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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :- Excellent Classic Film!, 24 September 2003 Author: Dejael from Los Angeles, California
NOSTRADAMUS, aka: Michel de Notre Dame (1503-1566) is an enigmatic, elusive character in history books and dusty old biographies. What this excellent biopic does is make him a real flesh-and-blood person with passions, desires, fears and dreams, and the extremely talented European actor Tcheky Karyo (The CORE, 2002) carries the film admirably from start to finish. He makes Nostradamus a living, breathing human being, a Christian Jew who is seeking to understand his place in the Universe and is an open-minded seeker of truth and a true scientist and physician, a dedicated man of science who invented the first chewable Vitamin C tablet made with rose hips as an effective cure for the Black Plague in its early stages. Of course there was no cure once the plague had spread in the body, so it must have been especially a cruel twist of fate for Michel when his dear first wife Marie and their two children died of the plague and he could not even save them! The casting, acting, production, story and script, and lush cinematography at fascinating locations (filmed in Romania and Europe in 1993) are all first-rate. All aspects of this production are extremely well-handled. Especially good are flawless performances by Julia Ormond, Assumpta Serna, Amanda Plummer, Rutger Hauer, Anthony Higgins, and F. Murray Abraham as the remarkable Dr. Julius Caesar Scalinger (1484-1558), a wealthy friend of both Nostradamus and Dr. Rabelais of Paris, the most noted physician of his day in Europe. The visual effects are a bit shaky here and there, but in all everything works well to a satisfying look into the life of one of the greatest mystery men of the early Renaissance. His prophecies are fascinating and penetrating, as a latter-day prophet. One thing I would love to know is where that beautiful mansion of Dr. Scalinger is, and more about it. If it was built during the life of Nostradamus, it certainly was one of the most modern structures in the world, in its day! An interesting site, with its ornate topiary garden.The music score by Barrington Pheloung is captivating and should be available on CD. This film deserves a wide-screen DVD release! Classic epic drama, although episodic, with true European realism in its depiction of vignettes from Michel's love life, showing us the world as it really was in the plague-ridden Roman Catholic-dominated 16th Century Europe. Highly recommended, worth several viewings to take all of it in.
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :- Strong performances, 11 January 2002 Author: kynoceph from New Orleans, LA
Most Nostradamus movies have him as an older man, a gloomy sort constantly predicting doom. This movie doesn't. Tcheky Karyo plays a very involved, interesting, and engaging version of Michel de Nostredame. I particularly liked the "vision" sequences, where he suddenly is dropped into the future to observe. I thought the part of the movie where he is confronted by the Inquisition was effective as well. The movie is flawed; it moves slowly, and finicky history buffs will find a few bumps. But overall this features a fine performance by Tcheky Karyo, beautiful photography and sets, and (I have to say) a sex scene with Julia Ormond that manages to be really hot and very tasteful at the same time. Summing up, "Nostradamus" has some strong performances, and a good (if slow) story. It kept my interest all the way through. I'm looking forward to getting it on DVD.
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :- Good, but by no means great, bio, 27 January 2000 Author: Junkill from Dallas, Texas
I must say I enjoyed this film, but I agree with the other comments that it was horribly disjointed. It was absolutely gorgeous to look at (I would rate it up there with Elizabeth or Rozencranz & Guildenstern are Dead in that respect), but it is pretty hard to follow. Having read a short bio on Nostradamus recently, it seems that they got their facts right (there was some speculation, but isn't there always in such films?), but it seems rushed, like the director is trying to fit too much into the time alloted. Overall an enjoyable picture.
