Nostradamus
Nostradamus
R | 16 September 1994 (USA)
Nostradamus Trailers

A dramatic retelling of the life of Michel de Nostredame, from his early work as a plague doctor to his time at the court of Catherine de Medici, after he became famed for his prophetic almanacs. Stars Rutger Hauer and Julia Ormond.

Reviews
Micitype Pretty Good
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.
Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
pyewakt I am frankly stunned by the generally positive responses to this dreadful film. 'Star' of the production, Tchéky Karyo does not even seem to be able to act in the conventional sense. He is completely expressionless throughout the film, and portrays Nostradamus as a rather dislikeable, arrogant person who seems to inexplicably attract the ladies at will. Why anyone would deign to talk to him, let alone screw him is a genuine mystery. At one point, Nostradamus is in a carriage, having visions of WWII, shouting 'Stop Stop!' over and over. I wonder if the real Nostradamus could indeed see the future, and if so, could have foreseen this horrible film and been suitably upset by it. Perhaps he was really shouting at the director and writer in this scene. There are some very clumsy moments, such as when our visionary shows a pal a symbol that has been perhaps tormenting him - difficult to tell with Karyo's complete lack of facial expression - which is of course a swastika. Cue ominous music etc.Each scene is also longer than it really needs to be, with lots of silence and blank expressions supposedly conveying - well, what exactly? The film has the feel and style of a made for TV movie, just made longer with these pregnant pauses. In fact, I think the film is so bad that any change made to it at all could only improve it.If I could take anything away from this film, it's that Nostradamus could not see the future at all, and was perhaps interested only in promoting himself at any price. A shoddy and pointless affair that in some ways trivialises Nazi atrocities by not even addressing them.
yvonatron Although sometimes tragic, this tale made me want to learn more about Nostradamus and his writings. I would recommend this movie to anyone with an interest in divination, the psychic and the future of mankind.
malpaso-1 This is a real great movie about the Life of Nostradamus,if true or not, well that`s another question,but here you have some real great actors in very good roles first of all T.Karyo as Nosdradamus,he played the way as somebody who`ve lived all those things.In another role you have Rutger Hauer one of the best and underestimated actors in the Whole world in my opinion(have a look at Hitcher,Blade Runner,Soldier of Orange),he stars as the mystik monk only appears a few minutes but impresses a lot more.The Cast was filled up with F. Murray Abraham,A. Plummer and a lot more ofgreat actors,this all was mixed with some very good special effects(Nostradamus Visions)and good screenplay,wonderfull combine to an excellent picture by R.Christian(who also worked on Star Wars).A clear 10 out of 10 for me.
kynoceph Most Nostradamus movies have him as an older man, a gloomy sort constantly predicting doom. This movie doesn't. Tcheky Karyo plays a very involved, interesting, and engaging version of Michel de Nostredame. I particularly liked the "vision" sequences, where he suddenly is dropped into the future to observe. I thought the part of the movie where he is confronted by the Inquisition was effective as well. The movie is flawed; it moves slowly, and finicky history buffs will find a few bumps. But overall this features a fine performance by Tcheky Karyo, beautiful photography and sets, and (I have to say) a sex scene with Julia Ormond that manages to be really hot and very tasteful at the same time. Summing up, "Nostradamus" has some strong performances, and a good (if slow) story. It kept my interest all the way through. I'm looking forward to getting it on DVD.