"...For Zees Momeeent eez your life!". So speaks the European amalgam of every older American's woman's fantasy, sounding and looking like an escaped character from the cover of a Harlequin romance novel. If this is the kind of character you like, this movie is for you. If not, you're in big trouble.
The quote is read by the object of desire from one of his rare books to his latest conquest;unfortunately, "this moment" he speaks of, and several thousand more just like them, were my life for over two hours, but thankfully, I survived. (Though I did have to literally take a breather half an hour into the film. I had gone with a friend, or I would not have returned).
The reason for the pain is the dialogue, plot, situations, and camerawork, all of which is contrived beyond belief. In the beginning we are introduced to Richard Gere's suburban family and life, with absolutely no feeling that this is a family or anything more than strangers occupying the same house. The kid says all the correct cute and pithy things cliched cute kids do, Richard Gere is warm and fuzzy, and his wife makes breakfast, but there is no warmth or feeling of connection. The dialogue is so horrendous it is difficult to concentrate on the film. The scene where Gere's wife and the hunk meet is the topper; just how windy is New York, anyway? The hurricane I was once in was nothing compared to the wind in this scene, which should have induced a general weather warning to stay indoors at all costs. Instead, she gamely goes out to go shopping, and runs smack into the charming stud who is carrying a stack of 20 books (none of which strangely are blown away by the wind), and she lands on top of him bodily to the point they can barely untangle their limbs from each other. When this stranger invites her up to his flat to fix her skinned knee, naturally she agrees (!), gets fixed up, and starts fantasizing about him after she leaves. We are treated to more pointless scenes of aspirin bottles dropped in toilets accidentally, and retrieved, again for no reason that furthers the plot.
The movie is full of little throw-aways like this that I wish had been thrown away; an example is mom retrieving a huge wad of hard candy from her kid's mouth he can't seem to chew, and then eating it herself. Why? No reason, except that it is supposed to be cute...but it isn't. We are treated continually to extreme and pointless closeups of gas stoves being turned on, hot water being poured, etc., for no apparent reason other than it looks European, and it distracts from the movie. When the two finally get together as we know they will, the scene is anything but sexy, erotic, or romantic, but as contrived as the unlikely way that they meet. When she changes her mind and starts to back out, he practially rapes her until she changes her mind and decides getting raped is hot, hot, hot. This trend is repeated several times in the movie, and does not make for a sympathetic character.
Richard Gere is the best thing in the movie by far, which is a very strange thing for me to say considering that I have never been a Richard Gere fan. But I have to say he does a very good job and watching him was the only palatable thing in the film.
By the end of the film I had stopped being annoyed by Diana's character and was contemplating the mentality of the writer or director; (at least it gave me SOMETHING to do while watching it); which one of them decided to portray women in this fashion? Diana gives them exactly what they wanted, which is a confused, impulsive and rather stupid character; but is this way the writer or Director sees women? Look at their film history and you will see an interesting trend of female portrals.
This is not to say that all women (and men) who have affairs are stupid and unsympathetic; it is the way it is portrayed which is offensive.
The movie (I hate to say it), is unfaithful to its premise, and becomes a thriller half way through, then tries to resolve the betrayal issues in the end by...not resolving them. Again, how pseudo-european.
One critic called the film "very French", but it comes across more as a ham-fisted attempt at being very French, and if there is anything more painful than the effect it produces, I don't know what it is.
I would rather watch Battlefield Earth again *twice* than be subjected to this again. The scary part is, I am serious. The movie could have made a point about betrayal (and forgiveness, which is never touched on) in an intelligent way, but this isn't an intelligent script or director, and the very good actors and excellent performances are wasted, which is a shame.
Two stars for me; Richard Gere's performance makes the two stars himself.
The quote is read by the object of desire from one of his rare books to his latest conquest;unfortunately, "this moment" he speaks of, and several thousand more just like them, were my life for over two hours, but thankfully, I survived. (Though I did have to literally take a breather half an hour into the film. I had gone with a friend, or I would not have returned).
The reason for the pain is the dialogue, plot, situations, and camerawork, all of which is contrived beyond belief. In the beginning we are introduced to Richard Gere's suburban family and life, with absolutely no feeling that this is a family or anything more than strangers occupying the same house. The kid says all the correct cute and pithy things cliched cute kids do, Richard Gere is warm and fuzzy, and his wife makes breakfast, but there is no warmth or feeling of connection. The dialogue is so horrendous it is difficult to concentrate on the film. The scene where Gere's wife and the hunk meet is the topper; just how windy is New York, anyway? The hurricane I was once in was nothing compared to the wind in this scene, which should have induced a general weather warning to stay indoors at all costs. Instead, she gamely goes out to go shopping, and runs smack into the charming stud who is carrying a stack of 20 books (none of which strangely are blown away by the wind), and she lands on top of him bodily to the point they can barely untangle their limbs from each other. When this stranger invites her up to his flat to fix her skinned knee, naturally she agrees (!), gets fixed up, and starts fantasizing about him after she leaves. We are treated to more pointless scenes of aspirin bottles dropped in toilets accidentally, and retrieved, again for no reason that furthers the plot.
The movie is full of little throw-aways like this that I wish had been thrown away; an example is mom retrieving a huge wad of hard candy from her kid's mouth he can't seem to chew, and then eating it herself. Why? No reason, except that it is supposed to be cute...but it isn't. We are treated continually to extreme and pointless closeups of gas stoves being turned on, hot water being poured, etc., for no apparent reason other than it looks European, and it distracts from the movie. When the two finally get together as we know they will, the scene is anything but sexy, erotic, or romantic, but as contrived as the unlikely way that they meet. When she changes her mind and starts to back out, he practially rapes her until she changes her mind and decides getting raped is hot, hot, hot. This trend is repeated several times in the movie, and does not make for a sympathetic character.
Richard Gere is the best thing in the movie by far, which is a very strange thing for me to say considering that I have never been a Richard Gere fan. But I have to say he does a very good job and watching him was the only palatable thing in the film.
By the end of the film I had stopped being annoyed by Diana's character and was contemplating the mentality of the writer or director; (at least it gave me SOMETHING to do while watching it); which one of them decided to portray women in this fashion? Diana gives them exactly what they wanted, which is a confused, impulsive and rather stupid character; but is this way the writer or Director sees women? Look at their film history and you will see an interesting trend of female portrals.
This is not to say that all women (and men) who have affairs are stupid and unsympathetic; it is the way it is portrayed which is offensive.
The movie (I hate to say it), is unfaithful to its premise, and becomes a thriller half way through, then tries to resolve the betrayal issues in the end by...not resolving them. Again, how pseudo-european.
One critic called the film "very French", but it comes across more as a ham-fisted attempt at being very French, and if there is anything more painful than the effect it produces, I don't know what it is.
I would rather watch Battlefield Earth again *twice* than be subjected to this again. The scary part is, I am serious. The movie could have made a point about betrayal (and forgiveness, which is never touched on) in an intelligent way, but this isn't an intelligent script or director, and the very good actors and excellent performances are wasted, which is a shame.
Two stars for me; Richard Gere's performance makes the two stars himself.