tulip fever is an upcoming historical drama film directed by justin chadwick and written by sir tom stoppard , adapted from a novel by deborah moggach .

it stars alicia vikander , dane dehaan , zach galifianakis , judi dench , christoph waltz , jack o'connell , holliday grainger , matthew morrison and cara delevingne .

the plot follows a 17th-century painter in amsterdam who falls in love with a married woman of whom he has been hired to draw a portrait .

the film is set to be released in the united states on august 25 , 2017 , by the weinstein company .

tulip fever

historical drama tulip fever focuses on cornelis sandvoort , a dutch man who has made his fortune from the tulip trade .
crew setting up to film tulip fever in the cathedral cloister . photo : bill smith
set builders getting norwich cathedral cloister ready for filming tulip fever . photo : bill smith
tulip fever from bookrags . ( c ) 2018 bookrags , inc . all rights reserved .
the weinstein company has set tulip fever in motion , and pre - production starts in april .
the journey of tulip fever to the screen has been a long and hard road for owen .
i refuse to believe tulip fever is a real movie and not some kind of elaborate prank .
then again , it could be that all the online buzz may actually benefit “tulip fever . ”
dame judi dench is to star in the film version of the novel tulip fever by deborah moggach .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing tulip fever near you .
scaffolding inside norwich cathedral for the filming of tulip fever , which will start today . picture : denise bradley
tulip fever , shot in 2014 , has been finished for a year but only now has a release date .
filming for tulip fever also took place in at locations in suffolk , essex , kent and at pinewood studios .
jennifer lawrence in serena , jake gyllenhaal in accidental love and alicia vikander in tulip fever . photograph : allstar picture library
suddenly “tulip fever” has become the year’s biggest disaster — at least in the minds of some of those following it .
autumn comes in june to the norwich cathedral cloister for the final day of filming tulip fever . photo : bill smith
a new trailer has been released for the movie tulip fever which was partly shot at norwich cathedral and holkham beach .
“ryan murphy will soon announce an fx limited series about the production and release of tulip fever , ” sniped @ jbaker475 .
the garden under construction in norwich cathedral cloisters for filming of tulip fever , which will start today . picture : denise bradley
“tulip fever” was shot in the uk during the summer of 2014 . early footage was shown at cannes the following year .
tulip fever , which is due to be released next year , has been on the back burner for more than 10 years .
to paraphrase bill murray ' s famous line from tootsie , the long - delayed tulip fever is one nutty 17th century melodrama .
“i refuse to believe tulip fever is a real movie and not some kind of elaborate prank , ” wrote @ cinesnark on twitter .
for all the drama surrounding tulip fever , you’d think it was an absolute train wreck . you’d think there would be gigli - levels of dialogue , like jennifer lopez referring to cunnilingus as “it’s turkey time , gobble gobble . ” but the most shocking thing about tulip fever is that it’s… fine . in fact , if you love messy costume dramas with insane soap opera twists then you are definitely going to love tulip fever .
tulip fever rated r ( under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian ) . propagation , copulation . running time : 1 hour 45 minutes .
“soon to be a major motion picture , ” says the cover of the novel “tulip fever . ” someone may need to define “soon . ”
the film is set in netherlands in the early 17th century , during the period known as tulip mania , when single bulbs would sell for enormous sums . in tulip fever , the two young lovers decide to invest in the risky tulip market in order to build a future together .
jack o’connell , who will join alicia vikander , christoph waltz , dane dehaan and holliday grainger in director justin chadwick’s film of deborah moggach’s novel tulip fever .
it’s not that tulip fever is incompetently made or unpleasant to look at or offensive in any way . it’s just that it is very , very boring .
film fans are continuing to be kept in suspense as to when norwich cathedral’s starring role will be revealed on the big screen in the movie tulip fever .
still pre - ex machina when filming for tulip fever ended , vikander had yet to solidify herself as a hollywood commodity . several months after she left the fever set , production began on tom hooper’s the danish girl , which would wrap , release , and win vikander her first academy award in the best supporting actress category well over a year before tulip fever would see the light of day .
yes , if his hectic touring schedule allows as he reportedly turned down a role in producer harvey weinstein’s movie tulip fever because he simply didn’t have the time .
like many complex novels crammed into 100 - page screenplays , tulip fever is a mess of too many subplots , all awkwardly condensed and fighting for screen time .
how ‘won’t you be my neighbor ? ’ has given birth to mr . rogers fever
tulip fever is directed by justin chadwick , and stars dame judi dench , christoph waltz , alicia vikander , dane dehaan , zach galifianakis and jack o ' connell .
tulip fever , about an artist who falls for a married woman after being commissioned to paint her portrait , is due to be in cinemas in the autumn of this year .
this study guide consists of approximately 72 pages of chapter summaries , quotes , character analysis , themes , and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of tulip fever .
the following version of the novel was used to create this study guide : moggach , deborah , tulip fever , the dial press , december 18 , 2007 . kindle edition .
according to a 2015 survey , most teens felt “tired , ” “stressed , ” and “bored” — not waiting for tulip fever to be released , but during regular school hours .
tulip fever , the new weinstein company movie about the dutch tulip craze , has a slightly troubled production history . it was originally scheduled to come out in 2016 , but the release was delayed to february 2017 , then to august , and finally to september .
now tulip fever , the long - awaited film , has finally been unveiled at the cannes film festival , giving fans their first official glimpse of its all - star cast in action .
before she blossoms in tulip fever , alicia will star with henry cavill ( napoleon solo ) and armie hammer ( illya kuryakin ) in guy ritchie’s film version of the man from uncle .
weinstein claimed that tulip fever is “a smart film for adults . ” it’s not . it’s a very , very , very dumb film . but i enjoyed the hell out of it .
perhaps the only thing on this list more grueling than anticipating tulip fever for three years , america headed to the polls to elect a new president in november 2016 after an exhausting election cycle that saw the nation split into two clear - cut camps . if early reviews for tulip fever are any indication , the gap could be bridged by near universal disdain for the film .
forget fever - - this floral - scented fiasco is so lifeless you can barely feel a pulse .
tulip fever is a pretty picture , and it effectively transports you back in time , but once you are there you ' ll be headed to the exit before you can even smell the tulips .
has there ever been a film as enjoyably cursed as tulip fever ? a period romance about a painter and his married muse who try to play the tulip market , tulip fever at least had an auspicious debut : dreamworks optioned the 2000 novel by deborah moggach at the proof stage , long before it would become a best seller , and some of the biggest names in hollywood flirted with adapting it . four years later , tulip fever nearly got off the ground with jude law and keira knightley starring and shakespeare in love director john madden at the helm , but shortly after planting 12 , 000 tulip bulbs at the start of production , the british government closed a critical tax loophole that blew up the budget , closed down the film , and left all those poor little tulips to wither .
to paraphrase bill murray ’s famous line from “ tootsie , ” the long - delayed “tulip fever” is one nutty 17th century melodrama . it offers curious viewers a very horny , “ titanic ” - esque forbidden romance , a subplot involving someone pretending to be pregnant for nine months , and then juxtaposes that with in - depth sequences about the tulip trade in 1600s amsterdam . there are numerous , ridiculous twists that “tulip fever” delivers with a completely straight face , and it ' s all dressed up with a moody not your usual period film look . but “tulip fever” reveals itself to be so nutty because it explicitly believes it’s not crazy , rambling through its odd events and obsessions without an ounce of 17th century kitsch .
berlin - - two - time oscar winner christoph waltz is preparing for a trip to the u . k . to star in tulip fever , the long - gestating passion project from british producer alison owen .
scenes for the film tulip fever were shot at norwich cathedral and holkham beach in june 2014 and the locations can clearly be seen in the first trailer of the film which has an all - star cast .
at the same time as filming took place in norfolk for tulip fever , scenes for the avengers : age of ultron were shot at the sainsbury centre for visual arts at the university of east anglia campus .
still , all those last - minute delays for tulip fever started to make it into an ongoing industry joke : in addition to death and taxes , you could count on tulip fever to never actually come out . sure enough , mere days before the february 24 , 2017 release date , the weinsteins made like lucy with charlie brown’s football and yanked tulip fever off the calendar yet again . at this point , the poor little unloved film had become infamous . “i saw a screening of tulip fever two years ago , ” wrote journalist karen han , “and i still have a hard time believing it . ” after word broke that the weinsteins were test - screening one more retooled version of the film in may , awards watch’s erik anderson tweeted , “first test screening was november … 2014 . i think it’s fair to call time of death . ”
sure , valerian was a domestic flop , but luc besson’s sci - fi epic reunited tulip fever costars dehaan and delevingne for an intensive , effects - heavy shoot on a budget of approximately $ 175 million , making it the most expensive french film ever made . and still , the project was cast , filmed throughout 2016 , post - produced , and released ( on july 21 of this year ) before tulip fever hit screens .
however , dehaan is just too darn hot , and may have to turn down tulip fever because it clashes with a film called life , in which he will portray james dean in the last months of his life .
