Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris - a renowned ... Read allSet during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris - a renowned American journalist based in Paris.Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris - a renowned American journalist based in Paris.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 8 nominations
- Director
- Writers
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAll the proceeds from the film's theatrical run went to nonprofit organizations, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation and other human rights and humanitarian groups.
- GoofsNear the end, Michael, as the narrator says that Yeva joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (actually, he says "Women's Army Corps, a common movie mistake) after the Japanese attack on Pearl, but she is wearing a U.S. Marine Corps uniform.
- Quotes
Mikael Boghosian: God help me, I want revenge.
Ana: I don't care. Hey, our revenge will be to survive.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Intent to Destroy: Death, Denial & Depiction (2017)
- SoundtracksThe Promise
Written and Performed by Chris Cornell
I chose to watch this film partly because I am a history buff and partly due to the strong leading actors. But it was immediately apparent that this film vehicle is not at all worthy of their acting abilities. At times it was almost painful to see how difficult it was for them to inject any life or believability into their characters. And it is very hard to connect emotionally with characters who do not seem real.
Let's start with one of main characters - Ana. She is a French-educated Armenian governess for a prominent Armenian family in Constantinople. She is also having an affair with the American journalist. Now it is very doubtful that this affair was secret -- word got around fast in those days -- but how is it that her employer allows such a loose woman (this was 1914, after all) to educate his children AND even tells his nephew Mikhael that she would make a good match for him? Not believable. The other main characters could have been done well if they had been written well. But the film was so intent on giving us the details of the historical conflict between the Ottomans and the Armenians in their empire, that there really wasn't time to properly develop the characters. They were shallow at best and I just could not get to the point of catharsis. I usually cry in films depicting such tragic and moving events, but to my surprise, I did not shed a tear until the end when the narrator relates the wedding of Mikhael's niece and we read the words of William Saroyan.
So if the intent of the film was to tell us all of the events of the Ottoman-Armenian conflict, then give us a documentary please! I would actually be interested to learn about why the conflict started. Was there a Hitler lurking in Anatolia? Or was it a bit more complicated than that? Or, if the film maker really wants to have a love triangle (or quadrilateral since there were actually 4 lovers if you count Mikhael's wife) AND educate us at the same time, please try a mini series. Then there would be time for character development and the sweep of history.
The director of photography did not help this film either. Some of the outdoor scenes are shockingly bright and seemed very out-of-step with the subject matter. And the editing? I am no film-maker, but there seemed to be some very sloppy editing going on in the battle scenes especially. All in all I got the impression that this film was rushed into production. Why? I really would like to know.
It is truly a pity that trolls posted 1-star ratings in the thousands before the film was even in wide release. While the film is of poor quality, I do not think it deserves such a low rating. But the thousands of 10-star ratings? This film is so far from perfect that the high ratings seem like a mockery. What, have these people never seen a truly well-made film?
- kamlis
- May 19, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
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- Also known as
- Lời Hứa
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $90,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,224,288
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,095,718
- Apr 23, 2017
- Gross worldwide
- $12,448,676
- Runtime2 hours 13 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1