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Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Tony Martin, Noni Hazelhurst ... see more see more... , Tony Martin (II)

A free-spirited art student and a roguish poet find their addiction to each other taking a back seat to their taste for heroin in director Neil Armfield's intensely personal tale of recreational drug ... read more read more...use gone bad. When Candy (Abbie Cornish) and Dan (Heath Ledger) first fell in love, they both thought they had found all they ever needed in life. Despite financial hardships, the pair sustained themselves on the vibrant life force that burned blindingly bright as it promised an invincible future. Their intoxicating romance a blissful altered state of which heroin played only a minor role in the beginning, Candy and Dan soon decide to strengthen their bond by marrying and starting a family. Their manufactured Eden gradually becomes an uncontrollable inferno, however, as Candy's parents slowly pull away due to the pain of witnessing their daughter's slow slide into oblivion, and even chemistry professor Casper (Geoffrey Rush), who was at first complicit in their experimentation, admits that Candy and Dan's blind devotion to the drug is now forever ingrained into their commitment to one and other. As the marriage deteriorates right along with Candy's increasingly fragile mental state, Dan must make the difficult decision to either rescue her or pull away in hopes that the clarity of separation will finally empower her to break free of the addiction that binds her. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

77% liked it

23,983 ratings

Critics

49% liked it

74 critics

R, 1 hr. 48 min.

Directed by: Neil Armfield

Release Date: November 17, 2006

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DVD Release Date: March 27, 2007

Stats: 2,388 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,388)

  • EightThirty
    July 17, 2010
    EightThirty
    17/07/2010 (TELEVISION)

    A pretty emotional flick. This film took me downhill with them and I couldn't stand the hopelessness.

    It's a terrific drama and I love these ones that are able to extract your feelings.

    I felt this was also educational in a way because now I'm aware of... read more the impact that drugs can have.
  • jlewis07
    August 4, 2009
    jlewis07
    It's no Requiem for a Dream, but it's an effective viewing of the price you pay when addicted to drugs. It has good performances too. After watching this and Requiem in a short period of time, I don't think I can possibly even imagine doing drugs in any form. These films have don... read moree their job.
  • ebs90
    September 5, 2008
    ebs90
    Candy is a poetic yet very raw and no-nonsense portrait of drug addiction, as lived by Daniel and Candace. Both are very much in love with each other and carry idealistic existences in which drugs play a very central role. As is to be expected, everything is gold-showered an sug... read morear-coated and whatnot during the first months of their relationship: they have money, they love each other, and since they haven't tried to stop using they don't see how difficult it will be. As Candy and Daniel start settling down and spending more time with each other and atempting to build a life, their addiction starts looking like a problem that will make them humilliate themselves for money, and humilliate each other when the pain is so big that they just have to take it out on the other.

    The chemistry between Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish is reason #1 so watch this film. Together they are intoxicating, epic, and yet beleivable. Individually, the performances are powerful and heatbreaking: Candy's transformtion from a sweet idealist who dabbles in drugs for fun to an angry addict whose hate towards the world surfaces when she is out of money is chilling. Heath Ledger's character might be less aggressive, but even when he is at his most subdued Ledger manages to communicate his state of mind to us. He adores Candy more than drugs, and that is a lot to say, but he's absolutely hopeless at anything else.

    The story itself is nothing new- the message has already been spoken both by Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream: drugs are fun in the beginning but then awful things start to happen. But Candy brings that universal problem to a very small and intimate scale, in which drug addiction has the same effect on a loving relationship as would an bomb if it fell on their house. Candy doesn't glamorize drug use, yet it doesn't use any tricks to make it more dramatic, but it often makes use of poetry voice-overs and melancholy, hazy cinematography to create an atmosphere that is between hallucination and reality.

    The film succeeds at making people care, hate, worry, pity Candy and Daniel, and that is mainly because of the excellent lead performances. Any fan of Heath Ledger should watch Candy, as should anyone who wants to watch a good performance-driven film.
  • sononothing
    August 14, 2008
    sononothing
    Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish star as two twentysomething heroine addicts in Australian director Neil Armfield's Candy, the story of how drugs affect the couple love and lives. Cornish plays the title character who has fallen for the poet Dan and also proceeds to fall into the d... read morerug induced haze that Dan has slipped into. Ledger is amazing as Dan, the drug addict who doesn't know how to do anything except write poems and score smack. Geoffrey Rush also graces us once again playing Dan's father figure Casper, a drug creating organic chemist who looks after the pair in a weird way.
    Candy gracefully tells the story of how this pair fell in and out of love with eachother and how drugs were always the underlying theme throughout their relationship. They seem unable to function without the fix almost as if heroine is the glue that holds them together. A depressing view, yet not to the point of being preachy. This film would probably work better than many of the Just Say No ads that have ran for the last 20 years. Begging, mooching, stealing, and hooking are all ways of life for the pair as they go through their young lives in a daze. A sad, thought provoking look that deserves some attention.
  • bhobbs1985
    August 11, 2008
    bhobbs1985
    This movie was great.

