Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
53
Alice in Wonderland
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
31
Bounty Hunter, The
43
Brooklyn's Finest
55
Christmas Carol, A
31
Cop Out
55
Crazies, The
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
64
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
61
Green Zone
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
32
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
39
Our Family Wedding
47
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
69
Redbelt
40
Remember Me
29
Repo Men
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
47
She's Out of My League
63
Shutter Island
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
34
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
43
Wolfman, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
67
3 Idiots
47
44 Inch Chest
82
Ajami![]()
71
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
73
Amreeka
75
Art of the Steal, The
43
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
49
Blood Done Sign My Name
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
52
Celine: Through the Eyes of the World
67
Children of Invention
65
City Island
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
83
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
51
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
57
Defendor
61
Delta
68
Departures
64
District 13: Ultimatum
72
Easier with Practice
85
Education, An![]()
61
Exploding Girl, The
70
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
52
Formosa Betrayed
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
xx
Ghost Town
77
Ghost Writer, The
69
Girl on the Train, The
73
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The
47
Good Guy, The
78
Greenberg
35
Happy Tears
68
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
20
Harlem Aria
xx
Killing Jar, The
52
Killing Kasztner
xx
Kimjongilia
41
Last New Yorker, The
76
Last Station, The
47
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
71
Lourdes
73
Me and Orson Welles
77
Messenger, The
80
Mid-August Lunch
57
Missing Person, The
76
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
79
Mother
50
My Name is Khan
88
Neil Young Trunk Show![]()
49
Nine
67
North Face
64
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
40
Phyllis and Harold
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
74
Prodigal Sons
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
89
Prophet, A![]()
76
Red Riding Trilogy, The
63
Runaways, The
32
Saint John of Las Vegas
83
Secret of Kells, The![]()
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
57
Severe Clear
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
xx
Shutterbug
77
Single Man, A
76
Still Bill
34
Stolen
xx
Suicide Girls Must Die!
52
Tales from the Script
74
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
47
To Die for Tano
19
To Save a Life
63
Toe to Toe
69
Town Called Panic, A
54
Until the Light Takes Us
60
Videocracy
84
Vincere![]()
66
Waiting for Armageddon
45
White on Rice
82
White Ribbon![]()
xx
White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, The
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Yellow Handkerchief, The
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Proteus

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 11 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign | Gay/Lesbian | Romance
Written by:
John Greyson
Jack Lewis
Directed by:
John Greyson
Jack Lewis
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 30, 2004
Running Time: 97 minutes, Color
Origin: Canada / South Africa
Language(s): English / Afrikaans / Nama (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Rouxnet Brown, Shaun Smyth, Kristen Thomson, Neil Sandilands, Brett Goldin, Tessa Jubber, Jeroen Kranenburg, and Dean Lotz
An exquisite, romantic period piece that skillfully explores the intersections of sex, race and politics. Set in South Africa in the eighteenth century and based on real events, the story concerns young livestock herder, Claas Blank, who is unjustly arrested and sentenced to hard labor, where he crosses paths with a Dutch sailor. Despite their vast cultural differences, Claas begins a tentative love affair with the sailor, setting in motion a course of events that brings tragic consequences for all. (Strand Releasing)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film Threat James Wegg
The story of lust, love and betrayal intriguingly bemoans racism and prejudice of bygone times while peppering the history with more modern references.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
This unusually rich film tackles not only the social structuring of criminality and sexuality but race as well, and explores the ways science has been used to justify the ruthless pursuit of market interests and, eventually, apartheid itself.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
Greyson does a terrifically empathetic job of putting viewers firmly in the moment, by making it irrelevant exactly when and where that moment takes place.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
John Greyson and Jack Lewis' experimental drama, about two prisoners who have a dangerous affair, is a challenging, flawed look at a little-known slice of history.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Ultimately, the sex scenes seem of far more interest to the filmmakers than the narrative or characterizations, which are rendered in frustratingly vague and often deliberately confusing fashion.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Proteus is involving and affecting even if it is not completely coherent or fully realized.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
Proteus has enough erotic and exotic content to win back some of the arthouse viewers previously beguiled by Greyson's "Lilies." But pic lacks that gem's lush aesthetics and impassioned complexity, ending up a tad remote.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Chuck Wilson
Proteus carries an air of forced-wit experimentation that never quite gets its anachronisms in order -- this 18th-century tale features a Jeep, a radio, and female court reporters with typewriters and bouffant hairdos.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
This Canadian-South African labor of love has its heart in the right place, even if the leads seem to have been cast more for their hunky looks than their stiff acting.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dave Kehr
Tricked up with an elaborate flashback structure, subtitled dialogue in three languages and as many gratuitous aesthetic touches as the traffic will bear, Proteus emerges as a heavy, pretentious and derivative film.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle John McMurtrie
Takes its name from the king protea, the national flower of South Africa. The stunning, artichoke-like shrub may be fragrant, but the movie's pretty much a stinker.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Al J. gave it a10:
A revealing and thrilling historical narrative - reminds us of the hypocritical nature of justice towards homosexuals, which, sadly, still pervades our culture and society.
James T. gave it a 6:
Attractive leads, frustrating narrative that is suprisingly passionless.
