Rating: 
Summary: Hmmmm
Review: This was a very strange story about a privileged youth who rejects his wealthy lifestyle and willingly self-destructs with the help of a shell-shocked, miserable refugee from Bosnia. I felt badly that this young man's Bosnian half-sister had suffered so much brutality in the war. However, she did not have to inflict her pain upon her half brother. Her misery and numbness and the brother's willingess to wallow in this misery and numbness destroys both of them in the end. They both would have been better off having several sessions with a good shrink. The half-brother could probably afford to hire the most expensive shrinks available. That kid was rolling in dough! I am not a prude or I wouldn't have rented this movie in the first place. However, the totally explicit sexual scenes were not exactly necessary and not really even sexy, just rather cold and clinical. (And to be honest, closeups of aroused genitals are not always the prettiest sights around.) It was impossible to empathize with anyone in this film because everyone in this movie was completely self-absorbed, leadenly serious, and joylessly masochistic. About an hour into this movie, I longed to watch a Looney Tunes cartoon so that I could be reminded that there is such a thing as humor and fun. The only good thing about this movie was the acting and the photography which were both outstanding. And the DVD clarity was excellent as well.
Rating: 
Summary: *****
Review: To all of you who wish to obtain the movie -please, do so without reading any of the reviews (they will just make the confusion even greater) Carax's film is too intensively beautiful to be judged in any way. Pola X is all about abstraction, visualization, feeling, sensitivity and mind at a higher degree. If you feel comfortable with yourself and ready to explore new ideas and visions then go for the movie, if not - don't end up writing misleading reviews.
Evidently Hollywood has brain washed a lot of heads around and not all of us have managed to retain a real appreciation for a pure, innovative, artistic work. Qualities that Pola X possesses.
I assume I will not be an exception of the rule and will devote some time on the love scene. Yes, it is a real punishment for Puritan America. Yes, it is sensual and arousing. For all of us who have made real love to the degree when you are even afraid to touch the other's skin: we'll understand the scene - for the others remain the use of the word "sex".
There is an enormous set of details throughout the movie, which will help you better understand and appreciate it. The first line, the first shot - even the title
The film is not for people complaining about their burned croissant on he breakfast table. In order to survive through the movie you must have learned how to survive in live.
Rating:
Summary: Gloomy, pretentious tripe.
Review: When the French film "Pola X" begins, Pierre (Guillaume Depardieu) is a very fortunate young man. He's wealthy (lives in a gorgeous French chateau), successful (writes best-selling novels), and is engaged to the beautiful Lucie. Pierre begins to have dreams involving an unkempt, dark-haired young woman. The dreams trouble him and begin to intrude into his waking life. Pierre cannot concentrate on his work or his love life, and Pierre's mother, Marie (Catherine Deneuve) becomes alarmed by his strange behaviour. Pierre spots the dark-haired woman of his dreams spying on him. He tries to follow her, but she eludes him. One evening, however, when motorcycling in the dark countryside, Pierre sees the woman on the side of the road. He crashes his bike, and plunges in the dark wood after the girl. The girl reveals that she is Pierre's sister, Isabelle, and she tells her story in a droning monologue of broken French. Where to start... Pierre and his mother are supposed to be 'close.' In fact, they are so close he calls her 'my sister' and she calls him 'my brother.' If this doesn't strike you as odd, wait for the scene when Pierre strolls into the bathroom when his mother is taking a bath. Yes, there is obviously some rot at the heart of this kinky French family, and Pierre's tasteless relationship with his sister, Isabelle, takes it one step further. Isabelle, who looks like a failed cross between Grunge and Goth is annoyingly clingy and morose. Yet Pierre dumps his 'close' relationship with mummy, his castle, and his career, and abandons all to live with the gloomy Isabelle in squalor with a bunch of equally bizarre social refugees. Forget plot. Forget logic. Forget motivation. Just prepare yourself for one long self-indulgent vomfest of a film. The only thing worthy of mention in this exercise in pretentiousness is some beautiful photography--the scene in the wood (if someone would shut Isabelle up for a minute) is stunningly beautiful, and the scenes of the chateau are breathtaking. Unfortunately, one long camera shot of Isabelle's exposed naughty bits wiped out all of the other pleasant memories, and now, scarred for life, I have no choice to label this film one star--as there is no pile of excrement option--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: Gloomy, pretentious tripe.
