I love this movie so much

What a beautiful movie!

best movie i've ever seen.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A manifestly arty film, it succeeds because it sees the relationship between aesthetics and ethics. Anything artificial breeds illness and cruelty, while what is natural heals and elevates-- this is pure romantic doctrine. Andrew Marvel provides the poetic line of the story while Vermeer and Copley shape the visual. The film is essentially a fantasy about consciousness and design, with the uroboros snake a double symbol of infinity and self-destruction. Great scenes of building a "French" Garden in an English (Irish actually) countryside.The Garden turns out rather bleak and by magic gets its comeuppance. Everything about the film is artificial and that plays against its romantic/Shakespearean true love theme. Erotic frustrations under gird motives and Scacchi and Carmen Chaplin supply the juice for the happy tensions. Fine film, with time-shifted homages to restoration drama.

I have read the preceding reviews which offer good summaries and some thoughtful insights into the movie which I agree is beautiful visually and has a fascinating and challenging plot. I am surprised that no-one has mentioned the poems of Andrew Marvell(1621-1678) which I believe permeate the film, especially "The Garden" and "To His Coy Mistress". I probably missed some references myself but there were actually quotes from at least one of these poems. For example "Let us roll all our strength and all/Our sweetness up into one ball/And tear our pleasures with rough strife/Thorough the iron gates of life;/Thus though we cannot make our sun/Stand still, yet we will make him run." The other poem, "The Garden" , though too long to quote here could well stand as a model for major themes in the film and there are also some echoes of the Mower poems of Marvell. A minor comment relating to Ewan McGregor's character Chrome is that, although he is clearly identified as Dutch, reviewers unanimously call him Meneer Chrome as if that is his given name rather than mijnheer, Dutch for mister or sir. Finally, is is too far fetched to identify the reflexive symbol of the serpent's kiss with the fate of Fitzmaurice who, after being essentially the instigator of all the action, inadvertently poisons himself.

As an independent period flick, the movie supports a decent set and accurate costumes. The acting is, more or less, well done (Ewan McGregor is, as usual, brilliant, Carmen Chaplin made a smashing debut, and the rest of the cast was easy to watch).The plot of the movie, however, must be watched carefully, or you'll miss the subtle dynamics of the characters, and the beautiful undertones of the themes. If you go into it with expectations, you'll be disappointed. While the main love story is not at all original, I can't see this movie being a box-office hit, or at all popular with main-stream viewers.I guess the main thing you need to know when going into this movie is, while the plot is an important factor, the real reason I would give for watching it is to see the wonderful way the characters interact with each other. Like so many independent films, The Serpent's Kiss relies on its script and characters more than events and elaborate sets.

I found this movie to be a bit slow moving at times, but it was packed with great performances, particularly those of McGregor and Postlewait. The story was interesting, but I think it would have been better had they spent more time on development of the story. Or perhaps made it a short film.