Círculo de dos

Tatum O'Neal has been movie selective and has had a checkered past.

I truly enjoy every time I see Circle of Two. When I expect the cliches I see from watching numerous films, I do not get them--even when they approach them.

This is a doomed love, but one that is real. Very few films view this aspect of love without being sappy or swallowing themselves in sexual release.

I am biased toward Tatum O'Neal as an actress, so my comments are bent toward her as such. Yet, there is something in this film that makes me understand emotional truths.

I wish I could explain the importance of this film...

Although the movie itself could have been a bit better in design the message was so very clear. This was a love story between two people old and young. true love is ageless and timeless if it is true. An old almost waisted painter finds new spirit and life again when he meets a very very young girl who believed in him and he soon begins to paint once more. She brought life and light back into his world in doing so she falls in love with the person who gave her kindness, tenderness and treated her with respect and honor. I am very glad that the director did not allow and physical relationship between the two in the movie although the feelings between them were there.

Granted I am a romantic and i loved this movie from the first time I had seen it.

Circle of Two stars Richard Burton and Tatum O'Neal as a 60-is artist and sixteen year old girl caught in unusual love. There both quite good here, the story is handled very tastefully. I recently re-watched this movie after many years and was pleasantly surprised at how good it really is.

Is it a great, can't miss, movie? No, but its certainly much better than its maligned reputation would have you believe. The love is pure and platonic, though sexual desire is clearly felt by both. Burton is good, often the looks of songful agony on Burton weather lined face hit you straight in the heart, he clearly realizes age is upon him and wonders at his own motives in a romantic friendship with a impressionable girl. Particulay the scene in the park, where St. Clair (Burton) tells the story of William Blake, is excellent and allegorical.

O'Neal was probably at her best here, not too far removed from her Oscar-winning performance in "Paper Moon". She certainly plays another "say-it-straight" Kid here. And she does it well.

The score for the film is quite good and really lasts with you. Sort of like "Endless Love" There is a scene of violence in the film and some tasteful nudity, still I think this is fine for mature teens and adults. If you only know Circle of Two by its unkind reviews, check it out. It's worth your time and effort to see something different.

In Toronto, the fifteen year-old student and aspirant writer Sarah Norton (Tatum O'Neal) meets the sixty year old painter Ashley St. Clair (Richard Burton) in a cafeteria while hiding from her stalker boy-friend Paul (Michel Wincott). The former successful Ashley has stopped painting for ten years and accepts to read the poems that Sarah has written. They start seeing each other at his studio and Sarah falls in love with him. Ashley feels a platonic love for Sarah that becomes his muse and he decides to paint again. When Paul snoops Sarah in Ashley's studio, he misunderstands their relationship and tries to rape Sarah in a cornfield but she self-defends with a stone hitting Paul in the head. Sarah's parents discover that their daughter has secret encounters with Ashley and lock her in her room. On her sixteenth birthday, Sarah finds that Ashley has moved to New York and decides to travel to the Big Apple to meet him.

"Circle of Two" is a wonderful and sensitive unconventional love story. The last work of Jules Dassin discloses this coming of age romance between a teenager and an old man through a tight direction without any sort of exploitation despite the polemic theme. Tatum O'Neal is fantastic in the role of a girl that falls in love with a man that could be her grandfather. The soundtrack gives an additional touch of class to this wonderful film. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Círculo de 2 Amantes" ("Círcle of 2 Lovers")

I can't say I agree with the writer from England, but then we may have a different view on this film. To start with, I feel that this was one of Tatum's best performances of her film career. While only 17 during filming, she showed the acting ability of an "old soul" and her depth of feeling, not to mention her wit, was outstanding. Richard Burton played his part in an appropriately low keyed manner, which only added to the romantic air of the whole movie. The subject matter is hard for many people to swallow, but the fact of life is that while justice is supposed to be blind, love most certainly is and it can play hell with those involved. If it weren't for the age difference, we would be discussing a later version of Love Story. Maybe the O'Neals are trying to corner the market on love stories. One other item that I disagree with is during the nude scene, Tatum didn't actually offer herself to Richard, but she asked that he paint her in the nude as he had done with a prior lover. Be ye male or female, A Circle Of Two, is certainly made for those die-hard romantics, so if you have seen Love Story and didn't much care for it, then you won't care for this one either. No sex and the nude scene is very brief, so don't watch it for either of those items. However, if you love a good love story and you aren't put off by peoples age, then pull up and chair and rent this one, if you are lucky enough to find it.