Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

writers_reign I'm surprised that none of the previous posters has mentioned the glaring connection to Martin Guerre, in fact given that the protagonist is a child rather than an adult it could almost be called Martin Guerre lite. This is not to disparage an excellent film in which Brigitte Rouan stands out in the midst of some extremely fine performances. As her Christian name indicates Agnieszka Holland is actually Polish, born in Warsaw, trained in Czeckoslovakia and there is something fitting about this in a film where things are not always what they seem. The 'logical' questions that occur - for example when he is first noticed by the cop who investigated his disappearance six years earlier the youth could have no idea of who he resembled yet when questioned he is able to state categorically that he had no brothers, only a sister named Nadine. It's straining credulity to the utmost to accept that a male prostitute living presumably on the streets would have 1) read about the case when he himself was only six and 2) retained such explicit factual detail - are more or less swept aside by the high quality directing and acting on display. A fine film.

caspian1978 By the end of the movie, you stop questioning what is real and what is dream. You forget that everything up to the truth has been gentle. Even the disappearance and the conflict with the neighbors take a back seat to the overall gentle telling of the story. When the audience is then faced with what may be true to the people in the movie, it all ends and the movie becomes reality. Even the last shot of the movie questions who is living in the gentle fiction that makes up their lives. Having to face the truth by the end of the movie, the family chooses to live the gentle lie that has brought them all together. The sexual tension between husband and wife / sister and brother explodes before your eyes. Not out of lust but out of love. Very few movies have captures this, Olivier Olivier has.

negeati My first Agnieszka Holland movie was "Total Eclipse"(1995), and I was very disappointed. At the end of that of that movie I couldn't feel any sympathy for the lead characters. But that didn't stop me to see some of her previous movies: "Europa, Europa" (1991) and this movie, "Olivier, Olivier" (1992)."Olivier, Olivier" is not as good as her 1991 movie was, but it comes so close, that I simply cannot give it less than 10/10.The most important character of the movie is Elizabeth Duval, Olivier's mother. Brigitte Rouan's performance is extraordinary. Her portrayal of the over-possessive mother is perfect.The rest of the cast is very competitive. Gregoire Colin is a wonderful fake prodigal son. Francois Cluzet and Marina Golovina are superb.The movie does however have a flaw. Nadine's supernatural powers are interesting to look at, but useless to the plot. Forgivable.

GeoffL Now this is a truly wonderful film. It's simple enough: one day, a young boy goes missing from his family. Several years later, he returns - or does he?This movie is a flawless dissection of a frighteningly twisted family, with extremely vivid characters. Agnieszka Holland has succeeded at that difficult task: create realistic characters in a believable situation, yet present them with shockingly eerie dilemma. Strongly recommended.Side note: the only flaw in this movie was the rather ridiculous invocation of the supernatural. Fortunately, it's part of an almost completely irrelevant subplot, and can be safely ignored.