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Embalmer, The
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 0 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Foreign
Written by:
Ugo Chiti
Matteo Garrone
Massimo Gaudioso
Directed by: Matteo Garrone
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 18, 2003
DVD: May 18, 2004
Running Time: 104 minutes, Color
Origin: Italy
Language(s): Italian (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Ernesto Mahieux, Valerio Foglia Manzillo, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Lina Bernardi, Pietro Biondi, Bernardino Terracciano, and Marcella Granito
The story of a romantic triangle that develops when a middle-aged dwarf, who works as a zoo taxidermist, befriends a teenage boy only to have a younger woman enters the picture.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Primo Amore
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site Official Italian 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...
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Garrone's movie finds a disconcerting niche between edgy character thriller and black comedy.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Director Matteo Garrone's measured approach and soulfully humane focus combine to dignify the characters, allowing the tale of solitude, longing and sorrow to inch quietly under the viewer's skin.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
A bummer, but one that manages to stick to its depraved convictions until the strange and bitter end.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
From start to finish Garrone charges The Embalmer, a richly visual film, with an effective ambiguity and sense of foreboding.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie, a keen look at the way passion unravels and obsession destroys, creates a black mood, a sense of truth and an enduring chill that stay with you.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Masterful at concealing its true nature and surprising us with the turns of the story.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Mahieux gives a bravura performance as the title character. Director Garrone keeps the story involving even though it doesn't quite live up to the star's strong talents.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Director and co-writer Matteo Garrone infuses The Embalmer with a spooky eroticism. The film is dark, both in theme and visual composition.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
At moments, the story skirts uncomfortably close to the grotesque. But this atmospheric oddity delivers a surprisingly sensitive take on the overwhelming ache of loneliness.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
An effectively macabre and fiendishly entertaining tale of lust, unrequited love and the fine art of taxidermy.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
The screenplay evokes this psychosexual power struggle with perfect accuracy and finely tuned performances.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Chuck Wilson
Mahieux, who is superb, methodically paint Peppino as a man for whom solitude is torture.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Ronnie Scheib
By the film's underwater finale, director Matteo Garrone has bestowed a tragic stature on the pint-size Othello who loves "not wisely but too well."
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Both the actor and the character deserve a better movie, one that might have channeled the latter's desires into more than just a few rote genre thrills.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
A dark, unsettling drama from Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
