Absolutely Fantastic

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is a movie that seems to have been adapted from an Andrew Greeley semi erotic novel instead of having been written for the screen by Rick Ramage. As directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, "The Proposition" is a film that deserves to be forgotten, at best.If you haven't seen the film, please stop reading here.The premise of the film seems to be that privilege doesn't buy happiness, which is the theme of many a melodrama. We meet the happily married Barrets, a wealthy, but childless couple from Boston in the early part of the last century. Arthur is wealthy; he provides Eleanor, his wife, with all the things she desires, except the child, he is unable to give her.Enter young Roger Martin. He is asked to be the surrogate person that will give Eleanor her child. Roger and Eleanor have to meet twice in order to get her in the family way, but alas, whatever comes so easy, ends up in tragedy, as dictated by the soap opera lexicon. Never fear, as devout Catholics, the Barrets are introduced to the newly arrived Father McKinnon, a young, handsome priest. We find out this young prelate is in reality Arthur's nephew! It's surprising that at this point no amnesia is introduced to any one of the characters. Well, Eleanor and Father Michael find they have a lot in common including a passion that consume and will destroy them! Their love produce twins that are seen at the end of the film going with their great uncle to the altar as he is going to receive communion from the real father of the boys.One wonders what is Kenneth Branagh doing in this thing? One of the best English actors of his generation hasn't had much luck with his American film ventures and one would like to suggest to him to be careful in future roles like this Father McKinnon. This is a film that will be cherished by lovers of soap opera and hated by others that might stumble into this movie thinking it's better, based on the names of the people involved in it. Watch it at your own risk.

It's one of those movies that I happened to catch one night as I was flipping channels, and was intrigued from the moment I saw it. Kenneth Branaugh is a wonderful actor as are all the other characters. I forget their names, but I loved them all. Oh yes, William Hurt and Blythe Danner. As a Christian, once I got past the premise (hiring another man to impregnate his wife, and the subsequent affair that follows) I found this movie to be captivating. I actually found myself LOOKING for it on TV. It's worth finding and watching. If you're looking for something to watch some late night or some afternoon while the kids are in school, I recommend this movie. It moves along very fast and is never boring. Even guys might like this movie, as it has sex and murder in it, and a mild fight scene.

[Possible SPOILER]I picked this film out of a used-vhs bin basically because it had Kenneth Branagh in it. I figured, how bad can it be for $2?This movie was one of those rare surprises that keeps me going back to used-vhs bins. The characters are interesting, the sets are visually appealing, and the casting is phenomenal--William Hurt, Blythe Danner, Madeleine Stowe, Robert Loggia, etc. The plot is a thought-provoking treatise on how far humans will go to get what they want. Overall, definitely worth *much* more than $2!

Love it or hate it, and the opinions seem to be pretty evenly divided, this is a compelling film because of the performances of three fine actors--Kenneth Branagh, Madeline Stowe, and William Hurt. The story is incredibly far-fetched but, a la Six Feet Under, because it deals with emotions and fantasies we've all felt, it works in some sort of quirky way.Madeline Stowe is absolutely radiant--confused, vulnerable, strong, passionate. William Hurt perfectly combines the ruthless Wall Street professional and the condescending tenderness of a man of his time. Branagh is a cypher whose screen charisma makes him riveting.Some of the nitpicking in earlier reviews seems wrong to me. The Mass vestments are exactly right for the solemn high mass of that period, as is Branagh's demeanor. Extreme Unction can in fact be administered for a short period after death, though not, of course, on a corpse in a coffin. In fact, the only reason to open the coffin before burial is so that Eleanor can see who it is that's being buried.