Watch Love Like Poison For Free

Why so much hype?

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I would have been so much happier without all the rubbish that is religion banging, crashing, looming and forcing itself on the viewer like a mangled corpse that you can't escape the stench of.However, having said that, that is exactly what the point of the movie is about... the distortion of religion... how it forces young children to make decisions about their future opinions, thoughts and ideologies, way before they are even at an age where those decisions should be made... where nothing is left to choice, that most important of all human aspects.How a young teenage girl must deal with a mother who's husband has left her for another woman, how she herself must deal with a father who has upped and gone, how her rather thought-provoking grandfather dies and how to deal with her first love and feelings of awakening sexuality. All very important and real aspects piling on to a young girl's life... but where she is also valiantly struggling to retain that all important 'choice.'Interesting. I would have rated it higher except for having to sit through two sermons and listen to the wailing of communion.

French screenwriter, costume designer and director Katell Quillévéré's feature film debut which she co-wrote with screenwriter Mariette Désert, premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival in 2010, was shot on location in France and is a French production which was produced by producer Justin Taurand. It tells the story about a 14-year-old girl named Anna Falguères whom is living with her grandparents where she has been staying with her mother named Jean ever since she returned from a Catholic boarding school and learned that her mother and father named Paul had separated. Anna is awaiting a visit from her father and whilst she is preparing for her upcoming confirmation at a church called Saint Louis in France and her mother is coming to terms with her break-up through conversations with a parish priest named Francois, she befriends a boy named Pierre.Distinctly and intimately directed by French filmmaker Katell Quillévéré, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a tender and incisive portrayal of a French daughter's relationship with her parents, her bed-ridden grandfather and a same-aged boy. While notable for its distinctly atmospheric and naturalistic milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by French screenwriter, composer, cinematographer and director Tom Harari, production design by French production designer Anna Falguères, costume design by costume designer Mahemiti Deregnaucourt and use of colors and light, this character-driven and narrative-driven story where a girl's sexual awakening clashes with her religious perceptions, depicts an internal and heartrending study of character and contains a great and timely score by composer Olivier Mellano.This eloquently romantic, charmingly humorous, conversational and reflective coming-of-age drama from the late 2000s which is set during a summer in a village in France and where the child of a man who doesn't believe in God and a woman who does believe in God has pivotal experiences with her grandfather and with another person which makes her reconsider and oppose her confirmation, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, distinguishable style of filmmaking, lyrical aura, scenes between Anna and Pierre and the commendable acting performances by French actress Clara Augarde in her debut feature film role, French actress Lio and French actor Michel Galabru. A refined, atmospheric and profound directorial debut which gained, among other awards, the Prix Jean Vigo at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

You probably need to be in the mood to get the best out of yet another bildungsroman. In terms of pace it's like Erich Rohmer on crutches; in terms of plot it's like Erich Rohmer stuck for ideas. In no particular order Anna, a young girl at Convent school returns home for the holidays to learn that her father has taken it on the Jesse Owens, possibly with another woman, leaving her mother devastated and seeking solace with a local priest who is also a family friend. Meanwhile in terms of old life grandfather is dying by inches and in terms of new life there's a boy of Anna's age in close proximity. And that's about it. Nothing much happens and takes its time about it. On the right day the viewer will find something in it that speaks to him; on the wrong day ... well, let's not go there.

Love Like Poison is a fascinating little film. I viewed it at a small French Film Festival (in South Africa no less), and did not expect too much. And honestly, that is what I received - not too much, but brilliantly presented and charmingly executed.Following the story of young Anna as she struggles with becoming a woman, her grandfather's mortality and a young boy's affection, Love Like Poison captured me from the start. The film plays with the idea of childhood innocence and the fragility of adulthood. It delves deep into the flaws of every human being, but accentuates the beauty of its naivety. It does all this with a wonderful charm about it.Many of the scenes might make certain viewers slightly uncomfortable, but that is where the film succeeds, and where it needs to go in order to explore the themes that it presents. Furthermore, it does not place judgment on the actions and conversations of the characters as they reflect what is in all of us.Lastly, I will mention that the film would never have succeeded as it did, without its subtle hint of comedy. These very subtle bits are sometimes, in fact, laugh-out-loud, regardless of the circumstances. All the more reason to take life less seriously, and be able to laugh at the perfections and flaws of the human condition. The speech by Anna near the end in particular is beautiful and laugh-out-loud hilarious.8/10 I loved it...