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Ring Finger, The
Ring Finger The
Actors: Olga Kurylenko, Marc Barbe, Stipe Erceg, Edith Scob
Director: Diane Bertrand
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
UR     2009     1hr 40min

Iris (Olga Kurylenko of QUANTUM OF SOLACE) is twenty years old and works on the assembly line of a fizzy drink factory. One day, she loses the tip of her ring finger in an industrial injury, leading her to quit her job and...  more »

     
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Movie Details

Actors: Olga Kurylenko, Marc Barbe, Stipe Erceg, Edith Scob
Director: Diane Bertrand
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Sub-Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
Studio: Strand Releasing
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 07/21/2009
Original Release Date: 01/01/2009
Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/2009
Release Year: 2009
Run Time: 1hr 40min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 9
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Languages: French
Subtitles: English

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Movie Reviews

"The Ring Finger"
Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 05/10/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)

""The Ring Finger" ("L'annulaire")

"The Ring Finger"

Amos Lassen

The film "The Ring Finger" is an adaptation of a Japanese novel by Yoko Ogawa and is directed and written by Diane Bertrand. The film is sumptuous to the eye and the beautiful Olga Kurylendo is wonderful as a factory worker who takes a desk job after her finger is almost severed in the factory. As Iris, Kurylendo shines. After her near accident she becomes the receptionist to a man (Marc Barbe) who is able to transform any of his client's mementos into things of beauty and puts them on display in a museum. Iris's job is very strange and becomes even stranger when her boss requires her to wear red high-heeled shoes to work. Iris and the man soon become involved in a relationship and Iris, at the same time, is intrigued by a sailor with whom she shares a room with for economical purposes.
It is the cinematography of the film that saves it and the movie appears to be very intimate. To me, the film was a merger of the contemplative Asian cinema with the sexual energy of European films. There is little dialogue and we get to know the characters through the looks that they share with each other and with us. This is a bit more than a movie--it is an experience but be prepared the movie moves slowly and at times it just doesn't seem to move at all.
"
The Movie takes time to understand
P. Korduba | New Jersey | 12/11/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I won't give a synopsis since the external reviews at the IMDb website provide that (see [...]). There is a line in the movie where the Conserver says "You will need a while to understand". I couldn't agree more. After watching this movie and looking for clues within the movie, I still can't tell you what the meaning of the ending is.

The movie is slow paced about young woman named Iris (Olga Kurylenko) who appears to be romance-starved. After losing her job because of an injury, she finds a room at a hotel which she is told she must share with someone who works nights. She asks "With a man?". In another scene she is helped into a ferry by a man with whom she silently flirts as they travel. After the ferry docks, she follows him into a park but loses track of him. Now as a "lost babe in the woods" and at a crossroad, she hears a "magic" flute played by a young boy that entices her to an old boarding house. There she accepts a job with another man who intrigues her. What does he do? He claims his role is to solve personal problems of people that come to him. His work consists of preserving objects for people who really need it and can find the place blindfolded. Later in the movie he says that the objects are not for nostalgic remembering, but for separation and closure. She accepts the job and leaves for the day.

Shortly afterwards, she is seen unwrapping her injured ring finger and looking at it. In the evening, she walks in the red light district and gazes at the ladies for sale in the storefronts. What is she thinking?

In the morning, Iris's first phone call is from a client looking for the previous receptionist in order to ask her to dinner. Iris tells the man that the girl doesn't work here any more and that he shouldn't call again. The Conserver listens and tells her she does that very well.

The next morning she gets up and touches her roommate's clothes. Later he is seen touching and smelling her clothes. One evening when she comes back to the hotel, she observes him as he leaves the key with the clerk. The two have a mild longing for each other throughout the movie. Near the end he whispers something in French, but no subtitle is provided.

One day a woman comes in to preserve the sound of a score given to her by a former boyfriend. The Conserver has it played to a small audience. The melody is a haunting piano melody by Steve Nieve called Window#1 from his Windows CD.

Another day, the Conserver gives Iris a pair of shoes which she accepts. He asks her to wear them all the time. She silently agrees. Do the shoes give him a possessive power over her? Do they make her willing to remove her clothes for him? In one scene she asks about her old shoes, he curiously backs away from her.

The boarding house, now laboratory, has two female guests left behind, a pianist and a telefonist. There is also a young boy who mysteriously plays in the house. There is an old photograph of the former residents, twenty girls and a man in a lab coat. The man in the photo looks similar to the Conserver. When Iris puzzling looks at that photo, there is an exchange of smiles between the Conserver and the old telefonist.

The movie has a haunting sound track by Beth Gibbons, a sensual tension between a sweaty Iris and the men she encounters. The movie is worth watching and the expressive facial beauty of Iris helps. But if you don't like movies that leave you wondering, find something else. Who is the young boy? Who is the young girl in the preserved photo who is wearing similar shoes? Why does the old telefonist tell her that the previous receptionist "disappeared"? What is the meaning of the spilled Mah-Jong set, a set which represents the philosophy of the universe? Where does Iris go in the end?
"
Fine By Me, Kept My Interest
Marilyn Fan | 07/20/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Very pleasant to see Olga starring and carrying this film with her sometimes deadpan expressions and physical movement and beauty. The Conserver was really creepy and disgusting, discernible almost from the get-go. I did not see any hint of horror, other than wondering what might show up in the specimen collection and what future things might be considered for the collection. It is the story of a young woman trying to keep working, and finding herself in a very strange work environment. The relationship of her with her male shipyard roommate, with major degrees of separation, was very intriguing and kept the viewer wondering how it would play out. The relationship of her with her employer was rather predictable, sometimes shocking, and rather annoying. I agree with the previous reviews: the ending was a non-committal finish that left you wondering where things went afterwards. Although it was easy to suggest the most obvious progression, nobody will really know for certain what happened. There were holes in the plot line. But you will like and appreciate Olga's acting and presence considerably better after seeing this, following having seen her in Quantum of Solace."
A movie that takes too long to get to the point
Margaux Paschke | New York | 11/30/2009
(2 out of 5 stars)

"The cinematography and the lead actress are beautiful but the movie itself, not so much. This movie meanders at an awkward and slow pace. I had to force myself to stay awake in spots, which is never a good sign. It is a French film about an enigmatic young woman who finds work for a mysterious man who runs an odd laboratory. This movie is a little too mysterious for its own good; or maybe, the lesson is that Asian works never translate well and are best experienced in their original form (the film is based on a Japanese story).

After cutting the tip of her ring finger off as a factory worker, a starving young woman is forced to look for work elsewhere. While following a young man down a path, she runs across a huge building with a help wanted sign for laboratory work. The doctor hires her on the spot to run his business of preserving whatever his clients wish. He explains that they bring things to be preserved and then stored by him in order to obtain closure. This was the best part of the movie and an interesting theme.

The scene where the woman wants to preserve the music written for her birthday by an ex-boyfriend was poignant. There were several intriguing scenes but most just raised questions and that irritated me. Why would a woman who didn't eat for at least two days follow a good looking man instead of looking for work? I would think she had more pressing issues to attend before flirting. What about the relationship with the sailor who she shared a room with but on different time schedules? I could go on but I will not.

This movie moved really, REALLY slow in spots and left too many unanswered questions for me to recommend it. If the movie had dealt strictly with the reason behind the title it would have been a much better film.
"