perhaps attempting to prophesy tulip fever ‘s likely box office performance ( she is a divine entity with mystic foresight ) , madonna took a nasty fall on the set of the brit awards on feb . 25 , 2015 .
twitter and facebook have given everyone the power to be armchair critics , and they’ve been using it to playfully smack around “tulip fever . ” but to be fair , there are many reasons a movie’s release date gets moved .
the pair hit on the idea of investing in tulip trading to give them the funds to run away .
set in 17th century amsterdam , tulip fever follows a married woman ( alicia vikander ) who begins a passionate affair with an artist ( dane dehaan ) hired to paint her portrait . the lovers gamble on the booming market for tulip bulbs as a way to raise money to run away together . the official version from urltoken on april 29 , 2016
the reasons for tulip fever ’s delay are myriad , and for the most part unknowable ; as one source familiar with the situation pointed out , ask five different people about why a film has been delayed and you’ll get five different answers . the one person who likely knows for sure is harvey weinstein , who first teamed up with steven spielberg’s dreamworks to make the film back in 2002 , and has been driving the tulip fever train since—down to the multiple release date switches .
the second delayed release date for “tulip fever” shouldn’t come as a huge surprise , given the lack of promotion surrounding the film’s opening . twc’s official twitter account for the movie tweeted just three times , all of which took place last april .
alicia , who won recognition for her performances in the films a royal affair and joe wright’s under - appreciated anna karenina , is in the final stages of negotiations to play the lead in the much delayed screen version of deborah moggach’s novel tulip fever .
tulip fever is based on the novel by deborah moggach , who also penned the best exotic marigold hotel , and it tells the story of a young married woman , sophia , who has a passionate affair with an artist commissioned by her husband to paint her portrait .
many of the movies released in this grim hollywood summer have had tough roads on their way to opening , but no saga has been quite as convoluted as the one surrounding tulip fever , which opens in theaters at last on friday—nearly two decades after the film rights to the british novel upon which it is based became a hot commodity . eventually filmed in 2014 , test - screened later that year , and then shuffled around the release schedule at least three times , tulip fever began to get attention not for its starry cast , or prestigious literary source material , but distinct vibe of being unwanted . as kyle buchanan wrote in new york magazine earlier this month , when the film’s release had been once again pushed back by a week , “has there ever been a film as enjoyably cursed as tulip fever ? ”
but chadwick’s strong grasp on visual tone doesn’t benefit the narrative . “tulip fever” eventually hurls itself into a semi - amusing void of feeling like it came from another planet , one where everyone is too crazy of a romantic for their own good , and tulips are god . is this story a sexy , star - crossed romance ? a cruel tragedy about really dumb people ? a very , very dry comedy ? it is all plausible with “tulip fever . ” but however you want to engage it , the film wilts right before your eyes .
the star turns — including one from zach galifianakis as the sort of drunk you do not want to entrust with your nest egg — stave off boredom , but the most disappointing thing about the end to the speculative bubble surrounding “tulip fever” is that there isn’t much there .
in amsterdam during the 1630s , fortunes were made and lost speculating on tulips . while comparisons are often made between the “tulip crash” of 1637 and the stock market’s plunge in 1929 , reading a fictional account of the craze was quite informative . but while i loved the unique setting and enjoyed all the factoids i learned , in the end i was disappointted to find that tulip fever was just another adultery story .
you are now back on a project called tulip fever . in 2004 , you wrote a passionate editorial piece in the telegraph called ‘the tax man killed my movie’ about the fraught history when this was in development with dreamworks . could you bear to tell us a little about that ?
in june 2014 tulip fever began filming on location at norwich cathedral and i was lucky enough to be right there in the thick of it , marshalling the public , going out on food runs and communicating with the crew over radio like i was on some kind of covert mission .
but tulip fever seems special even by that yardstick . it’s a film that , more likely than not , was never anything more than ordinary—an oscar player that missed the mark , hardly an unusual phenomenon in any given year . but all this fuss over its mysterious release has turned it into a genuine curio , the kind of potential camp - fest that will be remembered for years simply because of the circumstances of its production . we’ll finally know how good , or bad , tulip fever is on friday . but the real thrill for this one has been in the wait .
so when i tell you that just this week , the weinstein company pushed tulip fever from a limited release on august 25 to a wide release on september 1 , i don’t know whether that means you should reserve your ticket , laugh in my face , or both . i know i was amused to find out that after years of showing the film to journalists and then suddenly pulling it back , the weinsteins have now set a review embargo that will elapse the afternoon of september 1 , well after the movie is alleged to start playing for general audiences . but who knows if it actually will ? a perverse part of me hopes the cycle will still continue , with contrite ushers entering the theater just as those initial tulip fever matinees begin . why let tulip fever come out and be forgettable when it could slip away yet again and be the stuff of legend ?
the unique setting of tulip fever is very interesting . amsterdam and its citizens are brought to life in vivid detail . but while there is plenty of history , it never overwhelms the story . in fact , i would have liked hearing even more about tulip speculation . i can understand why people would speculate about the future of gold or food products , but it’s a little hard to understand exactly why tulips were so expensive .
it’s unclear if “tulip fever” is worth watching . a theater aficionado who saw a rare early screening reports a few giggle - worthy moments , including waltz’s character asking his bride for a hand because “my little soldier is drowsy tonight” and the incongruous sight of hipster comedian zach galifianakis in period dress .
an artist falls for a young married woman while he ' s commissioned to paint her portrait during the tulip mania of 17th century amsterdam .
dane dehaan , who is in talks about starring with alicia vikander in the film version of another deborah moggach novel , tulip fever , to be directed by justin chadwick ( who helped idris elba deliver the best performance of his career as nelson mandela in mandela : the long walk to freedom ) .
so i went to cape town to do this movie called the giver which is not something i developed but something that needed some sorting out which was tempting to me . so i did that and then by that time we were coming up to unofficial pre - production on suffragette so we locked ourselves to that and then we lost all the money on suffragette because focus got closed at universal so we had to re - finance it with pathé meanwhile we’d got justin on to direct tulip fever so we knew we were heading towards tulip fever which will start shooting may 15th and i’ve usually got something i’m developing .
not for the reasons harvey weinstein wants you to love it , however . in a weird - as - hell op - ed for deadline published before the film’s release , weinstein basically pleads with people to watch tulip fever and to give it the benefit doubt after the near seventeen years it’s taken to reach theaters .
a number of years ago i fell in love with a book called tulip fever . the rights were controlled by a brilliant producer , alison owen . written by deborah moggach , i felt the book had all the makings of a crime fiction shakespeare in love — funny , witty , and ironic , but with a great james m . cain plot twist . it was a true noir that just happened to take place in 1634 amsterdam with a great hook . it tells the true story of how people bet on the futures of tulip bulbs . i know that sounds crazy , but a thousand years from now we’ll all be asking why people today bet on the futures of cattle and sugar . the whole commodities market is pretty nutty when you think about it . and in 1634 amsterdam people bet on tulip bulbs , and not just the tulip flower , but the bulb and the kind of tulip it would birth .
suspenseful and full of intrigue , tulip fever is a gripping period drama based on a bestselling novel . the story follows a young wife who ' s unable to conceive and after falling for a painter plots to fake a pregnancy and childbearing death in order to run - off with her new lover . featuring alicia vikander , dane dehaan , and christoph waltz , the cast is rather impressive and gives strong performances . however , the writing is weak and does a poor job at developing the romance and the tulip subplot . still , the sets and costumes are incredibly well - done , as is the score ; which adds a lot of tension and drama to the film . tulip fever has some storytelling problems , but overall it delivers a fairly compelling tale of love , betrayal , and sacrifice .
and then ? more aborted attempts to bloom , and a hell of a lot more salt . in may 2015 , a month after ex machina made vikander white - hot , weinstein trotted her out at a cannes press gathering to promote tulip fever , which he promised would be coming soon . it didn’t . rumored for a november release , it quietly slipped off the weinsteins’ calendar , even as the danish girl came out that season and made vikander an oscar winner . the only weinstein - vikander collaboration released that year was burnt , an underperforming bradley cooper vehicle that weinstein had prodded a vikander cameo in after they worked together on tulip fever .
fresh from shooting up rural 1930s texas in a & e ' s two - part tv movie bonnie and clyde : dead and alive , holliday grainger may next be heading for 17th century amsterdam . the manchester actress is in negotiations to play the protagonist sophia sandvoort in justin chadwick ' s adaptation of the bestselling tulip fever .
but for alison owen , the producer who first shopped around the rights to deborah moggach’s novel and has stuck by the project for 17 years , tulip fever is still her baby . . . albeit one old enough to go off to college . and the drumbeat of critical disdain surrounding tulip fever —largely from people who haven’t seen it , but are baffled by its release - date woes—drove her to write an op - ed for the huffington post in her film’s defense . it’s the first time the producer , whose credits include shaun of the dead and saving mr . banks , has felt the need to stand up for her own film so publicly .