Review: When the French film "Pola X" begins, Pierre (Guillaume Depardieu) is a very fortunate young man. He's wealthy (lives in a gorgeous French chateau), successful (writes best-selling novels), and is engaged to the beautiful Lucie. Pierre begins to have dreams involving an unkempt, dark-haired young woman. The dreams trouble him and begin to intrude into his waking life. Pierre cannot concentrate on his work or his love life, and Pierre's mother, Marie (Catherine Deneuve) becomes alarmed by his strange behaviour. Pierre spots the dark-haired woman of his dreams spying on him. He tries to follow her, but she eludes him. One evening, however, when motorcycling in the dark countryside, Pierre sees the woman on the side of the road. He crashes his bike, and plunges in the dark wood after the girl. The girl reveals that she is Pierre's sister, Isabelle, and she tells her story in a droning monologue of broken French. Where to start... Pierre and his mother are supposed to be 'close.' In fact, they are so close he calls her 'my sister' and she calls him 'my brother.' If this doesn't strike you as odd, wait for the scene when Pierre strolls into the bathroom when his mother is taking a bath. Yes, there is obviously some rot at the heart of this kinky French family, and Pierre's tasteless relationship with his sister, Isabelle, takes it one step further. Isabelle, who looks like a failed cross between Grunge and Goth is annoyingly clingy and morose. Yet Pierre dumps his 'close' relationship with mummy, his castle, and his career, and abandons all to live with the gloomy Isabelle in squalor with a bunch of equally bizarre social refugees. Forget plot. Forget logic. Forget motivation. Just prepare yourself for one long self-indulgent vomfest of a film. The only thing worthy of mention in this exercise in pretentiousness is some beautiful photography--the scene in the wood (if someone would shut Isabelle up for a minute) is stunningly beautiful, and the scenes of the chateau are breathtaking. Unfortunately, one long camera shot of Isabelle's exposed naughty bits wiped out all of the other pleasant memories, and now, scarred for life, I have no choice to label this film one star--as there is no pile of excrement option--displacedhuman
Rating: 
Summary: A brave & beautiful mess
Review: Why good old Leos would think to turn Melville's infamous classic "Pierre or the Ambiguities" into a film is beyond me. Aside from the fact that the book is loaded with themes which cannot be communicated through the medium of film, it's a problematic novel in and of itself. The fact that the book is problematic though should not be seen as a slander because it is reveals itself as one of the book's virtues (with many). That being said, with POLA X, you have a film filled with impressions and beautiful visions, but a work that needs the focus that Leos is incapable of giving. Guillaume Depardieu deserved to win awards for this film, for his work is truly quite brave and moving. I however cannot make the same statement about Golubeva, someone who's only reason for being cast is that wild head of hair she's got. Golubeva est terrible. Deneuve is well Deneuve, which is to say she's quite above reproach (at least to me).
Now, is one is looking for a film of strength aesthetically, look no further. THe scene where Isabel tells Pierre of her past in the woods is quite a sight and worthy of a review by itself; Brother and Sister (possibly) walk through the ashes of the past, both ghosts of what has never been and always been, doomed to die by corrosion and the discovery of the meaning of death, which is to say, of the unknown. Along the same lines, when Pierre's mother (Deneuve) gets on his father's bike and rides through the black woods only to crash and lay wounded as the flaming bike comes towards her, we get a feeling for what the entire film could have (and should have)been.
THe problem with the film is that it concentrates where perhaps it shouldn't and wanders where it should be still. Leos Carax is far from being a useless filmmaker, and his attempt at something great here is quite commendable. But, his films are never perfect (as are many of the masters' works)and this is no exception. Pola X is a beautiful, disquieting, pusillanimous mess of a film. I'd like to give it five stars for risk but risk alone doesn't make masterpieces.
(For those interested in a real examination of incest, death, God, and existence, check out Bergman's similarly themed 'THE SILENCE', a five star film!)
Rating:
Summary: A brave & beautiful mess
Review: Why good old Leos would think to turn Melville's infamous classic "Pierre or the Ambiguities" into a film is beyond me. Aside from the fact that the book is loaded with themes which cannot be communicated through the medium of film, it's a problematic novel in and of itself. The fact that the book is problematic though should not be seen as a slander because it is reveals itself as one of the book's virtues (with many). That being said, with POLA X, you have a film filled with impressions and beautiful visions, but a work that needs the focus that Leos is incapable of giving. Guillaume Depardieu deserved to win awards for this film, for his work is truly quite brave and moving. I however cannot make the same statement about Golubeva, someone who's only reason for being cast is that wild head of hair she's got. Golubeva est terrible. Deneuve is well Deneuve, which is to say she's quite above reproach (at least to me).
Now, is one is looking for a film of strength aesthetically, look no further. THe scene where Isabel tells Pierre of her past in the woods is quite a sight and worthy of a review by itself; Brother and Sister (possibly) walk through the ashes of the past, both ghosts of what has never been and always been, doomed to die by corrosion and the discovery of the meaning of death, which is to say, of the unknown. Along the same lines, when Pierre's mother (Deneuve) gets on his father's bike and rides through the black woods only to crash and lay wounded as the flaming bike comes towards her, we get a feeling for what the entire film could have (and should have)been.
THe problem with the film is that it concentrates where perhaps it shouldn't and wanders where it should be still. Leos Carax is far from being a useless filmmaker, and his attempt at something great here is quite commendable. But, his films are never perfect (as are many of the masters' works)and this is no exception. Pola X is a beautiful, disquieting, pusillanimous mess of a film. I'd like to give it five stars for risk but risk alone doesn't make masterpieces.
(For those interested in a real examination of incest, death, God, and existence, check out Bergman's similarly themed 'THE SILENCE', a five star film!)
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