Unlike many movies discussing family, Emile focuses on the relationship
among brothers, among uncle and nieces. Sometimes, it is a lot of so-called
obligations between father/mother and son/daughter. The bond is too strong to
escape from it. It is more romantic, as holiday hobby is more romantic than
weekday job. There are a lot of space for one's free will, a man doesn't have
to scarify just because he is someone else's whoever.

    It is why I can only partially agree with the footnote of the movie "it
is a movie about human being rather than human doing." He has choice, what he
has done of course decides what he is. I just grasp something from
existentialism.

    Compare to the director's previous work, Lola, the movie with a younger
woman as leading character, I can identify myself with the characters in Emile
more. People in Emile suffer more struggles inside their hearts. Lola does
experiences many exciting and fantastic, and she does suffer something.
However, I can't find any identity in her "innocent" expression.

    It is an interesting thing when the movie reminds me of another
Ian McKellen's great acting, Gods and Monsters. Maybe it is because of the way
of describing, putting now and then, reality and imagination together in the
same picture. (It made me think that "Ian McKellen's acting is similar to his
previous one" at first. Actually, Emile and James Whale are built much
differently.) Director Carl Bessai spent much effort to build up such the
atmosphere of what happens in an old man's mind, much more than Bill Condon
did, in my "humble" opinion, a little too much. Carl Bessai chose still rather
than action. It seems to express the idea "human being rather than human
doing". It is also a trade off a director must take.

    In a picture, a motion picture, the present and the past are seamlessly
married, but not in a logic. The screenplay doesn't give a good and strong
reason to release the ice wall between Emile and his niece, Nadia. A strong
ending doesn't mean exciting action or whatever else. Of course, you can
choose a tranquil way, but the most tranquility has huge surges beneath.

    Ian McKellen's acting is so convincing, Emile seems a part of himself.
(Maybe he would protest that there is no a single character can present
himself.) It is rare that a veteran actor can bring a sense of innocent.
And Deborah Unger surprises me much. Her coldness toward Ian is the most
incredible, because it is also rare that a young actress can build up such
tense to someone much older than herself, rather than go in the same
direction. Tygh Runyan did not act much in the movie, but he has a sensitive
looking.