adapted from deborah moggach’s bestselling novel of the same name and directed by justin chadwick , “tulip fever” stars vikander as a young woman who falls in love with an artist ( dehaan ) who has been commissioned to paint her portrait . zach galifianakis , judi dench , jack o’connell , holliday grainger , cara delevingne , and tom hollander all co - star in the film , which takes place in the 17th - century and is set against the tulip market boom that took hold of amsterdam .
tulip fever is based on the novel of the same name by deborah moggach , and adapted by tom stoppard . pic centers around a married woman ( vikander ) in amsterdam who begins a passionate affair with an artist ( dane dehaan ) who is hired to paint her portrait . the lovers plot to run away together , and do so by banking on the tulip bulb market . holliday grainger , jack o’connell , zach galifianakis , matthew morrison , tom hollander and cara delevingne co - star .
a passion project for british producer alison owen , tulip fever is based on deborah moggach ' s novel about an artist ( dehaan ) who falls in love with a married woman ( vikander ) after he ' s commissioned by the husband ( waltz ) to paint her portrait . justin chadwick directed from an adapted script by tom stoppard .
traditionally , multiple delays are the sign of a weak film , but up until i saw tulip fever , i held out hope that it might secretly be good . the screenplay is by living legend tom stoppard ! the cast includes christoph waltz and judi dench ! it’s about flowers and dutch master painters ! how bad could it possibly be ?
he also implies that the film is a “noir , ” writing : “a number of years ago i fell in love with a book called tulip fever . the rights were controlled by a brilliant producer , alison owen . written by deborah moggach , i felt the book had all the makings of a crime fiction shakespeare in love —funny , witty , and ironic , but with a great james m . cain plot twist . it was a true noir that just happened to take place in 1634 amsterdam with a great hook . it tells the true story of how people bet on the futures of tulip bulbs . i know that sounds crazy , but a thousand years from now we’ll all be asking why people today bet on the futures of cattle and sugar . the whole commodities market is pretty nutty when you think about it . and in 1634 amsterdam people bet on tulip bulbs , and not just the tulip flower , but the bulb and the kind of tulip it would birth . ”
sometimes , a film changes weekends because the studio fears the slot is too competitive . other times , a movie could be undergoing reshoots or continuing to be tweaked in an effort to improve it . that’s what happened with “tulip fever , ” one insider says . the filmmakers were adjusting the music , for example , as late as this month .
david harewood has booked a role in the weinstein company drama tulip fever for director justin chadwick . he will play prater , amsterdam’s foremost tulip grower / dealer , in the film about a 17th century dutch woman who begins an affair with an artist hired to paint her portrait . harewood’s credits include tv’s homeland and robin hood , and upcoming roles include abc’s selfie , hbo’s the money and features free in deed and grimbsy . he is repped by apa , conway van gelder grant and authentic talent & literary management .
looks the blossoming part with its elegant , painterly staging , but never finds an appropriate tone for the tale ' s sex , envy and tulip - bartering theatrics .
a highbrow bodice - ripper set against the financial frenzy of the western world’s first speculative bubble , deborah moggach’s 1999 novel tulip fever has “cinematic” written all over it . yet after a long , circuitous route to the screen , it arrives not as a lusty tale in full bloom , but as a tastefully arranged still life in search of an animating spark .
two years after tulip fever was first scheduled for release , audiences will finally be able to see it in theaters . but the film , out friday , isn’t being screened for critics , and the release strategy is reminiscent of someone being snuck out the back door in hopes of attracting as little attention as possible . it’s a fittingly strange ending to one of the most mysteriously drawn - out productions in recent film memory—but so many questions remain . what happened to tulip fever along the way , to transmogrify it from high - end awards contender to a studio’s secret shame ? and will the fuss around its delayed release actually help in drawing eyeballs to a movie that might otherwise have been dismissed as a staid costume drama ?
lewis donated the one existing print to the library of congress in 2015 , stipulating that it not be exhibited before june 2024 . should the institution duly unveil it then , ending decades of feverish speculation as to just how bad it can possibly be , a margaret - style redemption seems unlikely to ensue – though tulip fever’s problems will at least be put in proportion .
it will now see christoph waltz , alicia vikander and dane dehaan in the lead roles , with dame judi playing an
ungodly and rather saucy
tulip - selling abbess .
set against the backdrop of the 17th - century tulip wars , a married noblewoman ( alicia vikander ) has an affair with an artist ( dane dehaan ) and switches identities with her maid to escape the wealthy merchant she married . she and her lover try to raise money together by investing what little they have in the high - stakes tulip market .
days before the movie was pegged to hit theaters , as many in the film community speculated whether tulip fever would meet its seemingly locked - and - loaded sept . 1 release date , harvey weinstein , who’d been attached to the project in one way or another for several years , wrote an optimistic piece for deadline hollywood , prompting viewers to go in with an open mind .
the weinstein company has delayed the release date of “ tulip fever ” — again . the period drama starring alicia vikander and christoph waltz had previously moved from july 15 , 2016 to february 24 , 2017 . the company confirmed monday that the movie will now be released later in the year , but declined to comment further or specify when in the year the film might hit theaters .
adapted from deborah moggach’s novel of the same name , “tulip fever” stars vikander as a young woman who falls in love with an artist ( dane dehaan ) who has been commissioned to paint her portrait . zach galifianakis , judi dench , jack o’connell , holliday grainger , cara delevingne and tom hollander all co - star in the film , which takes place in the 17th - century .
tulip fever , the weinstein company film that had last been set for july 15 in limited release , has now been pushed to february 24 , 2017 . the film stars oscar winner alicia vikander , christoph waltz and judi dench . set in 17th century amsterdam , it is based on novel of the same name by deborah moggach , written by tom stoppard and directed by justin chadwick .
another excitement for moggach is the likelihood that the film of tulip fever , which she wrote in 1999 , will finally be released . it’s the story of a love affair in 17th - century amsterdam between sophie , the wife of an ageing flower merchant , and the young artist employed to paint her – all set against the weird mania for tulips that gripped holland in the 1730s .
timing is everything . that’s the takeaway , both on - screen and off , from “tulip fever , ” a well - bred , if tawdry period drama set in amsterdam at the height of tulipmania , in 1637 , when prized bulbs might fetch more than the value of a house . it was an economic bubble , of course ( although the term would not be coined [ … ]
the sins of lust , greed , and vanity combine with a destructive force in the novel tulip fever by deborah moggach . three lives are changed forever when sophia begins an affair with an attractive , young painter despite her better judgement . themes in the novel include deception and disguise , the emptiness of beauty and vanity , master - servant relationships , and the role of art in the world .
the weinstein company has again changed the release date — and this time , the theater strategy — for its period drama “ tulip fever . ” after locking a limited release date of friday , august 25 earlier this summer , the film will now open wide one week later , on friday , september 1 . the company announced on wednesday that the film will now hit theaters the first week of september .
for tulip fever , the tulip market becomes a metaphor for the uncertainty of love and sex , for the rush of investing all of your emotional energies in one person , and then the overwhelming crash when the relationship ends and all of the futures you imagined together are destroyed . ( “we just need to put all our eggs in one basket ! ” cries jan feverishly , referring either to investment strategy or babies , who knows . ) and while sex and money are both dramatically heady themes , it’s hard to remain all that interested in either when they’re presented as bloodlessly as they are here .
super - producer harvey weinstein’s long - delayed period piece about a tulip war , an affair , and a fake pregnancy has finally hit theaters . and it is… something . [ warning : spoilers ]
let’s take it back to the summer of 2014 : it was a simpler time , when democrats controlled the senate and lemonade was still just a refreshing beverage . it was also a season that would birth one of the most epic clusterf—s in movie marketing history , when director justin chadwick and then - burgeoning stars alicia vikander , cara delevingne , and dane dehaan set out to make a little period drama called tulip fever .
the decision to push “tulip fever” comes after a tough year for virtually all independent distributors in the theatrical marketplace , including twc . the company saw its 2016 films generate around $ 15 million in combined u . s . box office grosses . its total from 2016 , including grosses from prior years , was $ 64 million . from 2010 to 2015 , the company topped $ 200 million every year at the domestic box office .
as the contemplative and frozen sophia , vikander channels the presence she had in “ ex machina ” where she played an android understanding her actions and wanting to break free . it’s a sincere performance as someone trying to find happiness , and makes you realize how perfect she’d be in the domestic imprisonment of a douglas sirk - style drama ( which “tulip fever” tries to be the 17th century version of , in a way ) .
with the film now playing in theaters nationwide , let’s reflect on those bygone days , when beyoncé ( the album ) was a mere nine months old , amy pascal’s emails were still private , and hillary clinton’s presidential campaign was but a hurricane of brainstorming texts sent to huma abedin’s iphone 5s . here’s a list of notable cultural happenings that have shocked , awed , and everything - in - betweened since tulip fever began filming .
