Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- sensuous
- contemplative
- quiet evening
- literary romance night
What critics said
Critics broadly found the simple love triangle diminished by an excessively slow, wearisome art-film treatment.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Hervé and the Japanese woman communicate through letters despite being unable to speak to each other.
Hervé repeatedly travels from nineteenth-century France to Japan and becomes obsessed with an inaccessible woman.
Silk production, clandestine cargo, period costumes, and carefully composed French and Japanese settings dominate the film's visual design.
Hélène begins to suspect Hervé as his recurring Japanese journeys and correspondence intensify his hidden obsession.
Films like Silk, and why
The English Patient
lush period romance, cross-cultural longing, and restrained melodrama
The Lover
unspoken desire, historical displacement, and painterly romantic drama
Atonement
literary period romance shaped by social constraint and emotional secrecy
Movie Details
- Director
- François Girard
- Release Date
- 2007-09-14
- Runtime
- 107 min
- Rating
- 5.8 / 10 (225)
Cast
- Keira Knightley
- Michael Pitt
- Alfred Molina
- Koji Yakusho
- Sei Ashina
- Miki Nakatani
- Kenneth Welsh
- Callum Keith Rennie
- Mark Rendall
- Martha Burns
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Silk about?
- A French silk smuggler’s journeys to Japan awaken a forbidden, wordless obsession that strains his marriage.
- What is Silk like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Silk as slow, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Silk violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Silk as mild.
- What did critics think of Silk?
- Critics broadly found the simple love triangle diminished by an excessively slow, wearisome art-film treatment.
- Which films are like Silk?
- Films with a similar feel include The English Patient, The Lover, and Atonement.
- How long is Silk?
- Silk runs 107 minutes.
- Where can I watch Silk?
- In United States, Silk is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
