The Five Senses (2000)

Memorable, crazy movie

How sad is this?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

These are interconnected stories with the individual senses as the theme. Ruth Seraph is a massage therapist with sour teenage daughter Rachel. Anna Miller is Ruth's client and Rachel loses Anna's young daughter. Rachel is infatuated with voyeur Rupert. Robert is a professional house cleaner with a superior sense of smell. Rona is a cake maker who lost her sense of taste. Dr. Richard Jacob is an optometrist going deaf.Some of the characters are more compelling than others. In the end, I don't connect with the stories that much. This movie's central idea feels more like a gimmick. I'm interested in Ruth and Rachel. However there are some characters that feel like unwanted interruptions in the flow of the movie. It's disjointed and I can't find its flow. It would be a more compelling story if it's told more straightforwardly.

It was really well made, I like movies that are like this. The stories all connect but very subtly and it hits "taboo" subjects in an interesting manner. It really shows how we are in society also, showing things that we tend to think we have to hide from everyone because of the way they react. The only part I didn't like was the ending, but thats a matter of personal judgment, some may like it a lot. Well done, and the acting was fantastic :) It's a very interesting movie and well worth your time if you have nothing else to do on a Saturday morning, he-he!! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, because it's quite a fantastic movie. If i've repeated myself a lot it's because IMDb won't let me submit anything that's not 10 lines or more.. sorry!

"Five Senses" is a Robert Altman-like large ensemble meeting "All About My Mother."It has a didactic theme as there's an eye dr. going deaf, a baker constructing tasteless, attractive looking cakes, a lover whose cooking tastes delicious but because of foreign language is perceived as not speaking at all, a cleaner whose job it is to eliminate odors seeking the smell of love, and no shortage of voyeurs of the 5 senses, including a massage therapist.And it all comes down to that in matters of the heart and intimacy you cannot trust your senses. Nothing is what it seems. The cinematography and soundtrack are appropriately lush, but will probably be fine on video or cable. The loose ends are mostly tied up to some satisfaction, though not all happy endings.It was nice to pick out Canadian actors from various little movies and TV shows. (originally written 7/30/2000)

`The five senses' is a very interesting movie from beginning to end; I like it since it shows the way people behave, communicate, and feel. It's the true side of human nature, that's why I think it's worth watching. The cinematography is splendid. I have always liked Canada a lot. When I knew it was nicely filmed in Canada I went to see it as soon as I could. Canada is wonderful, exciting and cold, so is this movie. The way this movie shows us the reality is amazing. We can see the way this represents the five senses of people. The main character Rona (Mary Louise Parker) was utterly outstanding as well as the Italian man Roberto. They envelop themselves into the role very well. I liked Mary Louise Parker's performance in `the portrait of a lady', so I think she was appropriate to play the friendly and strange Rona. The Italian man plays his role interestingly; however I couldn't understand anything whenever he spoke Italian. The supporting actors also carried out their roles admirably.This movie shows us the way those complicated characters are involved in their senses. We see the 5 senses in this movie. For instance we see the sense of sight when the 16 years old girl stares at a couple who are kissing in a park. The sense of hearing is personified by a doctor, who is getting deaf and wants to hear his favorite sounds one last time. We also can see the sense of smell as the homosexual seeks out his lovers to sniff them and find out if they still love him, he also smells all kinds of fragrances. A massage therapist (Gabrielle Rose) represents the sense of touch whenever she gives massages to her clients. It's unforgettable as she treated a man who was most probably an AIDS patient and was crying because nobody had dared to touch him since a long time ago. It was moving and original. Finally the Italian man carries out the sense of taste, since he cooks and always tastes his food.This is a pretty interesting movie, because it could cause many interesting discussions; since many people have different views, everybody is capable of seeing the five senses in a different way. I already wrote the way I saw them; however another person could say he/she saw the five senses different from the way I saw them. It's beautifully filmed at the ending when it's raining and Rona gets wet and spots Roberto's lover getting out of her house. She runs back feeling disappointed. It made me think a lot. It also shows us that the massage therapist and her strange daughter could be together after they found the little girl. This is an original and interesting film, which shows us the human perceptions. 8/10