Product Details

• Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, David Thewlis, Romane Bohringer, Dominique Blanc, Felicie Pasotti Cabarbaye
• Directors: Agnieszka Holland
• Format: PAL
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: French
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004VYHH
• For more information about "Total Eclipse" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This biographical account of the tempestuous, taboo-shattering love affair between two 19th century French poets--Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) and Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio)--didn't do much at the box office when it was released in 1995. But after the success of Titanic, it became somewhat infamous when Playgirl magazine announced its intention to publish nude pictures of DiCaprio taken from the film. (Nobody much seemed to care that Thewlis, who also starred in Mike Leigh's Naked, also appears nude in Total Eclipse.) The truth is, the nudity in question only lasts for a few frames, but it's certainly in character for the young wild-man Rimbaud.

Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Europa, Europa, The Secret Garden), Total Eclipse begins in 1870 when the newly married Verlaine is 24 and Rimbaud is 17. The volatile combination of their reckless passions, idiosyncratic talents, and obnoxious egos is a recipe for disaster--and l'amour fou--culminating in a two-year prison term for Verlaine who was convicted of sodomy. DiCaprio's work in this film (as well as This Boy's Life, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, and The Basketball Diaries) proves he is a serious actor who's interested in risky, challenging work--not just the matinee idol he became in the wake of Titanic. --Jim Emerson

From The New Yorker

Unwatchable. The obsessive, destructive love affair of the poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, as envisioned by director Agnieszka Holland and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, was an opera of mutual abuse, without humor or romantic passion. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Rimbaud as a drunken club kid, running wild over the well-dressed sets; David Thewlis's Verlaine is a parody of his magnificent creep in "Naked," ranting and raving dementedly about life. The movie is filled with so many hysterical let's-trash-the-hotel-room scenes that the audience goes numb. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally brilliant biopic, June 7, 2000

By 

Poor Polidori (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Total Eclipse [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Despite poor reviews and disappointing box-office takings, this is an excellent attempt at portraying the turbulent relationship between the poets Rimbaud and Verlaine. The cast all give good performances, and Leo is superb as Rimbaud, as right for the part as Madonna was for Eva Peron. The film does take some liberties with the historical facts (the scene where Rimbaud is seen urinating at a dinner party is surely made up), but the main purpose of any biopic is to awaken interest in the subjects portrayed and on that level Total Eclipse succeeds admirably. Before watching it, I knew nothing about Rimbaud except that he was a French poet. The day after finishing it, I went immediately to buy a volume of his poetry. The film contains some beautiful landscape shots, as well as harshly realistic views of the Paris slums. The romantic and sex scenes between Leo and David Thewlis are convincing, erotic, and at times painfully moving. Definitely recommended for anyone who is a fan of the poets, the stars or French poetry in general.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant, February 25, 2004

By 

Carlos Rodriguez - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Total Eclipse (DVD)

This is a great movie and is by far Leonardo DiCaprio best performance yet. He should of won an Oscar for his harrowing portrayal of 19th Century French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Rimbaud was a literary genius at the age of 16, who wrote wonderful and obscure poems about sex and death among other topics.

His intense and volatile relationship with fellow poet Paul Verlaine was often times disturbing and mad. Verlaine had trouble accepting the fact that his friend, confidant and lover was extremely gifted and more successful than he ever was.

Arthur Rimbaud was a merciful and shrewed young man who found pleasure in getting his way all the time and making other people look ridicule (especially the ones he did not like). Verlaine's young wife could not tolerate him and blamed him for making her husband abandon her for long periods of time. Verlaine would always come back to his wife but found Rimbaud so irresistable that he always ended up doing what he wanted and would succumb to his every need be it emotional or sexual. Arthur always knew had to get Paul wrapped up around his finger and got him to do whatever he wanted atleast most of the time.

This film is highlated by great performances from the entire cast and once again it is DiCaprio's remarkable performance that makes this film extremely interesting to watch. I don't think this movie is for everyone especially the ones that only think that a good movie is not good unless someone or something gets blown off. DiCaprio's character goes thru many changes in his appearance especially when he is dying of a terrible disease (I'm sorry but I can't seem to remember which one) his character is both physical and emotional and he plays it with incredible strength and emotion.

If you are a serious movie collector this is a "must have" for your collection. I love everything about this film and is one of my favorite movies ever. I gave it a 5 star rating because that as high as it goes but I would give a 10 rating because it has all the ingredients a great movie suppose to have. Watch this movie and it will leave you breathless. Superb and beautiful all the way through.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST OF DI CAPRIO, December 10, 2006

By 

HOT MIX "karenkellock" (Southwest Desert) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Total Eclipse (DVD)

I love Leo and this is the best he ever did. After this splendid movie he decided to go mainstream, away from independent films but this was his apex. It's hard to believe he did this in the era of his "This Boy's Life" for it's the opposite characterization. I have watched this film many times and I enjoy it more each time--his acting while still in his teens is incredibly apt for this strange, eccentric, nihilistic and anti-establishment poet.