Rating: 
Summary: "Damaged people are dangerous...they know they can survive"
Review: DAMAGE takes a powerful look at beyond-your-control obsession and it's consequences. Not since BODY HEAT have I been more taken with a femme fatale. As many other reviewers have pointed out, the title is loaded with meaning. If you've seen this film as many times as I have, you might come to the conclusion that there could be no better title. The line "Remember, damaged people are dangerous..." is the major theme of this film. Judging from some of the negative reviews, this movie has infuriated some, who primarily say they didn't find it believable or who have no sympathy for the two characters caught up in the affair. I must argue that this definitely IS a five star film. Perhaps the key to savoring it is to look at the social class of these characters and the psychology of everyone involved. I would go so far as to suggest you watch it twice. The first time, watch it for the thoroughly intriguing story. The second time, (since you now know what's going to happen) study Jeremy Irons and Juliet Binoche's body language. Consider the type of man Fleming is at the film's beginning and who he becomes. Concentrate on secondary characters like Mrs Fleming and her daughter and Fleming's secretary. You'll see how they were used to convey the sense of mistrust and foreboding. The appearance of Anna's mother is also compelling. The warning she gives Fleming in the car does much to address how important body language is in this film. Most American films seem very heavy handed when dealing with matters of the heart and culturally American actors seem to be obtuse when conveying passion. For the most part, they seem completely incapable of the delicate sensuality so necessary for a story like this to unravel. The combination of director Louis Malle and artists Juliet Binoche, Jeremy Irons and Miranda Richardson (none of them American) should clue you in to the promise that this film can deliver. DAMAGE starring Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Meg Ryan and Gwyneth Paltrow would have been a mess. This film relies on visual sensuality and needed a femme fatale as strong as Juliette Binoche (whose beauty is as legendary as Ingrid Bergman's) to make the obsession plausible. Jeremy Irons is thoroughly genius and believable as a man who is practically dying of ennui until the mysterious Anna awakens him. His passion for her so consuming, that even when he has lost everything, her photograph becomes the focal part of his dwelling. Miranda Richardson's performance is subtle but monumental in establishing the propriety and good breeding of Mrs Fleming. She practically steals the whole show at film's end. During her outburst she is hysterical with rage but manages to tell Fleming "you are not a bad man...". The importance of this again, shows how Fleming's need for Anna completely outweighs his conscience. I wholeheartedly recommend DAMAGE to anyone who says "it's been a long time since I've seen a good movie." I would give this film ten stars if I could. In addition, you may want to check out the book by Josephine Hart, whose written images were so vivid that Louis Malle insisted on bringing the book to life.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: Emotionally powerful performances in this sensuous and erotic story of the destruction caused by unbridled passion and obsession.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely realistic
Review: Extremely well acted, great movie. Damage is both compelling and disturbing in its realism and psychological content. The intimate scenes between Irons' and Binoche's characters are some of the few that I can actually watch without laughing--the scenes are very mature and believable, as opposed to movies that seem to pander to a goofy teenage audience. The obsessive attraction is also very believable. The first time I watched this film a couple years ago, I too felt somewhat as some critics do--that there was no reason for the obsession between the two. However, having actually been there (unfortunately), I now appreciate even more the seemingly "inexplicable" nature of obsessions. There is often no "one" reason. Just many subtle nuances and coincidental timing that happen in real life--and that Malle has portrayed in this film as beautifully and disturbingly realistic as possible.
Rating:
Summary: Be Loved or Be Passionate?
Review: How do you want your life would be? To be normally life a happy family, with beautiful wife, nice children, good career, well fortuned? Or you want your life to be passionate, taking risks and be prepared for that? Dr. Stephen Fleming (you may not know his name from this novel, but when you watch the movie, you'll easily know it) had it all that any man would dream. Wife, children, career, fortune, loving family, loving father in law, basically everything. Until one day, a mysterious lady of his son's lover came to his life, a damaged lady with a strength to survive. Like winding a magic wound, she mesmerized her boyfriend's father to obey her wishes to have the affair. What a woman this Anna Barton. But, it's the matter of choice, which one do you want? To be eagerly live your life or just do like any other else want you to do.
Rating:
Summary: Erotic yet painful, spare yet lush
Review: I am always wary of telling people that this is one of my favourite books due to the nature of its story - a man who falls in lust with his son's fiancee, with horrifying results. And i am not sure that it is the story i like. Rather, it is Hart's beautiful prose.