owen says the delays boiled down to coordinating talent schedules for publicity commitments , and weinstein’s desire to give tulip fever the right release date . “harvey shared this passion with me for a long time , ” owen said . “he wanted to give it the right release . he’s a man of his word . if he wants to do something then he’s less inclined to care about what interpretation people are going to put on that action . ”
plenty of movies fit that description — and considering the hoopla , the most disappointing thing about “tulip fever , ” directed by justin chadwick ( “the other boleyn girl” ) and set in 17th - century amsterdam , is that it’s neither a secret masterpiece nor a laughable disaster . true , there is the scene in which jan ( dane dehaan ) , the hunky portraitist having an affair with sophia ( alicia vikander ) , the unhappily married wife of a merchant , explains to her that the key to their escape is to bet big in the dutch tulip market . “all we have to do is put all our eggs in one basket , ” he says .
the movie , which is actually set in 17th century amsterdam during the height of tulip mania , is based on the novel of the same name by deborah moggach , who also penned the best exotic marigold hotel .
for all involved , the tulip market appears to be the answer . the 17th - century dutch tulip craze created one of the first futures markets , a bubble in which the price of tulips seemed guaranteed to rise and rise and rise immeasurably . if you get in on a bulb early enough , the lovers reason , your investment is certain to double itself within a month — until , all of a sudden , it doesn’t .
in 2016 , the weinstein company announced a summer release date , july 15 , which at least indicated that tulip fever was no longer the awards - season hope it had once been conceived as . even that plan couldn’t stick , though : the week before release , tulip fever was ignominiously shoved off to february 24 , 2017 . rumors had been flying over the quality of the film and the health of the weinstein company in general — after a tough 2015 winter quarter where the company was hit with layoffs and had a string of underperforming titles , the studio had started offloading shelved movies like the michelle williams drama suite francaise to lifetime , rather than put them through a costly theatrical release . and the weinsteins were no strangers to sitting on a movie well past its expiration date : the studio infamously shelved the john cusack film shanghai for five years , releasing it in 2015 , well after cusack’s star power had waned .
grainger isn’t the main character , but she takes over the movie , as we wait for her shanghaied baby daddy to reappear and clear up the lunacy that overtakes “tulip fever” in its second half . what began as a respectable , if somewhat flat 17th - century love story , complete with gorgeous costumes and lush score , seems to lose its wits as it goes along — which may have been the mindset of the era , but feels like a miscalculated opportunity here .
the star - studded movie , which is actually set in 17th century amsterdam during the height of tulip mania , is based on the novel of the same name by deborah moggach , who penned the best exotic marigold hotel .
updated with new release date : tulip fever , the 17th century period romance starring oscar winners alicia vikander , christoph waltz , and judi dench will now open september 1 nationwide . it marks the fourth release - date chance for the pic directed by justin chadwick : initially , the movie was scheduled for july 15 , 2016 , before distributor the weinstein company announced a week before that date it would move to february 24 . soon before that date the pic was shifted to august 25 .
tulip fever initially stoked awards buzz after its cannes sneak peek , thanks to its elaborate costumes and high - profile talent . but critical reviews are heading south ( the film stands at a 37 on metacritic ) , and the film academy has shifted so far away from tradition in recent years thanks to a series of diversity initiatives that it’s difficult to imagine a traditional period picture being received with such enthusiasm , even if its trajectory hadn’t ultimately been defined by its distribution - based woes .
there’s no way around reviewing “tulip fever” without noting that the movie has been buried deeper than a tulip bulb . the vulture writer kyle buchanan has already provided a rundown of the substantial delays in the film’s release , which — for a project once regarded as an oscar contender — might be taken as a sign of an odor other than floral . this week , harvey weinstein , the co - chairman of the weinstein company , the film’s distributor , took the extraordinary step of defending the movie in advance with a column for deadline hollywood , though it is laced with passive - aggressive barbs like “i know this film’s not perfect , very few are , but it’s a perfectly good time in a movie theater . ”
call it the tulip fever cycle : every time this movie is ready to bloom , someone comes along to sow the crop with salt . it took nearly a decade more for a director and cast to finally stick , but in 2013 , producer harvey weinstein and director justin chadwick ( the other boleyn girl ) set dane dehaan and alicia vikander to play the movie’s leads . in the middle of 2014 , they filmed it , and by the end of that year , they had a cut ready .
it’s the story of a 17th - century love affair in amsterdam , set against the backdrop of tulipmania , when the bottom fell out of the lucrative tulip market ( during which a single bulb could be worth flower tubs of money ) .
in order to cover the expenses they have incurred in hiring a doctor willing to lie and cover up their deception , as well as money they will need to set up a new lives for them selves , jan and sophia get involved in the tulip trade . at the time in amsterdam , tulip bulbs were trading for astronomical amounts of money . jan begins dabbling in the market . at the beginning of his small tulip business , he is successful . feeling as if they are indestructible , jan and sophia decide to cash in all of their assets and borrow money to purchase a semper augustus bulb , the most valuable of the tulip bulbs . circumstances cause jan to send his simpleminded servant , gerrit , to pick up the bulb . gerrit botches the job and returns to jan empty handed . not only do jan and sophia not have they money they need to pay off their creditors , they do not have the money they need to leave the country .
ultimately , tulip fever is populated with cardboard cutouts of characters who fall in and out of love without exchanging a word because how else will the plot move , and who casually destroy each other’s lives because the movie has to end sometime . it’s not interested in emotions or personalities , but in how relationships work when they’re viewed as cold - blooded economic exercises . it’s almost a sort of aesthetic experiment : what happens when you tell a love story as a story about the rise and fall of speculative markets ?
the words “tulip fever” are likely to become industry shorthand for the once - promising , high profile project that somehow hits a wall between completion and release , though it’s far from the first example . remember serena ? you’re forgiven if you don’t . the misbegotten depression - era melodrama starred bradley cooper and jennifer lawrence , and was shot by the oscar - winning danish film - maker susanne bier months before silver linings playbook made a mint from that particular star combo in 2012 , winning lawrence an oscar in the process .
in 2013 , when she dropped her self - titled album without any prior warning , beyoncé helped usher in a new era of promotional tactics in the music industry , her name becoming a verb synonymous with surprise releases . she was likely hard at work on the album’s follow - up , lemonade , while vikander and company filmed , ultimately unveiling the lp , a companion film , and a new era in her career , on april 23 , 2016 — long before weinstein locked in a confirmed release date for tulip fever .
this also doesn’t include other characters , who have their own appearances that make “tulip fever” even stranger . tom hollander plays a creepy but genuinely helpful obgyn named dr . sorgh ; zach galifianakis is jan’s sidekick , expressly used for glaring comedic beats about his character being clueless or drunk ; even judi dench appears in this movie as a nun who manages the orphanage that provided sophia and now grows flowers . keeping in check with this film ' s strange way of using people , dench is hardly on screen despite giving an emblematically stoic performance .
timing is everything . that’s the takeaway , both on - screen and off , from “ tulip fever , ” a well - bred , if tawdry period drama set in amsterdam at the height of tulipmania , in 1637 , when prized bulbs might fetch more than the value of a house . it was an economic bubble , of course ( although the term would not be coined for nearly another century , with the so - called british south seas bubble ) , and fortunes were made and lost according to when investors entered the market .
an affair between a man and a woman in 17th century holland , during a period where tulip bulbs became hot trading items , with a single bulb selling for as much as ten times the average annual salary . but his participation will depend on scheduling with
here was a time , way back in the simpler , more innocent mists of the early 2000s , when tulip fever was a very hot hollywood property . deborah moggach’s bestselling novel , a historical romance set in 17th - century amsterdam , put dollar signs and golden statuettes in the eyes of producers seeking a period hit in the vein of shakespeare in love . tom stoppard , that film’s oscar - winning screenwriter , did the adaptation ; jude law and keira knightley were cast , only for the uk government to seal off the tax loophole enabling its funding .
it’s easy for some writers to focus on a delay and be snarky , and that’s fine because snarky can be entertaining . but as a result , we decided to do something different — we decided to test the film with novelists who didn’t know about the post - production story of tulip fever , and we were more than vindicated with their positive reactions . philippa gregory ( the other boleyn girl ) said it was “beautifully filmed with a stellar cast that takes you to the atmospheric streets of amsterdam at the height of the madness of ‘tulip fever’ when a single bulb could cost a fortune and a flower was worth more than a woman’s happiness . ” sally bedell smith ( diana in search of herself : portrait of a troubled princess ) said it was “thoroughly suspenseful , stunningly filmed and beautifully acted . ” daniel james brown ( the boys in the boat ) said he “was fully engaged right from the get - go , and [ his ] interest never flagged . ” anthony doerr , dan jones , jodi picoult , emma donoghue and ml stedman all had just as wonderful things to say about the film .


martyrs is a 2008 french-canadian drama horror film written and directed by pascal laugier .

it was first screened during the 2008 cannes film festival at the marché du film , and the film 's french release was on 3 september 2008 .

the american rights for the film were purchased by the weinstein company and the company was responsible for the release of the dvd in april 2009 .

