The Five Senses

Amazon.com

Though set in Toronto and directed by Canadian Jeremy Podeswa, The Five Senses evokes the emotional geography of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs trilogy. Mightn't the senses do as well as colors to signal a chance-driven world where urban isolates miss and make connections in gloomy corridors and apartments, overcast parks, rainy streets, half-finished constructions? But Podeswa's almost aimless cutting among a clutch of apartment dwellers (each identified with smell, sight, taste, hearing, or touch) is more like a warm bath in easy solutions (or sad songs) than a bracing glimpse into the human condition. A masseuse named Seraph (Gabrielle Rose, The Sweet Hereafter's bus driver) ministers to a weeping boy unable to recall when he was last touched, but she can't reach out to her own daughter (Nadia Litz), a self-loathing teen with a taste for voyeurism. Down the hall, a music-loving ophthalmologist (Philippe Volter) sinks deeper into loneliness as he begins to go deaf. Upstairs, Rona (Mary-Louise Parker), who designs gorgeous but inedible cakes, is unable to quite trust the joyously sensual appetite of her Italian-chef boyfriend. Searching for true love by smell, Rona's bisexual friend Robert (Daniel MacIvor) discovers passing pleasure in a designer perfume with the power to conjure an unexpected liaison. If this were The Sweet Hereafter, the fate of the little girl who goes missing at the start of Podeswa's film might shadow these "sensualists" into radical transformation, perhaps even parole them from the prison of self. But The Five Senses never gets that far under the skin. Still, there is something pleasantly hypnotic, even liberating, about the way Podeswa drifts lightly over surfaces, never getting caught in the net of narrative. --Kathleen Murphy

Customer Reviews:

perfect example of booooring!.......2005-11-18

It really is! the characters are dull/snobby/generic yuppies! The story is lame as can be, with nothing ever really happening and no real emotion ever truly conveyed. Oh! And the humor is total mid-to-upper class make you throw-up phoney garbage! Avoid at all cost!

"Nothing can cure the soul like the senses" Oscar Wilde.......2004-12-18

THE FIVE SENSES is a film metaphor, a study of people all interconnected in a Canadian city whose characters are representative of the Five Senses; touch, smell, vision, hearing, taste.

TOUCH: Masseuse Ruth Seraph (Gabrielle Rose) is unable to connect with her young daughter Rachel (Nadia Litz) who wanders the world aimlessly disenchanted and is responsible for the disappearance of a young pre-school girl, the daughter of Anna Miller (Molly Parker), a patient of Ruth's, yet she is the sole source of 'touch' for a young desperate man who likely is an AIDS victim.

HEARING: In the same building is an ophthalmologist Dr. Jacob (Phillipe Volter), a devoted opera fan who is loosing his sense of hearing. TASTE: Also in the building live Rona (Mary-Louis Parker) who creates cakes that are beautiful but without taste. SMELL: Rona's bisexual friend Robert (Daniel MacIvor) seeks out previous lovers to see if he can identify with their particular smell. VISION: Rachel 's acquaintance Rupert (Brendan Fletcher) introduces her to voyeurism in the park, seeing men kiss, etc.

This type of matching the senses to characters seems a bit simplistic when put into writing, but the magic of how Director Jeremy Podeswa stirs this heady brew and makes it all weave together is the beauty of this film. The acting is superb, the story is intelligent and demanding, and the overall effect is a penetrating inspection of how we live our lives in relative isolation until destiny or a single event proves once again that we are one body of mankind. A very satisfying and edifying film. Grady Harp, December 2004

Using the Body to Reach the Soul.......2002-02-20

It seems that year after year, Canadian cimena becomes the more soulfull in the world. Films like Egoyan's "Exotica" and "Sweet Hereafter" have been aclaimed world wide, but this "The Five Senses" also deserve be praised.

Director-Writer Jeremy Podeswa was very fortunate when he created a metaphor for each sense and used each in the main characters. The metaphors are easy to be detected, but not easy to be understood. You have to pay attention to understand how the main characters deal with `their' specific sense and what it changes his/her life through the movie.

The cakemaker who cooks tasteless cakes; a doctor who is getting deaf; a masseuse who is losing the touch with her daugther who, by the way, is starting to `watch' people; and a bissexual man who can smell love. To make things worse --or should I say better-- there is a missing girl, who virtually connects every story -- and senses. If you think it may read very simple, go and check this film. Things here are much more complicated as the look. Using material tthings like cakes, perfumes et al. the filmmaker reach the `spiritual' level and abstract concepts like love, friendship and family.

The cast deliveries very fine. It is very easy to get involved with all these people and their problems. The best ones are Mary Louise Parker -- as the cook -- and Molly Parker as the mother of the missing girl. Their work is so hearfelt that it is impossible no to care about them.

This is a film for grown-ups. It deals with subtle subjects that touch deep in the audience hearts and souls. Kids looking for some explosions, fights and sex should stay away from this movie.

Quirky French-Canadian romanticism.......2001-12-27

To understand exactly what writer/director Jeremy Podeswa tries to accomplish with 'The Five Senses,' it's first necessary to know where the idea for this quirky little film originated. After reading Diane Ackerman's remarkable book, 'A Natural History of the Senses,' Podeswa began to ponder ways in which he could translate to film her theme of how modern day life has overstimulated the five human senses to the point where we no longer remember how to appreciate sensation in its purest form -- we've become detached from that which is truly worthwhile in life.

