Let's be realistic.

good back-story, and good acting

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This historical drama, directed by Agnieszka Holland, focuses on the rocky relationship between the renowned 19th century French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. Total Eclipse is a based on a 1967 play by Christopher Hampton, who also wrote the screenplay. Based on letters and poems, it presents a historically accurate account of the passionate and violent relationship between the two 19th century French poets Paul Verlaine,played by David Thewlis; and Arthur Rimbaud,played by Leonardo DiCaprio, at a time of soaring creativity for both of them.Rimbaud is a teenage wunderkind known for his rebelliousness against conventional society and his surrealistic writing. He disrupts the life of Verlaine, a more conventional writer who is older and married to a dutiful young wife, Mathilde.The drunken Verlaine is unkind to Mathilde, even though her father is providing him with a house and an income to live on while he pursues his writing. Rimbaud overwhelms Verlaine, mocking his conventionality, constantly disrupting his domestic life,and somehow attracting the maniacal love of the older man.Despite its fascinating subject matter, Total Eclipse is both unflattering and loveless.It was a disappointing biography about the homosexual relationship of two famous French poets.Watching Verlaine and Rimbeau engage in endless arguments about the nature of love makes the film irritating and somewhat uninteresting.The only good thing about it is DiCaprio's presence.Nothing more.

In concept and execution, Total Eclipse is flawed. It is not a biopic, but a snapshot of the affair between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. For the artistically minded to question love and the insanity of genius, and not to follow the significant footsteps of the bohemian poets. However, it fails due to a kind of Americanisation of period costume drama. There is a mishmash of accents (American, British, French) undermining the nuance of the French tongue. I still can't understand why trained actors don't seem to have even a basic grasp of high school French, or why the producers and the director were scared of subtitles in an 'Art house' film. It's difficult to buy DiCaprio as Rimbaud (although in appearance he is well cast) as with an American accent he always seems obnoxious even when it is not his intention. Delivering fragments of Rimbaud's poems and philosophy in sound bites renders them hollow. Although he is aesthetically and historically on the mark, the tone and spirit of the portrayal is completely wrong.Another conceit is that this film marginalises Verlaine. The opening interstitial might as well read "Verlaine's poems were OK, but who cares?" Arthur was known to have an admiration for Verlaine long before the two met, and the love between them genuine. Here though, it is painted as a vampiric relationship of convenience. Paul clinging to Arthur for fear of being alone, Arthur bleeding Paul's influence and money dry.Hackneyed scenes of Rimbaud having 'visions' of the final years of his life had me gagging, and are inexcusable. The editing of the entire piece is atrocious, particularly Paul's trial. And there are inaccuracies for the sake of ludicrous symbolism. Verlaine shot Rimbaud in the wrist. Though as it is portrayed here, he is shot through the center of his hand, to tack on a gauche Christ metaphor. You are never assimilated into the world these people live in because of the accent problem, and the energies of every cast member shooting off in different directions. Making the effort, you will find yourself wanting to like this film more than it will allow you to. The intention is to make you cry at the end, as other critics attest, but I fail to see how.Total Eclipse tried very hard to alienate its audience, the problem is that it has largely succeeded. It sours the romantic notion of Rimbaud and Verlaine for those familiar with their work, and has the unfamiliar asking basic straightforward questions which it makes no attempt to answer. "Why would Verlaine keep putting up with Rimbaud's abuse", "Why was Rimbaud considered a genius? He seemed like an arsehole".

In this very grim portrayal of the love affair between 19th century French poets Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis), we see how they in fact had a mutually destructive relationship. The movie really makes you feel like you're rubbing your face against sandpaper. You're not sure whether you want to sympathize with Rimbaud or find him unpleasant, but Verlaine is a real creep, often abusing his wife.Overall, this isn't a great movie, but worth seeing. If nothing else, it's a look at a certain part of literary history, but also of the most despicable kind of relationship possible. So if you do plan to see it, just be forewarned that it will probably make your stomach turn.

I caught this movie late at night on HBO because I couldn't quite sleep. Didn't help much in that regard because it made me laugh out loud at the bad parts -- which it seemed to be made of.A boyish, babyfat Leo DiCaprio was just the start. His leap from this to 'Titanic' is more than epic. I was hoping to see something insightful about Rimbaud, the real-life poet DiCaprio played, who influenced Bob Dylan among others. but I'm not even sure there was a phrase of his poetry in the script. He writes furiously and produces plenty of pages of something that he shows to his mother. After reading intently for a few agonizing minutes, she says, "What does it mean?" My sentiments, exactly.A great example where reading the book would be the right choice.