the film was controversial upon its release , receiving polarizing reviews from critics and has been associated with the new french extremity movement .

martyrs ( 2008 film )

poiler warning : this article reveals some plot details of the 2008 film martyrs . we’d recommend watching it before reading .
left , bailey noble in the american remake of the french horror film “martyrs . ” right , mylène jampanoï in the original “martyrs , ” from 2008 .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing martyrs ( 2008 ) near you .
the film’s french release is slated for 2008 through the distribution arm of wild bunch , who are also handling international sales .
published at : dec . 28 , 2008 , 11 : 04 p . m . cst by headgeek
pascal laugier ‘s 2008 french film , martyrs , is one hardcore horror movie . like plenty of other successful foreign horror films , it’s gotten the u . s . remake treatment . an american version of martyrs has been in the works for over five years now , and today we’re getting our first real glimpse at the film . watch the martyrs trailer after the jump .
unless you ' re a fan of the actresses involved , i really can ' t imagine that viewers will take much away from watching the martyrs remake . if you want to be told this story , just stick with the 2008 french film .
martyrs 2016 is an entertaining , fun and at times brutal horror film that will probably delight the casual horror fan .
the controversial film was similar to the graphic , torture - porn film franchises in the us begun with saw ( 2004 ) and hostel ( 2005 ) , although more compelling with greater intellectual significance . when the divisive film debuted at the cannes film festival in 2008 , it caused many audience members to walk out . the final 15 minutes of the unpleasant film was considered unflinchingly horrendous in its portrayal of cruelty .
i know this comment is a year later than the rest but i’ve only recently watched this film . . no film has had the effect on me like martyrs did , i have watched a siberian film and films like 120 days of sodum and found then nothing compared to martyrs . . the way the film was shot , actually i’m not even goin to try and sound intelligent , the film stick with me… great review 🙂
remaking martyrs with a
glimmer of hope ,
however , is a gargantuan mistake , and ruins the main point of the film .
photo : pascal laugier ' s ' martyrs .
credit : canal + .
i wonder if stamm has seen martyrs . . . green obviously missed suspiria .
and it is through this invitation that we , too , may be martyrs .
for the first 50 minutes , martyrs 2015 is following the exact same track as martyrs 2008 . when it finally starts to diverge and take its own path , it ' s to the film ' s detriment . as it goes on , it becomes more and more apparent that the story has undergone a very stereotypical americanization process , a whitewashing to make it more palatable to a wider audience .
ethics is an area i am very interested in within film studies . you have encouraged me to re - watch this film with the above questions in thought . martyrs has always intrigued me . wonderful article .
the ' martyrs ' remake already has already been filmed . . . - bloody disgusting
horror , movie trailers , kevin goetz , mark l . smith , martyrs , michael goetz
perhaps more than any other horror film , martyrs demonstrates the range of the genre ' s capabilities to find ways to excite , provoke , and disturb us .
martyrs trailer & film clip - 2016 horror remake subscribe for more : urltoken a woman and her childhood friend seek out revenge on those who victimized and abused them .
i ' ve never been into this sort of torture porn and martyrs doesn ' t convince me .
martyrs is an absolute recommend , but only to those who are willing to accept the film on its own uncompromising terms . all others are advised to stay well clear away .
i’m very interesting in the discussion above regarding ‘witnessing’ – how does martyrs encourage us to question our participatory role in the film experience ? are we trespassing on the witnessing of martyrdom ? is this a scene that belongs to our eyes ? it seems to raise questions about how easily we comply with the ‘film eye’ or ‘film body’ .
williams , “film bodies : gender , genre , excess” in film quarterly , 44 : 4 , summer 1991 , 2 - 13 ) , 4 . ↩
sooo close ! ! - dang guess i ' m really gonna have to check out martyrs . . .
there is some talent behind this remake . it’s written by the revenant co - writer mark l . smith and directed by the goetz brothers ( scenic route ) . that should make the martyrs remake look slightly more appealing , but anchor bay seems to be dumping the film and the trailer leaves you wanting to revisit the original 2008 film instead . in a q & a on reddit , the goetz brothers acknowledged they wouldn’t managed to equal the violence of the original but still planned on pushing boundaries :
writer - director pascal laugier ' s 2008 french horror film
martyrs
has a well - earned reputation as one of the scariest , goriest movies ever made — so extreme that it pushes past exploitation into art . the new american remake from screenwriter mark l . smith (
the revenant
) and directors kevin and michael goetz sells a softer version of laugier ' s vision . the result is pointlessly repellent .
final preparations are underway before shooting begins in canada in march on martyrs , the second feature by pascal laugier .
great analysis . though the title could have had “martyrs” in quotes so it was clearer what it was about .
nobody has mentioned that the title of the film is “martyrs , ” as in plural . all of the other people that had been tortured would have been classed as victims . both the anna and the old lady are martyrs , albeit of a different type . i think that informs the “keep on doubting” response .
( 1962 ) , a film about survivor’s guilt and the revenge of repressed guilt .
movie news , screening invitations and reviews from the world of independent film and beyond .
“ martyrs ” is only eighty minutes long , sans credits , yet still it manages to cram four bad horror films into its meager runtime . a remake of 2008’s french torture porn / cult horror flick with the same title , the original “martyrs” was by no means a masterpiece , but managed to be extremely effective during its third act , thanks mainly to writer / director pascal laugier ’s staunch dedication to medieval - level gruesomeness mixed with an intensely grim existential hopelessness .
ms . ponder said she hoped any attention given the new “martyrs” would work in favor of the old , a film she has been unable to shake — to horror fans , a badge of honor .
the weinstein company bought “martyrs” following its premiere in 2008 at cannes , where it incited walkouts . it was never released theatrically in the united states . ( in an interview with the horror website shock till you drop , mr . laugier said the producer bob weinstein “tried to watch ‘martyrs’ in the plane back from cannes and couldn’t stand its violence . ” ) in france , it was originally given the equivalent of an american nc - 17 , later lowered to the equivalent of an r .
but it’s worth remembering that the first reviews of martyrs weren’t that all that complimentary either – for the exact opposite reasons .
and certainly , as an example of the new french extreme , this film is perfect .
your brain is broken . this film and most of life in general is beyond you .
a scene from the movie
martyrs
of bailey noble who plays anna . ( anchor bay entertainment / anchor bay entertainment )
the sadistically torturous 2008 film had been rumored for a remake since it was first released , and has now reportedly entered the post - production phase after being filmed in secret . according to the report , kevin and michael goetz ( scenic route ) have already wrapped the filming process with bailey noble ( true blood ) and troian bellisario ( pretty little liars ) starring in the lead roles . the film is produced by blumhouse productions and the safran company .
shatteringly stupid and repulsively misogynistic ,
martyrs
mashes revenge , torture and the supernatural into one solid , quasi - religious lump .
for thoughts on , and a place to discuss , plot details we can’t reveal in this review , visit martyrs ’ spoiler space .
now — despite my enthusiasm for the film , i can definitely say that it is not one to recommend . in terms of impact the film has , this probably sits just below a serbian film . it’s a really , really good movie , but it’s a full - on sucker punch of a film . it kind of leaves you reeling , because a movie has rarely been so cruel .
based on the brutal 2008 french canadian philosophical thriller written and directed by pascal laugier , remaking a movie for american audiences that has a fan base as loyal as martyrs is a bold move . directors ( and brothers ) kevin and michael goetz tackle this difficult challenge by toning back on the violence , altering the lifespan of some of the characters , and focusing mostly on the lifelong friendship between anna and lucie .
troian bellisario and bailey noble in a scene from the film by the directors kevin and michael goetz .
yes i do agree it’s a “hugely” graphic film but after watching “earthling” the gore / torture ( s ) of “martyrs” is nothing because you know it’s not true & just acting . “earthling” has scarred me and will for ever be traumatized .
martyrs opens in select theaters on january 22nd , 2016 and will be available on dvd and blu - ray on february 2nd , 2016 .
there are movies that you can call violent , unsettling , shocking , disturbing , stomach - churning , depressing or demented and then , there is martyrs . proudly presented by the new french extremity movement , notable for films like high tension , inside & irreversible , martyrs sets an incredibly high bar for ensuing films of its genre and is arguably the most extreme & harrowing film ever made .
both the french and u . s . iterations of
martyrs
are transparently voyeuristic cheaply ginned - up guignol peep shows with intellectual pretensions .
since its debut at the cannes film festival last summer , martyrs has had tongues wagging furiously over its graphic content , its persistent and excessive violence , its apparent misogynistic tendencies and its supposedly sadistic preoccupations , and certainly , for these reasons and many others , martyrs isn’t for everyone . however , for those brave enough to enter pascal laugier’s bad , bad world , there’s a balls - achingly brutal horror film waiting to be experienced ; one that’s deeply disturbing , profoundly moving and somehow , eerily beautiful .
mr . couzens , your excellent , ahem , dissection of the film’s plotting and theme gives great insight .