    It's one of the closest movies to reality that I have seen in a long time. A couple tries to rationalize there relationship and love for each other around the love of heroin. It's hard to watch at times because it can really get you thinking about lifes r... read moreealities but makes for a great movie.

    The only bad part about this movie I found is the ending - it's virtually not there? I have not read the book but did the author forget to write an ending chapter or something! It pretty much stops mid movie leaving you with more questions about the outcome then answers.

    I found it slightly annoying but the rest of the movie was so good that it still deserves a top notch rating.
  • yona71
    July 13, 2008
    yona71
    Brilliant film that I couldn't take my eyes and ears away from. Heath Ledger turns in yet another brilliant performance as the occasional poet yet constant heroine addict Dan, as well as Abbie Cornish's mesmerizing portrayal of the lost artist, Candy.
    Powerful film that really p... read moreacks a punch in a rain of sorrow.
  • gor41
    May 19, 2008
    gor41
    Well played but well trodden path through the ups and downs of drug addiction. Cornish and Ledger work well together but I wish talented theps would give up proving their range on tired stories like this.
  • Julie
    January 27, 2008
    Julie
    God that was depressing. Great acting, though.
  • dunmyer
    August 13, 2007
    dunmyer
    [size=3]"Candy" has special qualities. It is filmed beautifully by director [b]Neil Armfield[/b], and it has two very special actors, [b]Heath Ledger[/b] and [b]Abbie Cornish[/b]. [/size]

    [img]http://www.salzburger-fenster.at/dbgfx/artikel/4723_1_filmtipp_02.jpg[/img]

    [size=3... read more]Ledger is of course now a household name, due to his titanic performance in "Brokeback Mountain." Cornish is probably not too far behind. She reeks of star quality as well as serious artistry. The film also has the always engaging and entertaining [b]Geoffrey Rush[/b] in a supporting role. [/size][size=3]But the story is just too simple. There's so little going on. We meet a young, beautiful, artistic couple with a very profound connection -- they seem to see only each other in the universe. The film very successfully conveys the intensity of this bond.[/size]

    [size=3]But all we watch them do is shoot heroin and then struggle to get money to do it again. It's hard for me to believe that there still are talented filmmakers who think heroin addiction is interesting. I suppose there are interesting things still left to say about it, but this film doesn't say anything at all about it. It just depicts it, as if watching people do it still is intriguing. [/size]

    [size=3]Along with the requisite needle scenes, we have the obligatory eyes-rolling-back-in-the-head scenes, with of course the swelling of music. Then we have the scenes where the junkie degrades him or herself by doing sexual favors to get drug money. And how could we forget the vomiting, trembling, and sweating sequences when the junkie tries to go off the stuff. It's all here![/size]

    [size=3]For a talented director and actors to end up producing such unbelievably hackneyed material as if it's not been seen a billion times already is really befuddling to me. [/size]

    [img]http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/061114/061114_candy_vmed_4p.widec.jpg[/img]

    [size=3]There is one scene towards the end that I found gripping. The female character is descending into some sort of nervous breakdown. One of the last things she does is take all her lipstick and nail polish and absolutely cover the interior of her home with poems written on the walls. Every inch of wallspace is covered with handwriting. Part of what she wrote is read in voice-over, and it's superb poetry. Too bad moments like these were so few and far between.[/size]
  • kiriyamakazou
    June 12, 2007
    kiriyamakazou
    Another look at the emotinal destruction caused by drugs. Very similar to Requiem for A Dream, however manages not to emulate it by generally keeping the tone more subtle. It's never preachy and the performances are incredible. This film also highlights where once the drugs were ... read morejust something the couple did, they are soon controlled and defined by the drugs until their personalities are just a memory.

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Critic Reviews

Terry Lawson
January 12, 2007
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Undeniably affecting. Full Review

Kerry Lengel
December 30, 2006
Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic

There's no moment that truly feels original until Candy's climactic breakdown at the end of the movie. By then, it's too late. Full Review

Ruthe Stein
December 15, 2006
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

For all its depiction of a descent into drug addiction, Candy is filled with surprisingly sweet moments and goes down more easily than seems possible given the subject matter. Full Review

Colin Covert
December 14, 2006
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Both actors are immensely impressive, so perversely appealing that you want them to survive their addiction and keep on with their terrific performances.

Steven Rea
December 1, 2006
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

There's a formula here, and it's not the liquid being shot into popping veins.

Christy Lemire
December 1, 2006
Christy Lemire, Associated Press

...Because we never had a strong handle on who all these people were at the beginning, it's difficult to care about whether they're capable of redemption in the end. Full Review

J. R. Jones
December 1, 2006
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Unfortunately too many elements of this Australian feature have been recycled from other addiction stories... Full Review

Wesley Morris
December 1, 2006
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

It's one thing for a movie to show us the perils of addiction. It's another for it to give us two people who can't seem to find any joy in it. Full Review

Carina Chocano
November 30, 2006
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times

... for a druggie movie, "Candy" is surprisingly dynamic and involving ... Full Review

Joe Morgenstern
November 30, 2006
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

As good as the main performances are, they're inevitably flatter than the language of the film's narrator. Full Review

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