Comfort of Strangers

Rating:
Summary: Death in Venice
Review: I have watched this movie via home video three times now and find something new to like about it each time. Released in 1991, this movie is based on an early novel of the same title by Ian McEwan so we are fairly sure from the outset that the characters won't all live happily ever after. Set in Venice and beautifully filmed, the movie is directed by Paul Schrader; the screenplay is written by Harold Pinter so we're obviously not dealing with slouches here.

There are only four characters in the movie, all of whom do commendable acting jobs: Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson, Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren. Everett's good looks sometimes get in the way of his acting-- at least for me-- that does not happen here, however. A lot of appropriate adjectives fit this movie: sinister, scary, shocking, compelling, mysterious, sexually ambiguous, suspenseful. I do not know how much time this movie got in theatres, but it is a very fine movie indeed. It is certainly an artistic success and ought to have had a wide viewing.

This movie reminded me of both DEATH IN VENICE from the Thomas Mann novel and DON'T LOOK NOW. Another beautiful movie filmed in this otherwordly beautiful city about death and dying and/or horror.

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, intriguing, hypnotic, mood piece.
Review: I return to this film at regular intervals as I return to other films such as Woody Allen's MANHATTAN. But where Mr Allen's film is as much watchable for its witty dialogue and characterisation , THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS is watchable for quite a number of different reasons. The overall idea of the story I take it to be is of two lovers from the modern world returning to an older and different culture to try and recapture their private past. If this older culture is a metaphor for their private past then their past is a murky, fluid, labrynthine, decaying place of intrigue and mystery which is how Venice is portrayed in the film. I may be misreading the major idea of the film but to my mind the film has a serious moral side to it. Certainly, the two lovers are not innocents. The male is portrayed as selfish, vain, indulgent , and the female as having abandoned her children, albeit temporarily. They are both self-absorbed and shallow people, looking for something. They find some relief in sexual passion. But after they meet two locals, their holiday changes. Having said that, the two lovers are deliriously good to look at. Rupert Everett must be one of the most beautiful men ever to have graced the screen and, dressed in his casual Armani clothes throughout the film, and in the prime of his youth, he is a visual and sensual treat to behold. Natasha Richardson has a wholesome beauty but her hair is a golden glory . Her Armani clothes also bewitch. The two Venetian locals , Christopher Walken, and Helen Mirren, aristocratic, decadent, sexually deviant, provide an interesting double for the visitors. He in his white silk/linen Armani suit, she in her gowns. The acting by this quartet, is pitch perfect. The dialogue by Harold Pinter weird and wonderful: the film begins and ends with a monologue by Mr Walken about his character's father, a vain man who used to touch up his greying moustache with mascara. And the fans of David Lynch and his TWIN PEAKS will be delighted with the eerie music by master Angelo Badalamenti. Camerawork by Mr Spinotti and sets by Mr Quaranta are resplendently rich. Paul Schrader delivers a mis en scene, a suspense, performances that deserve repeated viewings. It may not be a masterpiece but it reveals a great deal about what film making can be in the hands of gifted artists. Compelling viewing. No flat spots. For film lovers everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Death in Venice
Review: This is an excellent adaptation by Harold Pinter of the McEwan Novel with superb cinematography and an evocation of the eirie atmosphere as well as the incredible beauty of Venice.All four main castmembers put in great performances with Christopher Walken at his dangerous best as the sophisticated yet strangely chilling protagonist.Helen Mirren,Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson are perfectly cast and give faultless performances.The scenes shot on the Lido are especially interesting and bring back memories of Dirk Bogart in Thomas Manns "Death in Venice",which you will find is a surprisingly appropriate reference even though the subject matter is vastly different. I also enjoyed the scenes shot late at night in which Christopher Walken mysteriously introduces an innocent Rupert Everett to some of the seedier nightclubs of Venice. Beautiful shots of the more well -known parts of Venice abound,with a beautiful soundtrack to highlight them. All this plus a spinechilling ending!

A pity this is out of production .I recommend it to the studio that they put this out on DVD.It could become a cult classic

Rating:
Summary: Highly unusual, experimental narrative, strangely appealing
Review: This is one of those movies where you are left wondering long after its over whether you understood what happened and why it happened. I can't say I have much confidence in my own analysis of this plot and these four characters. I think things are left sketchy on purpose too so you feel as disoriented as the characters in the film do. I have my opinions about who did what and why but since the plot never winds down to any final resolution you are never certain whether you were right or not. This kind of film is disturbing because it deals with things that have no easy rational explanation--like the darker side of the psyche and its relation to desire and death. That said the film is a wonder to look at. My take on the film:Rupert Everett & Natasha Richardson are a confused couple who really don't belong together but don't know it yet. Everett is narcissistic and bored with both his wife and his job and perhaps with life itself. Richardson is drawn to Everetts beauty but so is everyone else. Including Walken and Mirren. Walken and Mirren live in an opulent kind of decadence surrounded by PreRaphaelite paintings depicting sensual languor. When Everett and Richardson sleepover at Walken and Mirrens villa they are photographed to look just like one of the paintings on the villas walls as they sleep with bedsheets barely concealing their nude bodies. Walken and Mirren possess all kinds of art objects and they play rough games with each other. Once they spot Everett they know they must involve him in some way. There is strange chemistry between Everett and Walken as soon as they meet and equally strange but less potent chemistry between Everett and Mirren. It seems both desire him. Walken and Mirren strike Everett and Richardson as more than just a little odd and yet they are also very curious about the older couple who are obviously interestd in them. Walken is rude and even violent to Everett and yet he seems to offer himself to this couple willingly submitting to whatever they have in mind for him. The couple obviously ignites something that had been dormant in him. Richardson is stunning in her own right but Everetts desire for her is really directed more toward Walken and Mirren who interest him far more than Richardson. As much as I like this film there are clues which never lead anywhere like the story Walken tells about his father which both initiates the frienship between the couples and is once again repeated at the close of the story. We are never convinced of Walkens authenticity as an aristocrat so everything he says is suspect including the story of his father which reveals nothing really whether it is true or not. I think this little story within the story is a clue that some stories make very little sense and because they make so little sense they continue to haunt the imagination.