the final shot of the film saw chris troubled , standing apart and very disconnected from his happy family .
brigid cherry , “refusing to refuse to look , ” the horror film reader , 169 - 170 . ↩
brutal from start to finish and ruthless in its depiction of despair , pascal laugier’s 2008 french - language shocker is an endurance test for even the most tenacious try - me horror fan . the critic simon abrams wrote that the film “takes the underlying concept of torture porn — pleasure from excessive displays of pain — and thoroughly explodes it in 99 minutes of grueling , nonstop butchery . ” and that was a rave .
an aging porn star agrees to participate in an
art film
in order to make a clean break from the business , only to discover that he has been drafted into making a pedophilia and necrophilia themed snuff film .
martyrs 2015 is not a particularly good film , but it is a decently made one , although it has an oddly incongruous warm look to much of the cinematography which makes its low budget more apparent and at times makes it look like a basic cable tv movie .
the film begins with a young girl running away from an industrial complex , panicked and bloodied . and by young i mean about 12 years old , if not less . this is 57 seconds into the film , and we already know we’re in an edgier film than most . she runs away , limping and screaming . this is lucie .
brutally well - conceived . . . for about 40 minutes , and then
martyrs
flips on its own bloody axis and falls apart , existentially .
roger ebert , the patron saint of many a film lover , was well known for being fundamentally inclined against a certain stripe of horror film . not against horror of the classical or psychological variety— the bride of frankenstein , psycho , and rosemary’s baby were not objects of his disdain . not even , necessarily , against modern or graphic horror—his great movies series included films such as se7en , alien , and the shining . but many horror films faced an uphill battle with ebert , who called the texas chain saw massacre “an effective production in the service of an unnecessary movie . ” one can only imagine what he might have said about martyrs , pascal laugier’s 2008 deposit at farthest end of the new french…
crew : camera ( color ) , nathalie moliavko - visotzky , stephane martin ; editor , sebastien prangere ; music , seppuku paradigm ; production designer , jean - andre carriere ; costume designer , claire nadon . reviewed at ugc cine cite les halles 3 , paris , sept . 6 , 2008 . ( in fantasy filmfest , germany ; frightfest , london ; toronto film festival - - midnight madness . ) running time : 99 min .
film should score ok with hardcore gore fans , but others will expect martyrdom for sticking it out until the end .
it ' s a hollow film with hopelessly annoying themes that don ' t arouse questions so much as eye rolls .
excellent analysis . i just watched the film for the first time and needed something to ground all that depravity in .
while the film is hardly a lifetime movie , the brothers goetz might not necessarily disagree with ms . hayes that their film will appeal to women . “when you use the word ‘hope’ with the word ‘martyrs , ’” it makes people livid , kevin goetz said . “but this film and this screenplay have a glimmer of hope in the fact that these two women will do whatever it takes to survive . ” michael goetz added , “at all the screenings we’ve had so far , women have reacted very well . ”
martyrs is an intense french film about the physical and psychological hell some people endure , and the revelations that can come from such trauma . it ' s a highly singular , inspired , ultraviolent film and horror fans everywhere love it , so of course hollywood wanted a remake . hot on the heels of the last exorcism in 2010 , director daniel stamm ended up landing the highly coveted gig .
like house of voices , the €2 . 8m martyrs was produced by richard grandpierre for eskwad and will have an eight - to ten - week shoot in canada .
hi , i thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of martyrs and included a link to your review in a list of martyr - related websites on my subreddit called cinematic trauma .
writes about comics , books and movies for the comics journal , the l magazine , the new york press and slant magazine . since last year , he’s been obsessively keeping a film journal where he writes down something about every film he’s seen .
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was this a horror film ? at no point was i scared , i was only ever depressed or disgusted . which isn ' t to say it was intended to scare , i think pascal laugier made martyrs to create these feelings of depression and disgust . so in a way it succeeded .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
thanks to bloody regular fabien m . , we have also learned that martyrs , which is to be produced by blumhouse and the safran company , has already been completed .
considering that “martyrs” was a fairly low budget production that was shot in twenty days , the lush cinematography by sean o’dea is impressive , especially during a gorgeous tracking shot of a candle - lit church . but it’s the wrong look for a movie with such grim and bleak subject matter . the grimy and grainy look of the original was far more fitting . if you’ve never seen the 2008 version , a proud member of the new french extremity movement , i guess the many twists and turns of the new “martyrs” might engross you in a fairly superficial way . but why bother with a muted copy , when you can experience the balls - to - the - wall original ? [ d ]
some viewers saw it when it premiered at cannes in 2008 – one of the most controversial films to hit the festival since gaspar noé’s irreversible – while others caught it later that year at london’s frightfest . others first heard about it through word of mouth – through reports of audiences fainting in the aisles and vomiting after watching its scenes of extreme torture .
[ note : heather had actually suffered a mis - carriage , a fact that roy learned only later in the film . ]
film selections have varied but have included black christmas ( 1974 ) , the hills have eyes ( 1977 ) , the hunger ( 1983 ) , the texas chainsaw massacre ( 1974 ) , the texas chainsaw massacre 2 ( 1986 ) , the stepford wives ( 1975 ) , teeth ( 2007 ) , rabid ( 1977 ) , the brood ( 1978 ) , let the right one in ( 2008 ) , ginger snaps ( 2000 ) , jenifer ( 2005 ) , sick girl ( 2006 ) , fido ( 2006 ) , dawn of the dead ( 1978 ) , day of the dead ( 1985 ) , near dark ( 1987 ) , audition ( 1999 ) , tokyo gore police ( 2008 ) , in my skin ( 2002 ) , braindead / dead - alive ( 1992 ) , martyrs ( 2008 ) and american mary ( 2012 ) . these films feature strong , non - normative or monstrous female characters . they raise feminist issues such as sexism , menstruation , pregnancy , motherhood , abortion , rape , gender trouble , and the gendered , raced or classed mapping of the body . they may contain final girls . they range from comical to disturbing , from slower to fast - paced , from conventional horror to “postmodern” and from less gore to more . equipped with feminist theories , students become deeply absorbed in these films while maintaining an enjoyable engagement .
the problem with extreme cinema is finding the balance between extremity , context and story – on one end you’ve got a film that’s really great but confronts an audience a little too much ( irreversible ) or on the other , a film that’s so concerned with being extreme it forgets to have a story , or in the end confront its audience too much ( the human centipede ) . but somewhere in the middle lies martyrs , a film that , in terms of content is probably more extreme than a serbian film or irreversible – but in execution takes that content , wraps it up in one hell of a mystery and metres out its extremity over the course of one solidly good movie .
( 2004 ) , the main character is called anna jurin . in martyrs , anna is one of the female leads ' character names , whilst lucie jurin is the other .
some authors have speculated that martyrs– like other french horror films of the past 20 years , such as xavier gens’s frontiers – deliberately evokes deep - set trauma from france’s past .
the film took in about $ 1 million globally before moving to dvd in 2009 . it has drawn fans ever since . featured on the covers of the horror magazines fangoria and rue morgue , it’s a film devotees know about even if they haven’t seen it .
unfortunately , in goosing the momentum , the creators of the film have lost the soul of what was essential to this horrific tale .
first of all , great article ! martyrs is one of those films that really stays with you . it is physically affecting , watching the creatures painfully move around and anna withstanding her torture . unlike hostel or a serbian film though the torture is not for anybody else’s pleasure but for anna’s own transcendence into martyrdom .
so it’s no surprise that the film’s partisans are wary of a new “martyrs , ” which opened jan . 22 . one of the film’s backers is blumhouse , the red - hot production company behind the popular but hardly hard - core horror franchises “paranormal activity” and “insidious . ” as with recent remakes of “halloween” and “the evil dead , ” fans of the original are wringing their hands over an american remake that might water down carnage or sanitize content .
it’s hard to ignore the undercurrent of misogyny in the third act , but martyrs is arguably a modern horror classic from the new french extremity movement . if you’re cool with extremely disturbing gore and violence then check it out ! if not , i recommend staying at least 300 feet away from this film at all times .
in all of the reviews i have seen of this film , no - one , not one has understood why mademoiselle removes her wig , head - scarf and make - up at the very end of the film before saying , “keep doubting” and blowing her brains out .
eight years ago , the horror community was electrified – a term that implies both a shock and an excited , skin - prickling awakening – by the release of a resolutely bleak french - language film named martyrs . directed by the hitherto obscure pascal laugier and starring unknown actresses morjana alaoui and mylène jampanoï , the film , a low - budget french - canadian production made for just under three million euros , quickly began to assert its place in horror movie history .
there really was only one possible ending for the film and that’s the one we were given , regardless of how unsatisfying . if madam . had lived to relate anna’s experience , the film maker would have had to speculate on the nature of the afterlife of which he clearly has no better idea than we do . any imagination he might exert would bring the film into the genre of fantasy or pseudo - mystical rather than horror .
he ' solved ' his wife ' s rape / murder - again - by killing
teddy
- the film ' s opening sequence .