The writing here is so economic, yet wonderfully descriptive - the small room that becomes the lovers tryst-loft, and the diary with a ribbon that marks when they will next meet is covered is simple yet evocotive prose. The opening page (of my copy anyway) would have to be some of the best paragraphs of prose in the English language. I would recommend the book for this page alone.This book reminds me of a lot of some French Erotic literature (i.e. The Story of O) more than any British writer.
This is a short book, so if you read it and don't like it you won't have wasted too much of your time on something you didn't like. But if you are like me, and can sometimes appreciate a book as much for how it is saying something as for what it is saying, i believe that Damage will have something for you. Either way, it is sure to touch you, by stirring some hidden corner of your soul, whether that is a corner you wanted to know or not.
Rating:
Summary: Better than "Caddyshack"!
Review: I don't think I have ever seen such a funny movie in my life. You will love this! The guy who gave Glenn Close too much insulin in another movie is back to cause some more damage, this time to his son and future daughter-in-law. Watching them try to get away with their sordid stuff is hysterical. It's like the Three Stooges for grownups. Buy this movie. It's funny. Then try it at home.
Rating:
Summary: Better than "Caddyshack"!
Review: I don't think I have ever seen such a funny movie in my life. You will love this! The guy who gave Glenn Close too much insulin in another movie is back to cause some more damage, this time to his son and future daughter-in-law. Watching them try to get away with their sordid stuff is hysterical. It's like the Three Stooges for grownups. Buy this movie. It's funny. Then try it at home.
Rating: 
Summary: "Damaged people are dangerous--they know they can survive"
Review: I finally watched "Damage"--a Louis Malle film. It's the story of doctor turned politician, Stephen Fleming (played by Jeremy Irons) who becomes entangled--physically and emotionally--with his son's girlfriend, Anna (Juliette Binoche). Anna introduces herself (without her boyfriend) to Stephen at a party. Long meaningful stares are exchanged, and things heat up from here. Numerous sexual encounters take place and this involves a kitchen appliance, and various contortionist poses. At one point, I even expected Stephen's out-of-control passion to knock Anna unconscious. I don't dismiss a film normally just because it's about some rather unpleasant, selfish people. In fact, unpleasant, selfish people can be a lot of fun to watch on the screen. However, in "Damage" there is really no introspection or character development. True, we gain a little insight into Anna's rather sordid past when we hear the story about Anna's brother and see Anna's indiscreet, tactless mother. Also the idea is clear that Stephen has spent a lifetime trying to control things, and all he's managed to do as a consequence is allow these impossible passions to build up until Anna pops up and unleashes him. These elements are supposed to explain their behaviour, but to me the explanation was inadequate. I saw Jeremy Irons playing his role with relish, but Binoche was miscast as Anna. Binoche was too flat and emotionally dead--I seriously doubted she could inspire a haiku--let alone Stephen's panting passion. Apart from a couple of brief "no, we really mustn't" scenes and Irons saying "we've got to find a structure for this," there was no development or explanation of the taboo-ness of the situation. Given the scenario, the justification and moral wiggling would have been far more interesting than the sex scenes that were supposed to spice everything up. I found the sex scenes ludicrous and laughed out loud, but I saw the film through until the end as I knew the denouement would be explosive and messy. Miranda Richardson's performance as the wife, Ingrid, was excellent. She's such a versatile actress, and she seemed to be the only female character who was not embarrassed to be in this film--displacedhuman
Rating: 
Summary: Believable except for the protangist
Review: I found the book believable except for the protangist. It was really like the cuckalod women trying to write the story from the adulatorous point of view. It's hard for them to see the motivation in the other women. She did, however, get the family part right.
Rating: 
Summary: not my favorite obsession film
Review: I got this film having adored Jeremy Irons' extraordinary performances in "Dead Ringers" and "M. Butterfly." I have also found much in Louis Malle's work to be very compelling.. However, this seemingly surefire movie about a man's obsession with his son's fiancee fell unfortunately short of my expectations. In my opinion, the only thing that held this film together was Irons' credibility as a sexually obsessed man (hence his perfect cast as Humbert Humbert in Adrian Lyne's "Lolita") and the sex scenes, which actually felt authentic and erotically charged. There really was no plot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the characters' desire for one another struck me as unfounded and at times ridiculous. That said, there were some interesting incestuous subplots and Juliette Binoche was good as the beautiful and mysterious fiancee.
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