Total Eclipse (1995) — AI Story Visualization

Plot Analysis Summary

A destructive artistic and romantic bond survives through memory, separation, illness, and unresolved visions.

Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases

The Manuscript Arrives

An older Paul meets Isabelle and is drawn back into memories of Arthur. The story recalls Arthur's poetry arriving from the provinces and Paul's impulsive invitation to Paris.

Key Events

• Café Meeting — An older Paul meets Isabelle and listens to her request about Arthur's poems. Characters: Paul Verlaine, Isabelle Rimbaud Location: Paris café
• Demand To Burn Poems — Isabelle asks Paul to surrender surviving copies of Arthur's poems for destruction. Characters: Paul Verlaine, Isabelle Rimbaud Location: Paris café
• Poetry Arrives — Teenaged Arthur sends his poetry to Paul from the provinces in 1871. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Provincial France
• Invitation To Paris — Paul impulsively invites Arthur to Paris after reading his poetry. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Paris
• Arrival At The Family Home — Arthur enters Paul's respectable domestic surroundings and immediately unsettles them. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Rich Paris family home

Scandalous Desire

Arthur enters Paul's bourgeois domestic world and causes immediate scandal. Paul's attraction to Arthur's body and mind begins to outweigh the security of married life.

Key Events

• Arrival At The Family Home — Arthur enters Paul's respectable domestic surroundings and immediately unsettles them. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Rich Paris family home
• Bourgeois Scandal — Arthur's lack of manners scandalizes Paul's pretentious bourgeois in-laws. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Rich Paris family home
• Forbidden Attraction — Paul becomes seduced by Arthur's body and originality of mind. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Paris
• Domestic Life Unravels — Paul's married respectability feels stifling as his attachment to Arthur deepens. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Paris household
• Paul Leaves Marriage — Paul eventually deserts his young pregnant wife and follows the unstable relationship. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Paris

The Brussels Wound

Paul abandons respectability and follows Arthur into a violent itinerant affair. Their destructive bond culminates in the Brussels shooting and Paul's imprisonment.

Key Events

• Paul Leaves Marriage — Paul eventually deserts his young pregnant wife and follows the unstable relationship. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Paris
• Itinerant Affair — The two poets live through a violent and itinerant relationship. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Europe
• Brussels Breakdown — A drunken and enraged Paul shoots Arthur during their escalating conflict. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Brussels
• Prison Sentence — Paul receives a fine and two years in prison for sodomy and grievous bodily harm. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Court and prison
• Prison Conversion — Paul converts to Christianity in prison, provoking Arthur's disgust. Characters: Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud Location: Prison

A Love That Cannot Return

Paul's Christian conversion disgusts Arthur, and Paul's attempt to restore their relationship in Germany fails. They separate permanently, sending Arthur toward a solitary life beyond literature.

Key Events

• Prison Conversion — Paul converts to Christianity in prison, provoking Arthur's disgust. Characters: Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud Location: Prison
• German Reunion — After release, Paul meets Arthur in Germany and vainly seeks to revive their relationship. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Germany
• Permanent Separation — Arthur and Paul part, never to meet again. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Germany
• Arthur Rejects Literature — Arthur bitterly renounces literature and travels the world alone. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud Location: Travel routes
• Abyssinian Trading Post — Arthur settles in Abyssinia and runs a trading post. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud Location: Abyssinia

Eternity And Ashes

Arthur's illness brings him back to France, where amputation cannot stop his death. Isabelle challenges Paul's memory of Arthur, but Paul's absinthe vision preserves their unresolved connection.

Key Events

• Abyssinian Trading Post — Arthur settles in Abyssinia and runs a trading post. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud Location: Abyssinia
• Illness Forces Return — A tumor in Arthur's right knee forces him to return to France. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud Location: Abyssinia and France
• Amputation And Death — Arthur's leg is amputated, but the cancer spreads and he dies at thirty-seven. Characters: Arthur Rimbaud Location: France
• Confession And Censorship — Isabelle claims Arthur confessed before death and argues for censored poetry. Characters: Isabelle Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine Location: Paris café
• The Torn Card — Paul pretends to agree, then tears up Isabelle's card after she leaves. Characters: Paul Verlaine, Isabelle Rimbaud Location: Paris café
• Absinthe Vision — Drinking absinthe, Paul sees young Arthur walking across mountains and claiming to have found eternity. Characters: Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud Location: Paris

Story Breakdown

• The Framing Encounter — An older Paul confronts Isabelle's attempt to control Arthur's literary legacy.
  • Café Conversation — Paul meets Isabelle in Paris and hears her request about the poems.
  • Demand For Destruction — Isabelle asks Paul to surrender surviving copies for burning.
• Poetry Opens The Door — Arthur's writing establishes the connection that draws him from the provinces into Paul's life.
  • Provincial Manuscript — Arthur sends his poetry to Paul in 1871.
  • Invitation To Paris — Paul impulsively invites Arthur after reading the poems.
• Bourgeois Scandal — Arthur's arrival destabilizes Paul's respectable domestic environment.
  • Family Home — Arthur enters Paul's rich father-in-law's Paris home.
  • Social Provocation — Arthur's manners scandalize the bourgeois household.
• Destructive Desire — Paul's attraction overcomes his marriage and transforms artistic fascination into an unstable affair.
  • Physical Fascination — Paul is seduced by Arthur's body and originality.
  • Abandoned Marriage — Paul deserts his young pregnant wife.
• The Brussels Catastrophe — The lovers' violent itinerancy culminates in a shooting and imprisonment.
  • Itinerant Affair — Arthur and Paul pursue a volatile relationship across Europe.
  • Gunshot And Sentence — Paul shoots Arthur and receives a prison sentence.
• Faith And Failed Reunion — Paul's conversion creates another barrier before the lovers finally separate.
  • Prison Conversion — Paul converts to Christianity while imprisoned.
  • German Parting — Paul unsuccessfully seeks to revive the relationship in Germany.
• Arthur Beyond Literature — After separation, Arthur rejects poetry and pursues an isolated life ending in illness and death.
  • Abyssinian Trading Post — Arthur settles in Abyssinia and runs a trading post.
  • Amputation And Death — Cancer leads to amputation and Arthur's death at thirty-seven.
• Memory Without Closure — The surviving Paul refuses to surrender Arthur's poems and encounters him again through vision.
  • Torn Café Card — Paul secretly tears up Isabelle's card after pretending to agree.
  • Mountain Vision — Absinthe brings Paul a vision of young Arthur claiming eternity.

Directed by

Agnieszka Holland

Key Cast

• Leonardo DiCaprio — Arthur Rimbaud
• David Thewlis — Paul Verlaine
• Romane Bohringer — Mathilde Maute
• Dominique Blanc — Isabelle Rimbaud
• Nita Klein — Rimbaud's Mother