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great article ! i’m not sure if i have the stomach to seek out the film , but your words will definitely stick with me for a while after reading your piece , much like it seems the film has stuck with you . something to think about certainly – the glorification of violence .
perhaps this is the point . we , like anna , must earn the revelation the film offers us . the film hasn’t offered us cheap visceral thrills , but a contemplative treatise on how we think of violence . the victim , the sufferer , is no longer disempowered , but may be the most spiritually powerful being possible . as an audience we are invited to suffer rather than enjoy the cheap , visceral thrills of another torture porn film .
martyrs is a film that has never left me , that i was unsure if i was enjoying or not until indeed my mouth was open for the entirety of the second half . it certainly separates itself from other films within the torture porn sub - genre , as it attempts to justify the heavy visual elements of its plot – and i believe does so extraordinarily well . i’d agree with your observations of the film and its place within french extremism , but i think at times the creators weren’t seeking to make as much meaning as we can derive . there are some parts of the film there for shock and gore , left suitably unsubstantiated .
yes , martyrs – which tells the story of a young woman ( lucie , played by jampanoï ) who tracks down the people responsible for torturing her as young child – is notoriously difficult to watch .
the kind of person who ' d be inclined to seek the film out is probably not the kind of person who ' d regret that decision .
linda williams , “when the woman looks” in the horror film reader , ed . mark jancovich ( london : routledge , 2001 ) , 61 . ↩
carol clover men , women and chainsaws : gender in the modern horror film ( princeton , nj : princeton up , 1992 ) , 53 . ↩
: martyrs are exceptional people . they survive pain , they survive total deprivation . they bear all the sins of the earth . they give themselves up . they transcend themselves . . . they are transfigured .
the fact that there is now a remake of martyrs is no surprise , laugier sold the remake rights as soon as his film got international release . the surprise is that , after several years of development hell , blumhouse productions , the safran company , and directors kevin and michael goetz ( scenic route ) managed to shoot the low budget remake in total secrecy . we didn ' t know about it until it was already in the can . this weekend , it will be released into the world to answer the question ,
how can you possibly remake martyrs ?
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
i really liked this film , i found it incredibly disturbing and i don ' t think that it was an effective horror film , more of a psychological thriller . i did really enjoy it and i would recommend it to anyone who likes horror films , but it is not for the faint of heart .
very interesting dissection of martyrs ! i’ve seen a smattering of new french extremity , but this film i’ve struggled with for a while . i love the first half , the comfortable familiar narrative , as you described ; i assumed that lucie was unhinged on my first viewing and didn’t want her to be correct in her assumption about the family she killed being her torturers .
martyrs are exceptional people . they survive pain , they survive total deprivation . they bear all the sins of the earth . they give themselves up . they transcend themselves . . . they are transfigured .
the story in the remake looks more or less the same : a young lady seeks revenge against those who tortured her as a child . this isn’t a red - band trailer , so either there’s a lot this trailer isn’t showing or they made a pg - 13 version of martyrs . pg - 13 or not , though , there was never a chance the american version of martyrs would be half as violent as the original .
very detailed article on an astonishing horror film . a friend asked if i would recommend it , and i gave him a resounding yes . excellent work here .
the men in black of the film ' s title originally referred to a sci - fi comic book series , first published in 1991 , about a top - secret organization of agents that monitored , regulated and policed paranormal and alien activity on earth . there were two film sequels to the 1997 release , in 2002 and 2012 .
continuing the trend in 21st century french extremism ( following the likes of xavier gens ’ frontiere ( s ) ( 2007 ) and alexandre bustillo and julien maury’s inside ( 2007 ) ) , pascal laugier’s martyrs raises the bar even higher by offering a nauseating , ruthless indictment of and reflection on the violence , hatred and pain that fuels our modern day world . cheery , this film is not .
although american audiences have their fair share of bloody fanatics , martyrs has to date only managed a small cult following due to its highly graphic nature . the film is a risky choice for any studio to tackle . depending on the mpaa rating , we will soon know how extreme the studios are willing to take it . this is one horror flick to watch out for as the news progresses .
the film takes you through a journey , first depicting shocking violence with an understandable but morally questionable motive , moving to the visceral , torturous aftermath of violence with no motive , though committed against a figure that is slightly removed from the audience . it is only in the final third of the film that its raison d’être is revealed .
unfortunately , reeling in that younger target audience means sacrificing much of the exaggerated , disturbing material , resulting in a lack of the vicious grit that made the original so iconic . mostly though , aside from creating a much tamer version , the 2015 martyrs headed by the goetz brothers feels too similar to the first film , bordering on a shot - for - shot remake that doesn’t really bring anything new or worthwhile to the table in order to justify its existence . overall , this is a decent film , but it’s not much more than that . hopefully , this depiction will arouse curiosity for the much harsher original , and encourage fans to seek out the french cult classic , which sadly , proves to be a much impactful film .
mademoiselle : martyrs are exceptional people . they survive pain , they survive total deprivation . they bear all the sins of the earth . they give themselves up . they transcend themselves . . . they are transfigured . see more »
this is almost as bad as david gordon green declaring that he would remake suspiria into
some classy shiat
rather than a
low budget italian gore film
.
, then you’re in for a trip when the u . s . remake hits theaters . the original french language film is the most notorious entry in a radical shift of
featuring morjane alaoui ( marock ) and mylene jampanoi ( valley of flowers ) , martyrs promises to be an indulgent journey into the heart of darkness of a human soul , set against the backdrop of child kidnapping , torture and revenge .
martyrs is a groundbreaking work - it challenges the audience to endure heinous acts yet to emerge spiritually cleansed ; to witness man ' s willingness to abuse , degrade and manipulate , yet leave the theatre more enamoured with humanity than ever .
citing the slasher antagonist of “friday the 13th , ” stacie ponder , the writer of the horror - themed blog final girl and author of a coming monograph on “martyrs , ” said : “in your typical horror movie , when jason punches somebody’s head off , you might laugh or get a thrill . there are no thrills in ‘martyrs . ’ it’s about the pain , not the torture . there’s no space between us and the pain that these characters are enduring . ”
i would beg to differ with the review of this film - it seems that most of the uk press have missed the point of this film . it ' s deeply complex and amazing to watch . everyone i know that has seen it and understood it ( most people - but clearly not the press ) has been deeply moved and amazed .
but the cruelty of the film is a bit like the torturers themselves ; it’s not malicious . it’s not a film trying to shock you and repulse you , like any number of torture - porn films of the current ilk , an obvious case being hostel or a more obvious example in the malignant a serbian film . its cruelty is naturally derived from the intensity of the story ; toning the violence down would make the mystery in the story less effective . it’s full on , but it’s contextual , and never exploitative .
remaking a film that reigns as one of the most disturbing ever would challenge any director . the original “martyrs” begins as a home invasion film , as lucie and anna , young women who met as children at an orphanage , seek revenge on the family that imprisoned and tortured one of them 15 years ago . but as their plan takes a merciless turn , anna plummets into a world dominated by a shadowy organization with bloodthirsty ideas about divine suffering . in one bloodcurdling scene anna is immobilized and her back is flayed ; the camera lingers on her face as she reacts to the pain .
both narratives played separately and alternately until the film ' s climactic conclusion when the two strands merged into a color sequence - at the time of the strangulation of jimmy grantz .
time to take the cenobites serious again . not a fan of remakes but i think hellraiser is a perfect candidate for one and laugier can bring a great vision to it . i also loved st . ange . i cant wait for martyrs .
they also point out that the vast majority of women become victims , not martyrs . they succumb to the torture , and die . and , as the creepy mademoiselle makes clear , anna is going to be subjected to all of this now .
technically , the film is also incredible . it’s beautifully shot , which helps make the violence so unpalatable , because it’s contrasted well against the otherwise glossy film . the modern set of the house is also utilised well . it does feel homey when the family are still alive , pre - lucie , but afterwards , it becomes cold and sterile , and torturous .
the film ended with a tear - jerking , fireworks - filled conclusion , set at bill ' s 65th birthday party celebration . parrish delivered a heart - warming speech to everyone :
williams , “when women look : a sequel” in freud’s worst nightmares , accessed online at urltoken . see also williams , “learning to scream” in the horror film reader , 168 . ↩
i watched the film but i would have to agree with katie . if you need food for thought this film is a bad excuse . plato is sure better . the only challenging intellectual puzzle is at the end and it’s not that good . and you know that all these justifications are only there for the shock value so the director can get a little attention .
martyrs is a movie of three acts , which makes it both difficult to summarise ( without spoiling the experience ) and categorise . the dizzying , nauseating and frenetic pace of the first two - thirds of the film creates a remarkable intensity thanks to the unflinching violence and fierce music score . indeed , the narrative becomes so disorientating , that we’re never quite sure what kind of genre flick we are watching and what direction it will take .
