Les âges du coeur

When I read the back of the video sleeve and realised what Circle Of Two was actually about, I was left rather worried regarding what I was about to watch. A 60 year-old artist falling in love with a 15 year-old girl? The very thought of it made me a bit queasy, a bit nervous. But I couldn't believe for one minute that a dignified actor like Richard Burton would be caught in a film passionately romping around in bed with a teenaged girl. Nor could I believe that a promising young starlet like Tatum O'Neal would stoop to such scenes. Once I got round to watching the film nothing about it was as exploitative, tasteless or controversial as I'd initially feared. It wasn't particularly good either. Just a quiet, forgettable love story about ill-suited lovers.... absorbing enough to sit through but not provocative enough to stick in the memory for long afterwards.

Sarah Norton (Tatum O'Neal) is a bright kid from an affluent family. She occasionally skips school and does "daring" things like sneaking into porn movie screenings at the local adult-movie theatre. She meets a local artist, Ashley St. Clair (Richard Burton), who was once a renowned painter but hasn't painted a stroke in ten years after the critics were unjustly savage towards his work. Somehow, an unlikely affection develops between them which soon blossoms into full-scale love. But Sarah's parents disapprove and take vehement measures to drive a wedge between the mismatched lovers.

The nearest the film comes to over-stepping the mark is a scene in which a naked O'Neal offers herself to Burton in his art studio, upon which he angrily orders her to get dressed. Luckily, Jules Dassin makes the scene quite sensitive and tasteful, directing it as a moment of character development rather than an opportunity for titillation. Throughout the remainder of the film, the controversial issues and themes are dealt with relatively tamely. Burton is pretty good as the artist whose age and experience warn him that to fall in love with the girl - and let her love him in return - is bound to end unhappily. It was probably a hard role to play, but he is honest and convincing in each scene. O'Neal as the teenaged love interest is OK, if a bit wooden with some of her delivery. Michael Wincott (later a scene stealer as Guy of Gisbourne in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves) has a small but significant role as O'Neal's outrageously jealous ex-boyfriend. Circle Of Two is a fair story of forbidden passion and unworkable love. It works its way through a series of sad and poignant events to an inevitably forlorn conclusion, weaving a story that is interesting without ever being irresistible. It ain't a classic, but it's not too bad.

The relationship between a burnt-out painter of 60 and the schoolgirl who inspires him to start working again. She falls for him, he keeps her at arm's length, but the strain of pubescent desire is too much and she starts to crack. Tatum O'Neal is lovely in this film. She's not a lazy actress, she simply doesn't ham it up like today's teen players. The sequence where she hopes to seduce painter Richard Burton by disrobing in his studio is quite sad (she wants to surprise him, he surprises her by getting angry). The scene with Tatum and Richard hanging out with a group of her school-friends is wonderful (none of the girls judge him or second-guess her) and O'Neal is sweet promising to return to Burton as quickly as she can ("I'll break all speed records!" she tells him). There are no "Lolita" overtones here. Tatum plays a fairly normal teenager who develops a crush on a fascinating man who is much older. Her heart is bound to get broken, and Burton tries his best to steer her through this. It's a simple, no-frills Canadian drama that will appeal to romantics and young women who may have experienced a crush like this along the way. **1/2 from ****

This is a film about romance - deep romance - and it has stayed with me since I first saw it many years ago. There is nothing at all tasteless in the depiction of the relationship between Ashley Sinclair (Richard Burton) and Sara (Tatum O' Neal). It has a lot of purity - partly, I suppose because their love was unconsummated physically - yet, it really was infinitely consummated mentally and emotionally in a way. Two people in love doing, one supposes, the "right" thing - the ending of this film is very heart-wrenching for anyone who has ever had to make difficult choices in love. I thought that both Richard Burton and Tatum O'Neal were perfect in their roles, and their love was highly believable. I also thought the title song was very memorable - there have been many times I have heard it in my head over the years. A great love story, that, unfortunately, not that many people know about.

Nowadays, sixty years old isn't as old as sixty was thirty-five years ago. Sixty in 1981 was what seventy is now. That being explained, I don't really know why Richard Burton's character in Circle of Two was written to be sixty years old, when he has a romance with a fifteen-year-old Tatum O'Neal. If he was supposed to be fifty, the age difference would have been significant enough, and Burton was only fifty-five when he made the movie. They gave him great shocks of white hair to make him look especially old.

If you don't like May-December romances, don't watch this movie. I definitely don't have a problem with them, so I actually liked this movie. It's very tastefully done, and everyone's attitude on the love affair is understandable. In one scene, Tatum's mother says, "He's old enough to be your father!" Tatum replies, "He's old enough to be your father." It's hilarious and troublesome and confusing at the same time. I like movies like this, so if you're like me, go ahead and add Circle of Two, to your weekend watch list.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to adult content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it. Also, there may or may not be a rape scene (but it has nothing to do with Richard Burton).

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.