The Idol (2002)

the audience applauded

Such a frustrating disappointment

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is a film about human relationships and loneliness, reaching out and healing. It is not your typical old man seduces young beauty that you may expect. It is a thoughtful and introspective film. I think more than anything the title L'idole, or The Idol, is meant to revolve around the James Hong character. In that everyone in the building in which he lives respects him, and when a young and beautiful new tenant played wonderfully by Leelee Sobieski comes into the picture. He is the only one who finds a real meaningful connection with her. Therefore the rest of the building's tenants also become somewhat envious of him in their own emptiness of depth-less or stale relationships as he and the new beauty grow closer. Perhaps even some viewers will be envious of the graceful and experienced Hong character, and I think that is part of the point. I guess you could twist around the idol idea, and say that Sobieski is the idolized one in certain ways. Nonetheless, loneliness and disconnect are major themes here. Pretty much every character seems to struggle with anything that would resemble a deep or truly meaningful relationship. All in all, L'idole is an intriguing watch as both James Hong and Leelee Sobieski are hard to not watch, as they easily out act the average Hollywood standards. The supporting cast also fits very well here, helping to make this a quality piece of character driven film.7.5/10

Definitely the highlight for the few people that actually watch this film will be Leelee Zobiewsky prancing around in her underwear. She's not a bad looking woman and certainly many male viewers will regard this as the highlight of the film. That's not to say that this is the only thing men respond to, it's just that there's precious little else to entertain or occupy you during these long hours of this film. This film is tedious and it justifiably bombed at the box office, even in France, where they tend to be more sympathetic of a low=action film Many of the key people in this film aren't actually French, which is no bad thing in itself, but there is the feeling that the French setting is used to justify the worst excesses of this film; low plot, pretentious and clichéd. Not even LeeLee's knickers and bra could salvage any decent viewing figures.If you have sympathy for young petulant pretty girls that invent crises of their own because their life is too uneventful, then you may sympathise with young Leelee, but the fact that she decides life is worth living because her Chinese neighbour cooked her some spring rolls with chop suey and then washed and ironed her dress properly pretty much sums up the vacuous nature of this character and also of this turgid film. There's no doubting that his cooking and laundry abilities look impressive, but given the fact that they extended the life of this fluffy irrelevant girl, and hence of this awful film, he has a lot to ask for.I was never in favour of voluntary assisted euthanasia before this film, but I now believe that there can be a case made for it, at least in the context of this dreary and highly pretentious film.

Your typical American audience will salivate over a movie like L'Idol. For the simple reason of nudity and sexual overtones, truck loads of fans will pile up and wait in line to see a movie like this. Leelee Sobieski has tempted her fan base for years to star in an "art house" picture like this one. Her natural beauty has kept her a popular actress since the start of her career. The French / Polish actress has fooled around with doing swim suit moments in the Glass House and cover up jobs in the NBC movie Uprising. Now, the world gets to see some brief nudity from an actress who has millions of fans who want to see her "show all." But, the movie hasn't been picked up in America?! Two years later, a movie that should have made millions at the video stores hasn't even stepped foot in the U.S. L'Idol is considered your typical French film where sex is always the setting. Although this movie is not about sex, most of your typical French films has the hidden background of sexual struggle between characters throughout the movie. L'Idol has been greatly over looked and should be on the American video store shelves as soon as possible.

wow...what a bad film. What's up with all these accents! Subtitles please. Sobieski does a decent job but please... what a bad script. Not compelling at all. I was so bored to death I couldn't even sit and watch the end of it. The characters are dull and unlikable. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone. Don't waste your time and energy on this one!.