The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte)

Name: The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte)
Genre: Drama
Released: March 30, 2011
Duration: 88 min
Rating: 80

2011

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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6.7

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6.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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Le Quattro Volte (Uk)

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Movie Details & Credits

Lorber Films | Release Date: March 30, 2011 | Not Rated

Summary: Inspired by Pythagoras’s belief in four-fold transmigration — by which the soul is passed from human to animal to vegetable to mineral — Michelangelo Frammartino’s wondrous docu-essay traces the cycle of life through the daily rituals of life in the southern Italian region of Calabria. (Lorber Films)

Director: Michelangelo Frammartino

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 88 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Kevin Thomas

Apr 14, 2011

In only his second feature, Frammartino has found a fresh and ravishingly poetic and beautiful way to explore the relationship between the spirit, man and nature. Read full review

100

J. Hoberman

Mar 29, 2011

Grave, beautiful, austerely comic, and casually metempsychotic, Michelangelo Frammartino's Le Quattro Volte is one of the wiggiest nature documentaries-or almost-documentaries-ever made. Read full review

A.O. Scott

Mar 29, 2011

There is something startling, even shocking, about the angle of vision Mr. Frammartino imposes by juxtaposing apparently disparate elements and lingering on what seem at first to be insignificant details. You have never seen anything like this movie, even though what it shows you has been there all along. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Jul 20, 2011

It is easy to describe what occurs in Le Quattro Volte; less easy, however, to explain it. Calculatedly meditative yet casually metaphysical, Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times in English) is austere, funny, beautiful, and transfixing. Read full review

Walter Addiego

Jun 9, 2011

Le Quattro Volte may sound like art-house tedium, but in fact it's a movie of grave beauty, serene pace and surprising humor. Read full review

Jay Weissberg

Mar 27, 2011

Very kid-friendly, the wordless pic could strike some as an overly-intellectualized attempt to fetishize remnant semi-pagan traditions in a picturesque corner of Italy's Calabria province. Read full review

Keith Uhlich

Mar 29, 2011

The director races far too quickly to get to his ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust punch line. This is the film of a pretender, not a believer. Read full review

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User Reviews

LeonTh3Duke

Apr 5, 2012

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "Le Quattro Voltre" or `The Four Times' is a slow moving and beautiful work of art. A silent and serene portrayal of the ideas of Pythagoras and transmigration, the idea of the soul being reincarnated again and again into humans, animals, vegetables and minerals until it is immortal; a continuous cycle of creation and existence. All of which is seen from a distance, with no dialogue or soundtrack and just the sounds of nature to accompanying the images on screen. At first we observe an old shepherd tending his flock, drinking a home remedy of water and dust from the floor of a local church, until his sudden death which is immediately proceed by the birth of a goat whose life comes to an end under a tree, which is cut down and used for a village ritual and later burned in the creation of coal, all ending in a puff of smoke from a lone chimney as ashes and dust enter the air, some of which to inevitably gather on the church floor, everything coming full circle.

The view of the order of the world, of these people, of life and creation, existence, and superstition are all so clear it is as if you are discovering something that has been there all along but are only now recognizing, like an acknowledgement of complex themes for the first time done through the simplest means.

By simple I mean restrained and meditative. I was personally surprised in how given the lack of any real action or narrative it still managed to be totally engrossed within every second of every frame. Whether it was a moment of subtle and natural humor, or due to hypnotic events including an astonishing longshot involving a dog and a truck; it all builds up to an enlightening revelation in the very end, the sort that makes you rethink and reexamine everything that had come before it and naturally leads to further pondering on its themes and meanings long after its conclusion.

It truly is an incredibly fascinating piece of art that from a distance many would probably expect couldn't say much, and under another director that would have most likely been true, but Michelangelo Frammartino's ability to be so minimalistic yet still communicate on such a cosmic scale is as mystifying as it is refreshing and the reason it works. This is a wonderful achievement, however it is not for those unattuned to any sort of art-house cinema and most are better off ignoring this, the majority of the general movie going audience in fact would probably find it to be a tedious and monotonous affair. On the other hand, for those interested and willing to sit quietly and observe while allowing themselves to be overcome by a surreal and profound work of art this is the `must see' film of the year.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Tyranian

Jan 22, 2020

Will either bore you to tears or utterly transfix you depending on your mood.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Mottacritic

Mar 8, 2012

Beautiful landscapes. That's it.
Nothing serves to make you feel the pointlessness of existence more than sitting through an hour and a half where only four things happen, none of them surprising or compelling. It would have been an engaging 10-minute short film, perhaps.
The metaphysicalBeautiful landscapes. That's it.
Nothing serves to make you feel the pointlessness of existence more than sitting through an hour and a half where only four things happen, none of them surprising or compelling. It would have been an engaging 10-minute short film, perhaps.
The metaphysical theme, the gentle passing through the cycle of life, told in the four iterations in the film, is pretty much adolescent philosophy. I like the fact that it is simply witnessed, rather than narrated or explained, but the quality and insight of this aspect has been overplayed by critics.
It would be so much more rewarding just to go and sit on a hillside than to sit watching this film.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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