kevin and michael goetz , the brothers who directed the new “martyrs , ” say they understand fans’ apprehension . but their job was “to focus on the script that was given to us , ” kevin goetz said . their hope is that their reimagining , as they call the version written by mark l . smith , a co - writer of “the revenant , ” will shine a light on a film still largely under the public radar .
mademoiselle believed they could discover the secrets of the afterlife through their experiments by finding a true martyr - a subject who would achieve a state of euphoric transcendence :
martyrs are very rare . a martyr is something else . martyrs are extraordinary beings . they survive pain , they survive total deprivation . they bear all the sins of the earth . they give themselves up , they transcend themselves . . . they are transfigured . it turns out that women are more responsive to transfiguration . young women .
throughout the course of the film we see lucie suffer gruesome hallucinations and self - mutilate due to past trauma , and witness the bloody massacre of a family of four – children included .
in a film filled with savagery and horror , it’s a moment that shocks to the core : a reminder that unexpected tenderness can be as viscerally , skin - shiveringly affecting as torture .
yes , this is a relentless and disturbing film and certainly not for everyone . i never found it gratuitous , however , which often isn ' t the case in films like this .
this much can be said for the new remake of martyrs : it’s efficient . clocking in at under 90 minutes , the film proceeds at a rapid clip , never lingering too long on any one scene , or dragging out a single shot beyond the minimal time needed to achieve its purpose . unfortunately , in goosing the momentum , the creators of the film have lost the soul of what was essential to this horrific tale . indeed , the original movie might be the only film lumped under the banner of “extreme horror” ( or , less charitably , “torture porn” ) to truly and narratively justify the argument that extending brutal scenes of violence and abuse is the whole point . ( the a . v . club previously referred to it as “the torture - porn movie to end all torture - porn movies . ” )
martyrs is very nihilistic . . . the american approach [ that i ' m looking at ] would go through all that darkness but then give a glimmer of hope . you don ' t have to shoot yourself when it ' s over .
martyrs & high tension , both french are very refreshing to a long time horror buff like myself . seriously r . zombie fliks r total rip offs . nothing new , i guess , us as horrific talented fans should voice our ideas more . ( =
when horror fans dare horror rookies to watch a movie , it’s usually a classic frightfest like “the exorcist” or a more recent white - knuckler like “it follows . ” when horror fans dare other horror fans to watch a movie , it’s “ martyrs . ”
you paint such a harrowing picture of this film and this is my second experience with french extremity , irreversible i found to be truly disturbing if you can class it in the same genre .
famed writer / director woody allen ' s first r - rated dramatic - erotic thriller , and his first film set and shot in england . the film , without allen ' s typical humor , recalled elements of a place in the sun ( 1951 ) , body heat ( 1981 ) , fatal attraction ( 1987 ) , allen ' s own crimes and misdemeanors ( 1989 ) , his future film cassandra ' s dream ( 2007 ) , and similarities to dostoyevsky ' s crime and punishment 1866 novel . its main tagline was :
passion , temptation , obsession .
modleski , tania . “the terror of pleasure : the contemporary horror film and postmodern theory” in studies in entertainment : critical approaches to mass culture . ( indiana university press ) , 1986 . ↩
certainly one of the smarter horror films to come along in awhile ( and leagues above that saw and hostel trash ) . im not a fan of torture porn but martyrs isnt really a part of that genre . it has an agenda far more significant than simply freaking its viewer out via the graphic violence . it does come across a tad pretentious though in the end . i dont enjoy leaving a film feeling more a test subject than a viewer .
this seems to be the question of the most interest , so let’s get right to it . if you’ve seen the first , or to put it more bluntly , are a huge fan of the first film’s violence ; this film will certainly not shock you . the first film pretty much knocked it out of the park with how far you can push torture and pain cinematically : it was literally breathtaking . but for as many people that loved it ; it alienated just as many . this version is definitely a bit more accessible graphic - wise : but still pushes boundaries nonetheless .
considering how great his newest movie is , it really is a bummer that we ' ll never get to see what daniel stamm would have done with martyrs . 13 sins is one of the smartest remakes i ' ve seen in a good while , proving stamm is the kind of director who really understands how to update source material so fans aren ' t just getting an identical retread with no identity of its own . we just hope that whoever inherits this new , low - budget version of martyrs has those same instincts .
the goetz brothers ( scenic route ) have directed the u . s . version of pascal laugier’s 2009 french horror film that challenged religion , and played a cathartic role in his real life loss .
laugier first came to public acclaim in france in 2004 with his debut film house of voices , which went on to have a spectacular success at the spanish box office in the summer of 2005 .
with its story told in reverse , it was challenging in itself just to watch due to its non - linear , backwards narrative structure . a crucial fact about the smoothly - edited film was :
he sells out to blamed , evil hollywood as well by doing a remake to
martyrs
( at least he will be involved with the script and obviously will make a lot of cash with it ) . so that guy sold out twice . talk about capitalism .
but the biggest achievement of the film is most certainly its two leads . i’ve read reviews accusing the characters of being one - note , but that’s ridiculous . these girls are frightened , traumatised , panicked and heart - racing the entire time they’re on screen . acting those emotions for the length of time it takes to shoot a film is an incredible feat , especially because they do it so convincingly .
and reconsider their position . this isn’t my way of chastising people with different opinions than myself but rather my way of saying : “this film is a good example of what’s wrong with the term . ”
[ note : at the end of the film ,
teddy
equated leonard with sammy jankis :
sammy didn ' t have a wife . it was your wife who had diabetes .
]
like the worst real - world monsters ( josef mengele is the obvious example ) , the movie’s torturers , whose true motivation is revealed in the final act , are also convinced that they’re doing the right thing . they see themselves as experimenters , explorers , brave pioneers – and , disturbingly , martyrs manages to temporarily put its audience into their blood - stained shoes . even as we wince for the film’s victims , we find ourselves simultaneously desperate to know what their abusers will uncover .
martyrs is very nihilistic ,
he told 24 frames .
the american approach [ that i ' m looking at ] would go through all that darkness but then give a glimmer of hope . you don ' t have to shoot yourself when it ' s over .
and when it comes to
barking up the wrong tree :
um , no . if people can analyze symbols and structure of an art film , i don ' ; t see why the horror film should be off limits . so perhaps you should go read something else if you think that my writing is a waste of time . posted by simon abrams on 2009 - 11 - 14 17 : 54 : 46
and martyrs’s final section , which focuses on lucie’s friend and would - be lover anna ( alaoui ) , is almost entirely composed of sustained , dispassionately clinical scenes of torture – all of which build to a famously grim conclusion ( game of thrones villain ramsay bolton would probably approve ) .
smith and the goetzes have taken liberties with laugier ' s plot , shuffling the order of events and changing which characters live or die . and while the violence is relentless in the final third of the new
martyrs ,
it ' s much less explicit than the french version .
for a film that ' s really personal such as this , it ' s far better for yourself to decipher these things on your own . no one gets any meaning or learns from art through asking
what is it
, but a different method would be pure discussion from the basic philosophy of the film , something in which you can derive your own personal meaning from instead of being given an answer . just sayin
laura mulvey , “visual pleasure and narrative cinema” in film theory and criticism : introductory readings , eds . leo braudy and marshall cohen . new york : oxford up , 1999 : 833 - 44 , 837 . ↩
fans of the original will probably see it as fairly pointless , but when you’re plugged into the horror community , it’s easy to forget that most people have never seen the french martyrs . whether it be the fact that they couldn’t track down a copy , they heard about the gratuitous violence and decided to avoid it , or , probably most likely , they just didn’t want to read subtitles , many people have never been exposed to the 2008 nihilistic genre mash up that combined three sub genres into one : supernatural , home invasion , and horrifying torture porn . in fact , removing some of the more abusive moments from the feature may actually play out well , with blumhouse now announced to produce , sticking to the bare minimum plot points while holding back on the barbaric antics will attract just the kind of crowds they’re looking for — young adults who have never seen the original .
ultimately , horror movies can frighten us in lots of different ways , combining their inherent darkness with sly humour , adrenalin - fuelled scares , or with painterly splashes of gore . but martyrs is a rare creation : a 21 st - century film that subtly elicits all the sorrow of the preceding century , imbues its scenes of torture with a sense of vivid , heart - breaking pity , and forces us to really feel . is it painful to watch ? very much so . but worth the suffering ? absolutely .
the original french film , written and directed by pascal laugier , has attained cult status as one of the most grueling and upsetting of the recent era of horror cinema that nonetheless deserves critical plaudits—more audition than a serbian film , in short . laugier is a provocateur with a fondness for narrative twists coupled with weighty political and philosophical themes , as demonstrated ( to solid but lesser effect ) in both his debut house of voices and more recent english - language thriller the tall man . his martyrs is in part an endurance test , a film that dares you to look away from its disgusting images even as it invites you to grapple with a story in which suffering plays a pivotal role . in reworking it for the no - subtitles english audience , that element of endurance is gone , and with it , the gut - punch of an ending which felt so earned is excised , in order to hurriedly wrap up a plot that now feels more trashy than weighty .