Frears takes Hampton's wet-lipped hint and bathes the film in a booze-soaked haze of opulence and intolerance, employing masterful cinematographer Darius Khondji to deliver bold images.
Comment
06/25/09
Cheri (2009)
54
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:116
Fresh:63
Rotten:53
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: A too-short script and a romance lacking in heat detracts from an otherwise haughty charmer.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jul 23, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $2,643,292
Synopsis: Stephen Frears, director of THE QUEEN and HIGH FIDELITY, continues to demonstrate his genre-defying talent with this adaptation of a Colette novel. Set in Paris in the years before World War I,... [More]
Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones
Director: Stephen Frears
Reviews for Cheri
Cheri strikes a jarring note right from the start.
06/25/09
With its disconnected tones, Chéri really feels like a film that can’t do more than one thing at a time.
06/25/09
With Pfeiffer, 50, radiating uncommon beauty, grace and feeling, Frears uncovers a fragile story's grieving heart.
06/25/09
Frears and his Liaisons screenwriter, Christopher Hampton, give us a period piece in which the settings are fab, but the liaisons aren't dangerous, or even romantic.
06/24/09
A numbingly wrong-headed period piece that misfires on virtually all cylinders...Hampton and Frears prove heavy-handed, and their clumsiness is magnified by the missteps of the cast.
06/24/09
Pfeiffer, uncertain how to convey the older, wiser erotomane, resorts to sounding like Samantha Jones auditioning for Masterpiece Theater, her décolletage the only part of this movie getting any air.
06/24/09
The chemistry-free and inexplicable romantic relationship between the two lead characters causes a ripple effect that dooms the entire movie.
06/23/09
It’s not a good sign when you have to take the movie’s word for it that the lovers at its center are really, really into each other.
06/22/09
Stephen Frears's adaptation of two combined Colette novels, never takes hold due to a myopic screenplay by Christopher Hampton, and from a severely misjudged performance from Kathy Bates that threatens to sink the film whenever her distinctly non-British
06/19/09
It’s not a film of any great pungency. In the title role, Rupert Friend is perhaps even more callow than the part requires, and the wry narration, read by Frears, is wrongly pitched. The main drawback, however, is the not terribly exciting source material
05/13/09
The film is well enough acted, even if much of the underlying erotic turbulence is carried by Alexandre Desplat's insistent music, and it has a ravishing look. But it remains curiously blank.
05/13/09
The film works best when it's being a comedy of bad manners. Hampton has honed some glittering, dartlike lines of dialogue, and they're tossed around with poised aplomb by the immaculately dressed cast.
05/13/09
Technically, the film is spotless, with gorgeous cinematography, colourful costumes, detailed sets and a marvellous Alexandre Desplat score.
05/13/09
This glimpse into a decadent era has its charms, but they’re mostly visual. While Pfeiffer and Friend perform well, the script is tonally confused and lacks edge.
05/08/09
Top CriticThe multi-talented and adaptable director Stephen Frears has produced one of his most dull, airless and conventional films.
05/08/09
Michelle Pfeiffer's performance helps to cover the flaws of this period satire.
05/08/09
we’re treated to a group of dull-witted doyennes of the oldest profession, languishing on silk cushions, lazily point-scoring and carping.
05/08/09
Top CriticMichelle Pfeiffer deserved the finest vehicle for her comeback. This is the film-equivalent of a knackered Trabant with four bald tyres and a farting exhaust.
05/08/09
Top CriticFull of trinket-sized pleasures that never add up to more.
05/08/09
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