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- I loved it, and want to know the name of the Arabian mysticism book!!, 12 September 2003 Author: Zdorab (Zdorab@hotmail.com) from Florida, United States
I personally thought that this movie was one of the better period pieces that are around. I felt that the actor playing Nostradamus did a wonderful job trying to portray a very illusive figure in our history books. Not many people (including historians) agree on what Nostradamus' personality type exactly was, so for this actor to portray anything at all is somewhat impressive to me... But, I do have to admit that the artistic attempts near the end (especially the vision of the future at the very last scene) were a bit much. I think that although it was important to get the point across that he was a visionary... that it should have been done throughout the piece... not just at two points throughout the whole film (during the carriage ride and at the end)... But, hat's off for trying!One thing that I'm extremely interested in knowing is if his first wife (played by Julia Ormond) was really arrested by the Inquisition for having some Arabian Mysticism book... and if so... what was the title of the book!? I kept re-winding to get the name, but could not understand what she was saying! I keep trying to find any hint of this story online, but unfortunately have no luck... if anyone knows what book she supposedly had in the movie (or in real life), PLEASE e-mail me... I'm EXTREMELY interested in finding out about it!C-ya, Stephen
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Disappointing, 23 May 2000 Author: Kirill Galetski (kirill@sptimes.ru) from St. Petersburg, Russia
Tcheky Karyo, most familiar to American audiences as Bob, the enigmatic secret agent by way of Pygmalion in Luc Besson's NIKITA, has his first English-language lead role as the 16th-century physician and prophet Michel de Nostradame, who predicted various events occurring hundreds of years into the future.Filmed in Romania, the film is a grim, grubby depiction of the renaissance era, but seldom reaches any moments of true insight into Nostradamus' life. Instead of taking a scholarly approach required of the subject, and concentrating on the man's vision, director Roger Christian (whose claim to fame is being the art director on Ridley ScottÕs ALIEN and directing the pretty much forgetable horror flick THE SENDER) panders to the lowest common denominator by focusing on his love life, and his run-ins with pugnacious Inquisitors.When he is shown having his prophetic visions, most of the sequences are stilted and hokey. Only one prediction sequence has any power, the vision of the Black Rain, filmed in Copsa Mica, which the National Geographic Society once branded as the most polluted city in Europe.Academy Award Winner F. Murray Abraham (AMADEUS), called in to save the acting day, does serviceable work as Scalinger, Nostradamus' sometime mentor, and Rutger Hauer is weird and funny as the Mystic Monk. Do I hear laughs? His turn is actually quite enjoyable, with his candle-lit hat and his demolition of the loathsome flagellates.Karyo consorts with a bevy of bold European actresses, including Julia Ormond, Maia Morgenstern (THE OAK), and Assumpta Serna (MATADOR, THE FENCING MASTER.) He makes a noble effort with his calm, cultivated, at times endearing performance but he can't carry the whole film.The movie eventually dissipates in the scarcity of its low budget, borrowing footage (ironically enough) from ALIENS for its final sequence which depicts space travel.
3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Historical accuracy, 1 September 2003 Author: gforth from London, England
I only saw this film a few days ago and was struck by the beauty of the film as a whole. I found it neither boring, nor disjointed. Instead I was amazed at the man's life, the portrayal of the religious fear and bigotry of the time, and the terror of the plague. While I assume much of it can be put down to artistic licence, I come away from the film understanding more about the man, especially the fact that he wasn't some grizzled old madman.I loved it, only finding Rutger Hauer's section somewhat unnecessary and peripheral, and his vision of the distant future too stylised. I would like to have known more about the rest of his life after the death of the King though...
If you are interested in the mystical. You will find this movie very interesting., 30 December 2003 Author: yvonatron from United States
Although sometimes tragic, this tale made me want to learn more about Nostradamus and his writings. I would recommend this movie to anyone with an interest in divination, the psychic and the future of mankind.
Excellent Movie with marvelous Actors 10/10, 28 April 2002 Author: malpaso-1 from Wuppertal, Germany
This is a real great movie about the Life of Nostradamus,if true or not, well that`s another question,but here you have some real great actors in very good roles first of all T.Karyo as Nosdradamus,he played the way as somebody who`ve lived all those things.In another role you have Rutger Hauer one of the best and underestimated actors in the Whole world in my opinion(have a look at Hitcher,Blade Runner,Soldier of Orange),he stars as the mystik monk only appears a few minutes but impresses a lot more.The Cast was filled up with F. Murray Abraham,A. Plummer and a lot more ofgreat actors,this all was mixed with some very good special effects(Nostradamus Visions)and good screenplay,wonderfull combine to an excellent picture by R.Christian(who also worked on Star Wars).A clear 10 out of 10 for me.
An ok period biopic which tries to stick to the facts., 30 November 2001 Author: George Parker from Orange County, CA USA
"Nostradamus" is a par period biopic which tells an embellished version of the life of a man whose memory has been cloaked in myth and mystery. The film suggests the plague-fighting 16th century French physician Nostradamus "shroomed out" in the interest of science, had halucinations/visions, and wrote them down thereby creating his now famous cryptic literary works the misinterpretations of which are popularly regarded as prognostications. The truth is, the man was not, as history goes, all that interesting, so most of the film is composed of scenes of little dramatic significance. Nonetheless, "Nostradamus" is a worthy effort which may be of interest to those with an interest in the man's life.
Lush, "free-love" look at humankind during the Renaissance., 14 August 2000 Author: Elicia-2 from USA
This is a good movie if you're trying to understand the state of humankind during the Renaissance. It has that lush, quirky, almost "free-love" kind of feeling to it, not to mention an interesting take on the story of Nostradamus.Tcheky Karyo is great but his acting ability has not really been taken advantage of by the filmmakers. I saw him in The Bear and Luc Besson's Nikita and he was fabulous. In this movie, he sort of wanders around in the nightmare of his prophetic visions and occassionally marries a beautiful woman. Rutger Hauer has a very neat, if short, appearance in the film. Sort of a pyromaniac monk? I couldn't tell-- I think it was an attempt to be "artistic" in a film that's really "showcase."Oh well. Like I said, Nostradamus really demonstrates well that exciting and dangerous atmosphere of the Renaissance. Watch it for this if nothing else.
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