Synopsis
A romantic drama set in Germany just before WWI and centered on a married woman who falls in love with her husband's teacher. Separated by the war, they pledge their devotion to one another.
A Promise
2013 Directed by Patrice Leconte
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Original Writer
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Cinematography
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Alternative Titles
Une Promesse, Una Promessa, Una promessa, Обещание, Uma Promessa, La promesa, Na zawsze twoja, Μια υπόσχεση, Ein Versprechen - Reise in die Vergangenheit, Az igéret, Bir Söz, 爱的承诺, 어 프라미스, Обіцянка
Releases by Date
Theatrical limited
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Italy
18 Apr 2014
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USAR
Theatrical
16 Apr 2014
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Belgium
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FranceU
05 Jun 2014
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Russian Federation
01 Aug 2014
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UK
04 Sep 2014
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Australia
02 Oct 2014
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Italy
07 May 2015
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Greece
Releases by Country
Australia
04 Sep 2014
- Theatrical
Belgium
16 Apr 2014
- Theatrical
France
16 Apr 2014
- TheatricalU
Greece
07 May 2015
- Theatrical
Italy
04 Sep 2013
- Theatrical limited Venice Film Festival
02 Oct 2014
- Theatrical
Russian Federation
05 Jun 2014
- Theatrical
UK
01 Aug 2014
- Theatrical
USA
18 Apr 2014
- Theatrical limitedR
Popular reviews
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This was certainly the most mind-boggling watch in quite a while. How did Rebecca Hall, Alan Rickman and Richard Madden end up in such a shitheap? It's quite extraordinary.
Firstly, after 'Titanic', you really can't get away with the "oh, you like the painting I bought? My husband thinks it terrible, but he's a terrible person anyway and you must be my soulmate"-exchange in front of some expressionist watercolour on the wall. I mean really. If that's what a meeting of the minds is based on, I'll pass.
The film looks stunning, with the interiors and costumes beautifully put together, but the story is predictable and hopelessly dull. Richard Madden doesn't even have a beard, so I don't really know…
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The problem might be there is simply little to no chemistry between the lead characters. Not even a palpable sexual tension, both of them are actors with respectable performances, but they just don't seem to get along here. They want to, but it's like two people who really want to love each other but there's nothing there. As simple as that. Therefore, all the plot points the films goes through seem to not work, as the basic premise of romantic passion between them is growing just seems not to work.
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A romantic drama that keeps its passions quiet, Patrice Leconte's "A Promise" takes its time to heat up; and that heat may never amount to anything more than lukewarm. Still, the lovers-at-arm's-length tale is inviting and stirring enough to result in a positive cinematic experience.
Starring Rebecca Hall, Alan Rickman, and Richard Madden, "A Promise" unfolds in a pre-World War Germany I. Involving a steel magnate and his wife, the film follows as the couple's life is impacted by the magnate's young protege. As the older man fades in health, the younger man and the wife develop feelings for one another only to have those emotions interrupted by war.
Too subtle and mannered to be considered melodrama, the narrative moves…
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TIFF 2013
I love a good romance, probably more than most on Letterboxd. I am a sucker for those situations where two people obviously have chemistry but neither can or will be the first to let it be known. Those slight touches of hand that send chills down your back, the look of longing that must quickly turn to something else when one gets caught staring, the ways in which the most mundane tasks are elevated when the other person is around. Yeah, I'm a huge sucker for all that stuff. I lapped it up for the first part of A Promise even though there wasn't as much chemistry between the married woman (Rebecca Hall) and her husband's secretary (Richard…
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TIFF 2013 film#10
Reason for pick: Director Patrice Leconte – Monsiur Hire
What a disappointment. As with Kore-Eda’s Like Father Like Son that we saw the other day, my expectations were high. Where Kore-Eda didn’t deliver on those expectations, he still made a good, if somewhat predictable, film. Not so with Leconte’s first English language foray. Rather than the gentle, introspective subtlety, A Promise is a trite, cloying, sappy made-for-tv British period piece. Oh, it’s set in Germany, and about a German family. I guess Leconte missed that. Even if I were to stretch, and think of it as a nod to David Lean’s proclivity for The Kings English in foreign lands, it still wouldn’t save it.
TMDB/Letterboxd has this…
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it's disconcerting that the movie was filmed like they filmed 'the office' they kept zooming in and zooming out it felt so bad
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Despite them being called Frau and Frauen, it still took me half way through the movie to realize this took place in Germany.
Really bad. But Rebecca Hall is hot. -