The resulting work embodies the five senses in five major characters who all live and work in the same apartment complex. Each has issues surrounding a particular sense -- one has a hobbled sense of taste while another has a heightened sense of smell, for instance. Around this central theme revolve ancillary stories about a lost little girl and a teenage voyeur who meets his match in a rebellious girl. What these side stories serve to do is to force the main characters to look beyond their own preconceived notions and begin to consider what the world looks like when all five of the senses are fully engaged and appreciated.

If it sounds like a pretentious art-house flick, well, to a degree it is. The plot is there more to facilitate the main theme than to tell a cohesive narrative and everything from the cinematography to the music fairly screams "award winner" (the film was nominated for 9 Genie Awards and won for Best Director). The whole concept of basing the premise of a movie on the five senses is fairly ambitious and I can't really fault the director if the end result seems somewhat forced and contrived at times.

So then, how does it look? The transfer is offered in both full screen and anamorphic widescreen versions with the latter presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The film takes place in environments ranging from dimly-lit rooms with stark shadows to gray, overcast skies -- all of which are handled quite well. Colors are lush, where appropriate, and black levels are very solid allowing for fine shadow detail. It's a DVD from New Line Home Video, so the fact that the picture is near perfect should come as no surprise.

The audio for 'The Five Senses' is presented in English and French Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes. Since the movie is mostly dialogue-driven, don't expect much in the way of dynamic range from the soundtrack. The soundstage is firmly anchored front and center with only a few ambient effects and wisps of music floating to the surrounds. But, voices are always clear and even the faintest whisper in a lover's ear remains audible. Extras on the disc are limited to the theatrical trailer, a few cast and crew bios and filmographies, and a very sparse offering of DVD-ROM content.

I found 'The Five Senses' to be an engaging film -- but one that requires a fair amount of attention to detail. If I had not known going in what the basis for the movie was I would have been hopelessly lost. Performances are, for the most part, quite good and the cast is able to work within the constraints of their particular characters to tell the story. New Line's DVD offers their usual stellar audio and video presentation and is without flaw -- although a few extras would have been most appreciated.

Fans of modern Canadian cinema along the lines of Atom Egoyan's 'The Sweet Hereafter' or Don McKellar's 'Last Night' are sure to enjoy the dynamic character interactions and deft combination of drama, humor, and sexuality. If you're a member of that rare breed then I can recommend 'The Five Senses' without hesitation. For all others I would suggest a rental to be sure that this complicated, and slightly flawed, film is right for you.

Thought-provoking Canadian masterpiece........2001-08-28

"The Five Senses" is a profound film about what it means to be human, and about the loss of innocence and the yearning for touch, for comfort, for love. Set in Toronto, it follows the lives of around a dozen characters over a three-day period. The central theme is based on the exploration of the five senses and how these senses or lack of them influence our lives. The main premise is that a toddler has gone missing while under the care of a masseuse's alienated daughter.

The film follows the lives of the people who live in the same building as well as the people that are related to the missing child. Rona, the baker who turns out gorgeous cakes that have no taste and her Italian live-in boyfriend Roberto, an aspiring chef, represent taste. Richard, a French opthamalogist who is going deaf and Gail, a prostitute that he has hired to listen to music with him, explore sound and its absence. 16-year old Rachel is deeply alienated and confused. There are hints to sexual abuse when she was younger, she dropped out of school, and along with her newfound friend Rupert she explores voyeurism and gender roles, representing sight. Robert is a bisexual housecleaner who is desperate for "the right one," so much so that he meets with former lovers to sniff them, believing he has the ability to smell love. Ruth is a widowed masseuse and the mother of Rachel. She has the ability to use touch to soothe others but longs for comfort herself.

For me the most touching story was that of Richard. Having my life revolve around music I have often pondered what would happen if I began to lose my hearing. It is one of the most frightening things that I can think of. Richard makes lists of seemingly ordinary things (thunder, trains, birds) that he wants to listen to one last time in order to catalogue them in his mind. He even calls his daughter in order to tape her voice so he can listen to it again and again. He hires the prostitute Gail to listen to music with him, and with deep tenderness she helps him cope with his advancing hearing loss.

All of the stories are engaging and overlap occasionally. Some of the background details are left sketchy or occasionally absent, but the viewer is left with enough to piece together. This is a movie that requires thinking. It is not a Hollywood fairytale by any means; it is not wrapped neatly and tied with a bow. It is real life, things and people that we know instinctively. The cinematography is stark, with many shadows and cold lighting. It captures the feel of Toronto in fall perfectly, but also highlights the emotional and physical isolation of the characters in the film.

My favourite part in the film is when Rachel, returning home after crossdressing Rupert, finally gets a glimpse of the mysterious singer that was heard throughout the film. Ruth briefly mentioned this to Richard, saying that no one had ever seen her. But Rachel, after exploring gender roles and sexuality, peers through a crack and sees a beautiful man standing alone singing with the voice of an angel, showing that beauty is not confined to male or female but that it transcends gender. This singer is Daniel Taylor, one of my two favourite countertenors. His appearance is very brief but his voice and his music helps tie the film together, linking Richard and Rachel in their quest for beauty. Taylor is Canada's most famous countertenor and one of the best in the world. I actually rented this film just to see him in it and I wasn't disappointed.