Young, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his mentor Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.Whether the main characters in this film are homosexual, bisexual or something else does not matter. That is part of the beauty of the way the subject matter is approached: we are not to think of these two as anything other than two passionate, and sometimes crazy, lovers... what the courts thought of them is beside the point.And it is a great story. I concede I know nothing of Rimbaud or Verlaine. I believe they were the subject of the German film "Michael", though I may be mistaken (and even then the names were changed). But it seems it is not important to even know them... this is what it is like to be in a passionate and destructive relationship. Is it beautiful or terrifying? Certainly it helps produce great art, but at what cost?

Throughout the ages, there has always been a fine line between Genius and Insanity. The only way one discover which is which, is to troll the depths of hell and what you emerge with is the true nature of the man. Such is the story behind the movie " Total Eclipse " and the historical meeting between two notable French poets of the 19th century. The life of Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) begins in 1871 when he was 28 as that is when he discovered young Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) age 17. Sharing a love for poetry, art, writing Absinthe, hashish and a zest for passionate living, the two embarked on a deep loving physical relationship and a troubling tumultuous affair which took the two over several countries and even prison. The movie is a fine rendition of the two tortured souls trying to fathom each other both physically and spiritually. Although each considered the other a wellspring of inspiration, their literary work often exacted a heavy toll on their relationship. Suffering for their art became a quest for self discovery and loathing of the boundaries set by the world. Eventually, thorough the haze of hatred and love, we see in the film the passion they left behind. The film is savagely real as director Agnieszka Holland and writer Christopher Hampton developed it. The end result is a monumental triumph for the lives of these giants. A real accomplishment in cinematic art and a definite Classic for the attentive viewer. ****

This is a worthy and successful attempt to make a film about the famous literary and personal relationship between two great poets, Paul Verlaine and the young Arthur Rimbaud. How the French must have resented its being made in English! (But why did the French themselves never film this story, which is so fundamental to the mythology of their literature?) There is no use viewers and reviewers complaining that the characters are disgusting: everybody knows they were, and they would have been the first to admit it. This film has not been made for the wrong reasons, with fictional characters, but is a true story. It is rather disturbing to realize that absinthe has been legalised again and people are drinking it once more, when we see how it drove these two poets insane, which is what is really does, you know! The banning of absinthe should never have been lifted. It may be a pretty green colour, but it is not romantic or at all glamorous. One strange omission from this film is any of the poetry of either poet! Very few decent translations of Verlaine into English exist, because he used rhyme so much. But he was a great and soaring poet, and of course Rimbaud shattered all the moulds and basically founded modern poetry, and had the status of a god to the Surrealists. So it would have been good to hear some of their work, especially as it is all out of copyright and no one could have objected. The lack of the poetry stops people who do not already know it from appreciating the point of all this carrying-on. Verlaine and Rimbaud were appalling, violent, disorderly, and to call them extreme Bohemians doesn't go far enough: they were both quite mad as well. But then, many poets are, and often the finest poetry comes from the ones who are the craziest (David Gascoyne, whom I knew well, is an example, and Ezra Pound whom I knew less well was not what you could call well-balanced). It is often said that there is a fine line between genius and madness, but with poets, the situation is even more dire: to be a divinely inspired poet it seems that it is almost a requirement that you first lose your mind. (Exceptions are those with no fire in their temperament at all: Eliot, Perse, Valery, or those who have become spiritual beings while still on earth, such as Rilke.) Well, the performances and direction are excellent here. Agnieszka Holland is an inspired director, a protégé of Wajda, and perhaps her greatest achievement was 'Washington Square' (1997). She is interested in art, not commerce, and congratulations to her for that! The young Leonardo Di Caprio, aged 20, was a scintillating, wild, and wholly convincing Rimbaud. You could believe every scene. David Thewlis was equally convincing as Verlaine, despite being rather too thin for the part (Verlaine was stockier and plumper, and Thewlis looks like he hasn't had a decent meal for ten years). Romane Bohringer was an excellent choice for Verlaine's wife, and plays it just right. The next year she would make her staggering pair of films, 'L'Appartement' and 'Portraits Chinois', in both of which she sets the cinema on fire. So the talent is there, and the film is delivered. If we find these people disturbing, it is because they were. But without this bizarre tale, twentieth century poetry would not have come into existence, because it was created by Arthur Rimbaud, and without Verlaine taking him under his wing it would never have happened. Christopher Hampton's screenplay is intelligent and thoughtful and well-crafted throughout. But then, that is what he does. It is good to have this on the screen, but for those who do not already know the story, it must be a real shocker. It is also not a film for 'homophobes', and if you don't want to see Leonard Di Caprio kissing a man on the mouth, look away now.

I saw this movies many years ago long before Leonardo was a superstar as he is today and was riveted to the screen by the depth of his performance. The length to which he commented himself to this character was Oscar worthy, to say the least. I was so taken, I immediately preordered it to own and add to my collection. As I have watched it repeatedly over the years, my original assessment remains the same...a 10 plus! I am in shock that neither Leonardo nor the film industry has not made mention of this film when listing or crediting his fabulous and diverse character choices during his career. In my opinion, his work in this film is far and away better than even the Titanic. He really seemed to grasp every aspect of this tormented genius character which had far more depth than the Titanic character. I highly recommend you see and buy this movie.