262. Around The Sun; movie review

AROUND THE SUN
Cert TBA
78 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

According to its publicity material, Around The Sun has been described as  'deliciously cerebral' by a reviewer who gave it four stars.
Meanwhile, another has claimed it is "clever and genial."
I am afraid I found its makers were trying so hard to be smart that they would lose a mainstream audience.
In other words, I just didn't understand it.
Oliver Krimpas's movie stars Gethin Anthony as Bernard, a film location scout, who is sent to see the possibilities of a repossessed and crumbling French chateau.
He has high-brow dialogue with Maggie (Cara Theobold), a representative of the bank which now owns it.
She bats her eyelids in his direction while recounting its dramatic history, including finite detail of a well-known science book which was written there.
And then the film stops and the same meeting is played out from a different perspective.
Again and again.
This would have been ok if we had been watching a classic thriller such as Rashomon.
We weren't - instead there are two people who gradually reveal past lives which are intertwined and a hint of romance.
Meanwhile, as the 'cerebral' description suggests, they are being oh, so clever or even funny with their turn of language.
Neither was true - they merely sounded like they were either trying way too hard to impress or were full of themselves.
 I didn't subject Mrs W to Around The Sun but I doubt she would have lasted more than ten minutes because it is so dull.
Clearly, positive reviews give the impression that there must be a market for this type of film but I struggle to visualise what it is.

Reasons to watch: If you like languid love stories
Reasons to avoid: Well, I found it very dull

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 2/10

Did you know? The Earth's rotation around the sun is slowing slightly with time; thus, a day was shorter in the past. This is due to the tidal effects the Moon has on Earth's rotation. Atomic clocks show that a modern-day is longer by about 1.7 milliseconds than a century ago.

The final word. Writer Jonathan Kiefer: "After another project fell through, I was in a very determined use-what-you-have mood, and what my like-minded director friend Oliver had, amazingly, was access to a French chateau. Then when I discovered the heritage of the chateau, in particular its relevance to the history of astronomy, that really inspired me." Austin Chronicle

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