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6.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Evangeline remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like movies that feel like a long, slow sigh, then yeah, you should probably watch this. Evangeline is definitely for the people who don't mind a movie that takes its sweet time getting nowhere fast.
But if you hate stories where people just *barely* miss each other for two hours straight, this will drive you absolutely crazy. You'll be yelling at the screen by the halfway point. 🛶
It’s based on that Longfellow poem everyone had to read in high school, and it feels exactly like reading a very heavy book on a Sunday afternoon. It's not exactly a 'fun' watch, but it sure is something to look at.
Let’s be real, the only reason anyone is still talking about this is Dolores Del Río. She has this way of looking into the distance that makes you feel like she’s seeing a ghost or maybe just a very beautiful sunset. 🌅
Her face is basically the special effects for the whole movie. There’s a scene early on where she’s just sitting by a spinning wheel and the lighting hits her just right, and it’s honestly more interesting than the actual plot.
She plays Evangeline with so much sincerity that it almost hurts. You really believe she’d spend forty years walking through the woods for a guy who, frankly, doesn't seem all that special once you finally see him again.
The movie starts in Acadia, which is Nova Scotia now, and everything is super peaceful until the British show up and ruin the party. The way the soldiers just stand around while people are losing their homes feels weirdly realistic, like they’re just doing a job they don't particularly like.
The scene on the beach where the families are being shoved onto different boats is actually pretty chaotic. It doesn't have the polished feel of a modern war movie, but the confusion feels real.
People are dropping their bags and looking for their kids, and the camera just kind of lingers on the mess. It reminded me a bit of the scale in Famous Battles of Napoleon, but way more personal and sad.
After the separation, the movie becomes a travelogue of 1700s America. Evangeline goes everywhere. She’s in the woods, she’s on a boat, she’s in a field, she’s in Louisiana. 🚶♀️
There is this one shot of her on a river boat that goes on for a long time. You can see the water rippling and she’s just staring, and you start to wonder if the director forgot to yell cut.
It’s a bit like the slow pacing you get in The Winding Stair, where the atmosphere is doing all the heavy lifting. I found myself checking my phone a couple of times during the middle stretch because, wow, she really is just walking again.
The most frustrating part is the 'near misses.' She arrives at a camp, and someone says, 'Oh, Gabriel? He left about ten minutes ago.' 🙄
This happens like five times. After the third time, it stops being tragic and starts being kind of funny in a dark way. Like, maybe the universe just doesn't want you guys to hang out?
It’s not quite as messy as the romance in Midnight Lovers, but it’s definitely more depressing. You just want to grab her by the shoulders and tell her to go get a hobby or something.
There’s a dog in one of the early scenes that looks very confused by the cameras. I spent about three minutes just watching the dog instead of the actors. 🐕
The costumes are also super thick. You can almost feel the weight of the wool and the lace. It makes the Louisiana scenes look incredibly uncomfortable—imagine wearing three layers of heavy fabric in a swamp.
The music in the version I saw was synchronized, and there’s this one song that keeps coming back. It’s a bit of a 'earworm,' but not necessarily in a good way.
By the time we get to the end, everyone is old. The makeup they used to make people look aged is... well, it’s 1929 makeup. It looks like someone put a lot of flour in their hair.
But the emotional hit at the very end actually worked on me. I didn't expect to care, but after watching her walk across a whole continent, you kind of want her to get a win.
It’s a very heavy ending. It’s not the kind of thing you watch if you want to feel cheered up. It’s more for when you want to have a good, quiet cry and then go to bed.
Is it better than Heart to Heart? Probably, just because it feels so much bigger. It feels like a 'big' movie even though it’s just about one person’s heart breaking over and over.
The cinematography is the real star here, besides Dolores. Some of the shots of the trees and the mist are just incredible. They don't make 'em like this anymore, mostly because nobody has the patience to film a tree for two minutes straight.
It's a weirdly beautiful slog. Watch it if you have a lot of coffee and a comfortable chair.
I think I liked it? I'm still not sure. But I can't stop thinking about that one shot of the boats in the mist. It's gonna stay with me for a bit.
IMDb —
1922
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