The Smile (1994) User Reviews

Pure magic

[fertilecelluloid · 18 January 2004]

Claude Miller's epic erotic fantasy is an unclassifiably eccentric, beautiful cinematic dessert.

Long-in-the-tooth Jean-Pierre Marielle, a bored psychiatrist, falls hopelessly in love with with child-woman Emmanuelle Siegner( Odile) and leaves his comfortable environs (and wife) to go on the road -- and train -- with her.

Into this potentially explosive stew are woven a subplot about a carnival barker (Richard Bohringer), unfinished business with an ex-wife and ruminations on death and irresponsibility.

Miller's images are highly charged and gleefully erotic, and he uses a gorgeous signature tune, "Jump For Joy", to set and reset the tone. In one very hot sequence, the track is played as Miller cuts between Marielle riding an out-on-control bicycle and Seigner playing a game of tennis with herself. How the two threads meet is pure magic. And one will never forget the sweeping traveling shots that are so well shot and scored.

Nothing about the film is locked down, and that's what makes it so enjoyable. Like a new love affair, it is propelled by its own, exhuberant euphoria. It experiments, detours through some wonderful fantasy sequences and still manages to be highly involving and deeply moving.

The performances are all exemplary.

An easy watch but nothing exceptional

[AfricanBro · 4/10 · 2 January 2023]

It's a French erotica to some extent so you must know that before hand. It doesn't do anything wrong but it has no particularly good or unique qualities in itself to set it apart or make it memorable. The premise is a bit silly, one of those were you need to switch of your brain otherwise you spend the entire time thinking well that's absurd and would never happen in real life. I did kinda enjoy the way it was made, it's very simplistic and a pretty easy watch. I liked the cinematography of the time(early 90's), I've always thought bar sci-fi and action movie, the videography of the time was easy and lighthearted for the eyes, I don't know what that means it just makes sense to me. It boded well for lighthearted movies. As I mentioned it's an erotica, I liked that it's still a movie, not that explicit, it could easily be seen in a cinema and not online sites that are restricted in some countries. You could try to find meaning in this but that'd be reaching really, one of those movies you watch and forget about right after. Not memorable or special, I'm just logging it in because I watched it.

stunning movie

[loop-5 · 10/10 · 30 June 2002]

I saw this movie on tv the other night (late) and was deeply moved by the ending.

Perhaps the subject matter and the inferences implicit in the plot are of significance to me as a middle aged man, but I think that, looking at the breakdown of opinions expressed by age (the younger the voter, the higher the approval rating) the story hit home to younger people...they obviously identified with the tragic circumstances of Odile (Emmanuel Seigner's role)

Anyway...I found myself both sexually and emotionally affected, especially the ending (in fact, primarily the ending). I don't know; maybe it is because I am a fine art photographer and I identify with my subjects (mainly women :o)...I actually wept at the end.

OK!!! Call me crazy...but I am an artist, so I am allowed to be :o)

Peace and love

Loop.

Worth checking out

[lazarillo · 9 September 2013]

A professor/psychiatrist (Jean-Pierre Marielle)in his late middle ages and suffering from health problems meets and falls for a strange young woman (Emmanuelle Seigner)whose life ambition seems to be become a nude dancer in a strange sideshow of a traveling carnival. So he drops everything and goes on the road with her and the carnival. This isn't really much of a plot perhaps, but this is one of those European movies that really relies more on dream sequences, flights into fantasy, and poetic visuals than any kind of coherent story-line.

It also features three interesting French talents. Director Claude Miller was a long-time associate of Francois Truffaut, who well into the new millennium was still making FRENCH movies as opposed French versions of Hollywood fare like you're more likely to see today. Jean-Pierre Marielle is one of those French actors who looks vaguely familiar, perhaps because he's just had such a long career even if he's never really achieved much fame outside of France. One of his earliest films was another tale of older man-younger woman amour fou called "One Wild Moment", which was remade in America as "Blame It on Rio" with Michael Caine in Marielle's role. And speaking of older men and younger women Emmanuelle Seigner is the young woman who bewitched rakish director Roman Polanski when she was only 17, and he's been married to her ever since. This movie was right after her incredible performance in Polanski's "Bitter Moon" and--while it's perhaps not saying a lot--this is one of her best performances in a non-Polanski film.

Naturally this film has no English subs, but it's fairly easy to follow even if you don't really speak French (besides, there's always the international language of a hot French girl getting naked). It's worth checking out if you get a chance.

Released in North America on NTSC VHS videotape......No DVD Release....

[frenchrratedmovies · 10/10 · 8 January 2009]

This film was released on NTSC VHS videotape in North America by Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) Distribution in 1994 with the French title..... LE SOURIRE....It had a very small distribution in Quebec ....There is no DVD version......It was released in French Language with No English Subtitles.....It is no longer In Print and is rarely seen in Canadian video stores.....the Ex-Rentals are generally poor quality and and the original tape has often been replaced.....Good luck in finding a good Copy...........It was released with a French language jacket ......Directed by Claude Miller.....Stars: Emmanuelle Seigner, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Richard Bohringer........the run time of the North American release is 1 hour 29 minutes.....Contains Emmanuelle Seigner nudity ......"Emmanuelle Seigner as the perfect sex object.......After he learns that a heart attack may be imminent, Pierre Francois, a psychiatrist, becomes physically attracted to Odile (Emmanuelle Seigner), a natural beauty that drives men crazy. She is a daring young thing. His come-on is not subtle..... Odile later uses their relationship to fulfill an exhibitionist fantasy."