It's movie with tragic reflections...

Much-abbreviated but surprisingly good adaptation of the classic novel .

The film is illustrated with haunting, beautiful cinematography, gothic art direction, fantastic performances, and well executed direction. Although I love a good tragic tale, it never feels like a complete arc for the titular Monk and I wish it explored more of this in extended fashion.

cassell is the fuel that makes this period pic go

Thought it would be boring. Way much better overall, although still sounds kinda stiff in the old Frenchie way.

Ah, the movie that made me want to never watch another French movie ever again. I like Vincent Cassell, the dude is a good actor and has awesome charisma on screen. You see that odd French guy on screen and you just like him for some reason. Same with this movie, I liked the character and I don't know why, but that didn't stop this movie from being TERRIBLE! I mean, I saw the twists coming from 15 miles away. I was 10 minutes in and was like, "Oh, look at that over there. This is going to turn into..." And it's not just that the movie was bad, this movie didn't leave me confused, this movie didn't even leave angry. This movie made me feel empty and made me never want to watch another movie again. I momentarily gave up movies for life before remembering that I had Knight's Tale in the DVD player and wat hing that instead. Not even Paul Bettany as Geophry Chauccer could help my mind be rid of the atrocity that is this film. Also, I feel that I should mention, kudos to Vincent Cassell on not being one of those actors where they'll get naked and the audience will be like, "GOD NO! I didn't want to see that! WHY WOULD ANYONE THINK THAT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!!!" *Cough Shia Labeuff and Geffrey Rush cough*. Congratulations Cassell. You can pull off wearing that birthday suit without offending anyone.

In "The Monk," Ambrosio(Vincent Cassel) is dropped off as a baby on the steps of a monastery in Spain. Even as he grows, he shows no signs of wanting to live in the outside world, continuing his studies to the point where he becomes one of the order. Eventually, he comes to lead the order, with people coming from all over to hear his sermons. His duties also include leaving a wayward nun to her unpleasant fate and taking in a young man who wears a mask to hide his scarred features. Consider the lurid and gothic source material for this adaptation of "The Monk," it is strange that the film makers decided to go for as straight an approach as possible which only results in a flat and unimaginative movie. They might have had the right idea by casting Vincent Cassel in the lead, if you do not consider that he is the last actor imaginable for a character that could best be called holier than thou. That's not to mention the movie's slack pacing, especially as it involves a key subplot being introduced much too early.

Dominik Moll's French film "Le Monde" uses classic art house filmmaking that is a nuanced and haunting vision to the gothic novel featuring a strong performace by Vincent Cassels. If it had been told even more in depth to develop a character study, this might have been a step closer to being a classic.

Dark, unsettling, and sexy. Vincent Cassel is the near occasion of sin. After I got over that, I was able to think about the point of the movie. It's an interesting story about the wages of sin, self-sacrifice, and falling from grace without redemption. It convinced me to go to confession! The cinematography is beautiful. If you like gothic movies, you will love this. If you don't like religion, you'll probably dislike it quite a bit.

Unfortunately, this "Monk" is not the one of Lewis.

The screenplay took a popular Romantic English novel that has since become obscure and turned it into a compelling drama on the nature of sin. Excellent performance by Vincent Cassel and hauntingly beautiful camera work. If I had my way, just the act of selling his soul and all hope of salvation to the devil for happiness for Antonia would gain Ambrosio that salvation. Selfless acts should be redeeming.

Not even Cassel could make this story better. Why this movie is marketed as a thriller is confusing because you see this coming from the very start of the movie. It is very slow and slaps a heavy religious hand in your face. A complete waste of time.

Flirted mildly with Gothic atmosphere, supernatural, the devil, but like any good catholic male it pulls out prematurely! ;-) Leaving us with only a shell of a movie! Cassel is fantastic no matter what role you throw at him! But this role was too restrained for a man whom normally seduces us with his extremely animated persona! If the director had gone balls to the wall and told Cassel to let his freak flag fly than this film could have delivered something memorable! The final act petered out and I mean that literally (Cassel released the Kraken) The one word that could best describe the film... Blasé!

I thought the movie sounded interesting, but the movie failed to deliver anything new for me. I was not surprised at the mystery unraveled, infact I felt that I could care less about the outcome of everyone involved in the movie. Not the worst thing I've ever seen, without Vincent Cassel, it would be almost unbearable.

A really interesting French Language film with subtitles. Not what i was expecting but very good.

Totally devoid of any interest to the viewer. Which is a handicap in the entertainment business. If it was meant purely to shock, a word to the wise.....it doesn't.

Moody but devoid of pace despite attempting something from a seldom visualised time and period. The acting is good but the story doesn't engage.

However Pious, However Holy, Temptation hunts us all.

Visually impressive, but overly pretentious, The Monk (Le moine) is bold, but mostly unsuccessful attempt to adapt the controversial XVIII-th Century novel by Matthew Lewis. Despite the interesting premises and pleasing European-style of camera-work, this movie is too slow to entertain and too perplexed in its own inability to determine whether it is a psycho-sexual drama, moral and religious story or a supernatural flick. Situated in the end of the XVIII-th Century, The Monk tells the story of the young and extremely gifted orator Brother Ambrosio who walks the path from being an outstanding example of religious admiration to becoming a victim of his own religious and moral pride and ending up as a liar and a sinner. As a concept, the story is intriguing enough to keep the focused, but unfortunately, the extremely slow pacing and chaotic story-telling make this movie a very demanding piece of art-house, with doubtful final reward. Its painterly images, vivid colors and beautiful cinematography, combined with the hypnotic and almost painful performance of Vincent Cassel are surely a source of lively interest to the lovers of European movies. Yet, even this could not help save this delivery. The biggest issue which Dominik Mall's adaptation faces is that it never really takes a stand on the story, on the moral coming from it. It never becomes clear whether The Monk is a supernatural-demonic mystery, a psycho-sexual drama with elements of mystery or a depiction of the moral and religious personal fall of a person who is a victim of his own pride. Dominik Mall uses all this in the movie, but never takes a particular direction, leaving the viewer uncertain of what is the main message or the main idea of the movie. Sadly, when pretentious, demanding and hard-to-follow movies do not reward the audience at least partially with sufficient or challenging dilemmas, questions or conclusion, the disappointment of such deliveries is huge. Meant to challenge and to provoke, The Monk only succeeds to impress with beautiful visual, formidable leading performance and a story, which could have been told in much better way.

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