Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Is this movie about a young girl's search for the truth about her parents? Is it about her yearning to become a woman? Or is it just about sex? I'll leave it to you to decide.Liv Tyler is alluring as the young American who returns to Italy to delve into her mother's mysterious past. Jeremy Irons has little to do as her ailing British confidant, and extra support comes from Joseph Fiennes, Sinead Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Stefania Sandrelli, Jean Marais, D.W. Moffett and Donald McCann.Bertolucci's film, from his own original story, gets its strength from the visual. Art direction is inspired and cinematography is picturesque. Little else uplifts.Wednesday, April 26, 2000 - Video

Having seen some of Bernaldo Bertolucci's films, STEALING BEAUTY appears to me as rather a different work. Its content does not seem to offer much to a viewer who expects something ambitious. While seeing the movie, I must admit that I felt disappointed, sometimes even angry with the whole thing; yet, I don't deny that I liked some aspects of it. What surely remained in my memory after I gave a view to STEALING BEAUTY?First, it is definitely Liv Tyler. She is beautiful and sensual in the lead. Her character of Lucy is seemingly innocent, she is called "a virgin" since she waits and waits patiently to find the love of her life. When we see her through the first half of the movie, we discover her, get to know her similarly as we get to know someone in real life. It's like a sort of "striptease of emotions." Lucy's straightforwardness is conveyed in her love to her late mother, Sarah, who had once been to Tuscany before Lucy was born... However, her innocence is not that endless... The lusts and desires take over soon... But concerning Liv Tyler alone in this picture, she is really good and fits to the role. Unforgettable!Second, it is the dreamlike locations that you will not forget. Bertolucci, after his far away exotic movie journeys to China, Sahara Desert and Tibet, comes back to his homeland, to Italy and, more precisely to the beautiful Tuscany where, as many poets wrote, the sun shines more pleasantly, the hills bear a magical power and the people best understand the word "Amore" (Love). Yes, the movie can boast some romantic moments in the marvelous region with its olive trees, picturesque hills and almost heavenly colors.Third, it is for Jeremy Irons that you will not forget the film. He does a great job in the interesting and moving role of seriously ill Alex whom Lucy supplied with the "incredible frivolity of the dying." Irons does his best to express the desire to live, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a change of heart forced by his cruel destiny. Alex is one of these people whom Lucy really trusts.But that is all that talks for the movie's value. If it weren't for the three above aspects, STEALING BEAUTY would be just a sheer waste of time, a film that has nothing to offer, that carries no good message. Its content is not ambitious at all; there are chaotic moments; the action is deadly predictable; there are weak performances, including Carlo Cecchi or Sinead Cusack. I also disliked the many vulgar scenes in which everything appears to be focused on lust and no feeling. As a matter of fact, the entire movie is about sexual desire, which occurs to be provocative, tempting, vulgar, sometimes even deviated. Lucy observes the people she meets, is fascinated by their making love to one another (consider the moment she finds Niccolo with a girl in the park). The final moment is one of the most erotically detailed scenes of cinema and excuses itself by the fact that it is meant to show the first love. A 19-year old virgin who at last takes a man! It is true that it is the first time for both, Lucy and her "vacation lover" but it cannot be called beauty or art. The moments the youngsters smoke marijuana are also vulgar and obscure. Moreover, music is nothing special in this movie, which disappointed me keeping in mind that it could have been so great. Actually, the film is about love affairs in Tuscany...Putting it in a nutshell, STEALING BEAUTY is not a film for everyone. People who know Bertolucci will be shocked by his "difference" here. Ambitious viewers will find it "so so" just average. People who want a movie to carry a message will leave the seat in disappointment. Yet, I don't discourage you to see it. There is some art around these lustful desires, the art of Liv Tyler's girlish beauty, the art of picturesque land of artists and the art of great acting by Jeremy Irons. 4/10

The poetic tale of a girl trapped in her past which keeps her unavailable and sexually closed, and a study of the increasing urges and temptations that she feels pressuring her. Or: the story of who will have sex with a beautiful virgin first. It's a guessing game for the viewer: which one of the many male characters will deflower the Tyler girl? I'm sure Bertolucci sees this in a different light but then again he is a pretentious European director who would summarize the plot in a far more philosophical manner, looking at it from angles that don't exist. This is, after all, the same "genius" who made the ridiculously long, extreme-left-wing "1900", in an attempt to create movie history. (I suppose Depardieu and De Niro getting simultaneously masturbated by a prostitute is what everyone always wanted to see. Real art.) The camera-work, though it captures Tyler's good looks well, makes me suspect that either Bertolucci or the cameraman had lusted after her during the filming; sometimes the camera is so close to her it almost touches her. Rather plot less, but watchable. The dialogues strive for something powerful and meaningful and something... oh, je ne sais pas quoi I should call it - when in fact the dialogue is actually quite unremarkable and sometimes bordering on total malarkey. Anyone who takes this film too seriously is just as hopelessly naïve as Bertolucci hopes the viewer to be.

Back when I watched this movie, I was astonished by the magic it portrayed. It caught you off guard with the sensuality that is managed throughout it, specially with the intimacy level you are able to trespass. The movie not only shares images with the audience, but also very personal thoughts that a lot of girls can relate to in a certain point in their life. I think I watched it in a moment where I could completely see myself in Lucy. I guess that is the main reason I was astounded by the very personal conflict she was in and the honesty in which it's handled. The is also a very slow and realistic timing to it, sometimes nothing really happens, like in real life. The director is apparently not just interested in making big events take place every second, he just lets it flow. He gives you time to think about the various situations and doesn't look to confound you. He allows some space for you to observe the different point of views and make up you own mind about yours. And that is part of the magic of it. I loved it.