Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60203 in DVD
• Formats: Color, CA-Import

Customer Reviews

'The Ring Finger': Seductive, Curious French Film
On the surface of it this curious little French film `L'Annulaire' (`The Ring Finger') is only following the life of an ordinary woman Iris (newcomer Olga Kurylenko). But soon you will realize that deep down in the story there is another story going on, of which meaning you try to guess while and after watching the film. That mysterious mood is not a surprising thing after all because the film is based on the novella by Japanese writer Yoko Ogawa (published in 1997) whose unique style keeps attracting readers in Japan.

After a terrible accident at a bottling factory (she got part of her ring finger sliced off), Iris finds another job in an old building where she meet a quiet "man of the laboratory" (Marc Barbé). Customers arrive with their personal artifacts, and commission this laconic man to preserve their `memories' in the storage rooms - usually small objects, but sometimes it is sound or something much more curious.

Iris starts to work for this mysterious man, about whom we are not allowed to know much. He lives in this building, which he says was formerly a girls' school. Old ladies who know these days still live in this eerie place, but they refuse to reveal much about the man.

The film's theme gets clearer when the man asks her to wear a pair of shoes, saying he prepared them specially for her. The shoes fit her feet perfectly ... too perfectly perhaps.

It is certain that Yoko Ogawa's original story has an aspect of romance, but the film's other worldly touch may remind you of different kind of stories like Blue Beard. `The Ring Finger' is not a horror film, but certain parts of the film look like one. The difference is that the stress is given to the changes the timid heroine undergoes after meeting this preservationist, or putting on HIS shoes.

One sub-plot about a sailor who shares a room with Iris is added to the original story. The sub-plot succeeds in showing another choice that Iris could choose, but I don't think this is necessary at all. Director Diane Bertrand did a fine job in creating the curiously seductive tone with the two main characters, but leaner script and less subdued method (I'm talking about what happens in the middle of the film between the two) would have made the film work better.

If you are looking for something strange and unique, something that lingers in you mind long after watching, this is your film.

What a beautiful woman.
I'll be honest -- I originally only looked for this film because of the nude scenes by Olga (the girl from the latest Bond film Quantum of Solace). And I spent most of the film just soaking in her beauty. But the other reviewer is right -- this is a haunting, strangely beautiful and mysterious movie with other merits besides the lead actress. It's very slow and European, of course, and focuses on sensual textures, especially touch and sound. The feel of fabric, hands, the items people bring in to be preserved. You get the idea that everything in the film is symbolic of something greater. I wouldn't say it's a flawless movie, but it's very interesting and sure to please any fans of Olga or anyone with a poetic sensibility leaning towards the mystical.