Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

krocheav At the close of this movie I half expected the name Roman Polanski might appear. Many of the under-explored themes and situations bring to mind vague occult aspects from several of his works. First and foremost is the promise of a ghostly re-appearance by the dead son of two French movie actors. They've received letters from their son following his suicide - instructing both to meet in Death Valley USA at specific times - where he will mysteriously reveal himself to them one last time (If not yet seen and you don't want to know anything about it there may be some minor spoilers following...) On the way to this event there are some bizarre happenings. The disturbing vision of a deformed girl in the middle of the night talking about death. A Wolf's (or Dog's) mutilated head in a bag, left in a toilet block. None of these situations are further explored - they just seem to happen for the sake of it. Cultists and film study groups will have a field day 'making-up' theories on the hidden deep and 'meaningful' messages.Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert give strong performances playing their own 'names sake's' and Cinematographer Christophe Offenstein bathes it in glossy images. The haunting minimalist music by Charles Avers is effective and it's disappointing to find the composer's name not included on this IMDb listing (trust this may be remedied). Director/Writer Guillaume Nicloux seems bent on being the replacement for Polanski and nearly bores the viewer to death with endlessly-long walking shots of his stars going somewhere or nowhere. Sometimes it's mildly compelling but ultimately empty.If you're into talkie supernatural themes or questions without answers you may find comfort here, otherwise be warned...

writers_reign Let's be clear from the start; the Academic-Pseud axis will be creaming in their pants once this hits their local art house because for every last one of them out there they can find a different 'meaning' and 'teach' and 'discuss' it for years which is of course what every one of them worth their 'trope' and/or 'spatial relationship' will do. Okay, it's a free country and if we'd all be better off if these people took up employment on sewage farms and spent their days shovelling real effluent instead of the paper kind live and let live right. Personally all I cared about was watching two of the finest actors on the planet, not just in France but in the world doing their thing which, over a lifetime they have honed to within an inch of its life. It's not really necessary to put these two in Death Valley, you can put them on Main Street, Moose Droppings, Iowa and get them to read an ad for hemorrhoid cream and they'd still turn in Oscar-winning performances.

arfdawg-1 The Plot: Valley of Love is a 2015 French film directed by Guillaume Nicloux, starring Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert. It tells the story of two famous actors who used to be a couple and had a son 25 years ago. They reunite after the son's death, and receive a letter asking them to visit five places at Death Valley, which will make the son reappear. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[I'm writing this review to set the record straight for all the mediocre reviewed jerks who were likely expecting a shoot 'em up movie.This is a FRENCH film. Yes, it's set in Western America, but it is a FRENCH film. If you know nothing about French movies, you'll probably hate this movie. But if you understand that French films deal with life differently than happy go lucky full of crap Hollywood, then you'll love this movie. As i do. It's real. No shellacking over the emotions.There is also an underlying truth to this movie with something similar happening to Depardieu and his own son that make it even more poignant.For me this movie is in line with some of the classic Depardieu movies made in the 70s and 80s before he sold out and just started showing up.But wait! There's more! About 2/3rds into the film it take a bit of a surreal/supernatural turn that reminds me a bit of Antonioni.This is truly a great movie.It makes you think and cry and think. Hollywood would never make it.

MartinHafer I love French films and have seen, perhaps, a couple thousand...which is definitely a lot for an American. So, I jumped at the chance to review "Valley of Love". After all, two actors who I have loved in many French movies star in this production, Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu and I was excited to see them again. Plus, sadly, too often actors in their golden years disappear from films...so it was wonderful to see folks in their 60s starring in a film. And, I must say, the film did not over-glamorize them...particularly Depardieu. He's definitely put on weight over the years and appears in boxer shorts during much of the film...a great way to say 'to hell with the world's obsession over weight, beauty and age'! Unfortunately, while I applaud the film for using these folks and de-glamorizing them, the script itself left me very, very cold.The film is set in Death Valley, California in November. The folks continually complain how oppressively hot it is there, but this is only during the awful summer months when temperatures soar well over 49 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit). Despite what the film says, Novembers are lovely there with average temperatures 25C/77F...and very never a day approaching 38/120. So, ignore this mistake in the film...this huge national park is not all that inhospitable in the Fall.Isabelle is staying at some resort...waiting. You aren't sure why but soon see that she'd joined by her -ex, Gérard. Slowly do you learn the very strange reason they are there. Apparently, six months earlier, their son killed himself...leaving a very strange letter for each of them. In the letter he promises that if they follow his itinerary exactly in November, he will briefly re-appear to them! This is very strange to say the least and it's pretty obvious that Gérard holds little stock in all this...though he did inexplicably agree to join Isabelle. Through much of their time together, the two are a miserable pair--rarely agreeing on anything and they are a rather crabby couple. It seems pretty obvious why they are no longer together and that they were lousy parents to their son.What follows is an odd and somewhat surreal film...and one that leaves the viewer very confused as to what really has occurred. The ending is incredibly vague and the entire film left me dissatisfied. I didn't mind the vague ending as much as I just felt like the film wasted some terrific talent and could have done so much more with the characters. Not a terrible film...but one that I really wanted to love and recommend but simply can't.