The Idol (2002)

Definitely the highlight for the few people that actually watch this film will be Leelee Zobiewsky prancing around in her underwear. She's not a bad looking woman and certainly many male viewers will regard this as the highlight of the film. That's not to say that this is the only thing men respond to, it's just that there's precious little else to entertain or occupy you during these long hours of this film. This film is tedious and it justifiably bombed at the box office, even in France, where they tend to be more sympathetic of a low=action film Many of the key people in this film aren't actually French, which is no bad thing in itself, but there is the feeling that the French setting is used to justify the worst excesses of this film; low plot, pretentious and clichéd. Not even LeeLee's knickers and bra could salvage any decent viewing figures.If you have sympathy for young petulant pretty girls that invent crises of their own because their life is too uneventful, then you may sympathise with young Leelee, but the fact that she decides life is worth living because her Chinese neighbour cooked her some spring rolls with chop suey and then washed and ironed her dress properly pretty much sums up the vacuous nature of this character and also of this turgid film. There's no doubting that his cooking and laundry abilities look impressive, but given the fact that they extended the life of this fluffy irrelevant girl, and hence of this awful film, he has a lot to ask for.I was never in favour of voluntary assisted euthanasia before this film, but I now believe that there can be a case made for it, at least in the context of this dreary and highly pretentious film.

I never really expect to enjoy French films anymore than I would think that I would enjoy escargot or frog legs. However, I did. I took the film out on DVD and consequently had the facility to go back over the film when I felt that I "didn't get it".If you're looking for an action film, forget it. "I'm not that kind of film" it would say. The appeal in the film is generated by the very human tensions that exist between the characters, and not just between Sarah Silver (Leelee Sobieski) and Mr Zao (James Hong, whose acting career goes back to "Love is a Many Splendoured Thing" 1955). There is an interlacing of frustration, suspicion, jealousy, spite, anger, futility, despair, and villainy. Overlaying all of this is the sexual tension which is never consummated, nor is ever likely to be, between Sarah and Zao, which endows the film with a sense of foreboding. There is a feeling of imminent disaster. The disaster, however, manifests itself in a direction not anticipated when the lead actress, Sylvia Martin, whose place Sarah wanted to supplant, suffers fatal injuries. The effect on Sarah who had placed a so-called hex on Martin is to change Sarah's life.One of the most intriguing aspects of the film was in the character of Caroline (Maria Loboda) who looks like Emmanuelle Beart. A girl who hovers around the aging Zao and relies on him to feed her birds, and who should be the very embodiment of innocence, is riddled with jealousy (for the 'artiste'), malevolence (her interception of Sarah's parting letter is truly spiteful), and greed - which nearly results in her death when she hungrily snatches up the poisoned cake.Zao is also complex. A man who has suffered the atrocities of the Japanese invasion of China and suffers from the bitterness which resulted from his slaughtered child(ren), kindly succours Sarah who is clearly not looking after herself. But he prepares a lethal cake with Sarah's sleeping pills which he had formerly substituted with rice grains, when she tried to commit suicide, after she rejected him. She rejected him because he had frustrated her melodramatic moment of suicide.Other characters are well drawn too. The thieving neighbour Castellac who tells Zao that if Zao needs him, he's there to help - as he filches Zao's bottle of wine. Suffering from lack of recognition in his retirement (he was a uniformed railway guard) his sexual frustration is partially assuaged by listening over the landing to Sarah's orgasmic cries which, in turn, lead to the intrigue of the 'petition' from the residents.The entire film is shot in shadows and darkness to match the dark motives of the denizens. The film began and ended with the motif of the roller-skaters which brought the film to a pinpoint in time. Nothing was different despite the fatality, sexual assault, and murderous intentions.One criticism: Leelee's Australian accent wasn't!

wow...what a bad film. What's up with all these accents! Subtitles please. Sobieski does a decent job but please... what a bad script. Not compelling at all. I was so bored to death I couldn't even sit and watch the end of it. The characters are dull and unlikable. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone. Don't waste your time and energy on this one!.

i saw the film at the locarno festival and i was truly disappointed by the poor direction and the bad acting . The story doesn't hold up to anything and it's a real bore. It was not even the slightest emotional and i was really itching to see something finally happening on the screen which never really happened...