have large paintings of herself made in preparation for her assent into power in this politically unstable region. The climax of the film reveals the desperation a lonely man will go for a sneak peak at this young womans breasts, including ceding the gas station to this "Daughter of Stalin."
Filmed entirely in Belarus on an insanely low budget, this movie's unforgettable ending will have everyone weeping with joy.

Though i rather enjoyed the story as well as the movie i must admit the players where a little off. Francoise Surel plays the main character. She seemed way off to me, she didnt fit the role. Billy Zane was lovely as always as the romantic lead, there should have been more of him. Which is a little deceiving since he's on the cover and the total you might see him in is 20 mins total. so if you're going to buy this movie strickly because of Billy, rent it first before buying it. Eliza Dushku as the roommate had her moments. Great actress, very different from what she's known for. Terence Stamp is such an amazing actor, in this movie he just pulls you in. You actually feel for this man.

so all in all its a good movie. Before you buy it though you should really rent it or buy it on amazon when its like super cheap so you dont want to shoot yourself if the foot for buying it after you watch it.

The Kiss is a well written and directed gem of a film, its a very good romantic film, well acted by the whole cast, Eliza Dushku is very much under used in this film which is a shame, as she's a very talented actress, a must see independent film.

The Kiss is wonderful romantic film about long lost true love, and the courage to realize where the heart belongs in order to return to love. In this relatively low-budget and sincere film, featured some good actors in supporting roles include Terence Stamp, Billy Zane, Eliza Dushku, Illleana Douglas, while Francoise Surel anchored the story in a dual roles.

Cara(Francoise Surel) is a book editor, and she's been assigned by her boss Joyce(Illeana Douglas) to track down the author(Phillip Naudet/Terence Stamp) of The Kiss, a 20 year old manuscript that's missing the ending. The Kiss is expected to become a bestseller if published, and she has one week before the deadline. She was fascinated and touched by the unfinished book, because her own love life during her early twenties is very similar to Claire's in The Kiss. They both were afraid of serious commitment and vanished from their boyfriends, only to learn that they regretted their choices a decade later. Billy Zane played Cara's rejected boyfriend Alan as well as Claire's(also played by Surel) boyfriend Young Phillip in the book, which took place in Paris during the '50s. The scenes imagined from the book is shot in black and white, and the Francoise Surel looks very different in a vintage look.

Cara and her roomate Megan(Eliza Dushku) embarked a search for Phillip, but he's been hidding away from the world in a remote town, so it took Cara a long time to track him down. Phillip Naudet was broken hearted and dying of cancer since his wife past away, and he was reluctant to help Cara with finishing his book that was based on his own love life.....

Francoise Surel and Billy Zane shared some touching and romantic moments together. Terence Stamp did a pretty good job with his limited screen time and a decent American accent. Illeana Douglas and Eliza Dushku had minimal screentime and seemed wasted for their insigificant roles.

This is the newest movie in Eliza Dushku's career. It's a very beautiful drama, talking the story about a woman that searches for the perfect ending for her book.
The Kiss also features Francoise Surel, Terence Stamp and Eliza Dushku. A must have for all Eliza fans.

I confess to buying this DVD for Eliza Dushku alone. As I often do in these situations, if the movie turns out to be any good then I take that as a bonus.

Here I must say I found the movie to be somewhat uninspired. The original idea was good, but it just didn't seem to take off. Also, I don't want to give anything away for those who are yet to see it, but I thought Eliza's role made absolutely no sense. It was almost as if the director created the part just to be able to hire Eliza, and the fact that she has so much screen time seems to lend weight to my theory. Her gorgeous face is even on the cover, the same size as the faces of the two actual main characters, for crying out loud. Not that I'm complaining, I would have done the same thing, or better yet scrap the entire plot and just have Eliza reading from the phone book for two hours.

Watching Terence Stamp again was great, but I would recommend this movie mostly to Eliza Dushku fans. Then again, how can someone NOT be an Eliza Dushku fan?