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To be sure, Silk is a gorgeous film to behold. MIA director François Girard (The Red Violin), cinematographer Alain Dostie and production designer François Seguin have crafted a magnificent looking film every bit as visually luxurious as the subject of its title. Silk often takes on the look of a painterly tableau, with dappled light and luxuriously soft camerawork. The location shots, from Italy's Dolomites to Russia's frozen tundra to Japan's bamboo forests, are ravishing.

There is a twist at the end of Silk that almost—almost—redeems the film. It is a twist that cannot be revealed here, but one which completely recontextualizes the film from a story of sordid affairs and derelict spouses to one of fidelity, devotion and faithfulness. One key character turns out to be a sort of Hitchcockian MacGuffin—a detail which drives the plot and motivates characters' action but ultimately turns out to be irrelevant to the story. It is a twist that imbues the film with a deep, moral and spiritual gravity, and ties up the narrative threads with a condemnation of adultery and a celebration of monogamous marriage. Unfortunately, it comes too little, too late to save the film.

Silk is solemn, plodding and tedious. While it labors hard to borrow the mantle of David Lean's sumptuous romantic epics of yesteryear, it is far too thin and precariously balanced to support such an aspiration. It is worse than a straightforward bad film—it is a middling, stagnant film that could have been extraordinary.

Talk About It

1. At what point does Herve cross the line from innocent interest to sin? How does his obsession over another woman demonstrate the snowballing, uncontrollable nature of lust?
2. Even if we're not be guilty of physical adultery, Christ said that to even look upon a woman with lust was infidelity. How is that teaching powerfully personified in this film?
3. What can we learn from the character of Helene, who was faithful even when her husband was faithless, willing to forgive even when forgiveness was never implored?
4. Are there areas in your life in which you have unrealistic, grass-is-greener expectations even though God wants you to not only be satisfied with what you have, but recognize the exemplary beauty of what he's given you? Discuss.

The Family Corner

Silk is rated R for sexuality and nudity. There is frequent nudity and several sexual situations between a husband and wife, and the same husband and a concubine. The film is free of bad language, and has only one incident of violence (a teenaged boy is found hung).

Photos © Copyright Picturehouse

© Brandon Fibbs subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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