Proposition indécente

Adrian Lyne does what he does beautifully, whatever that is. The gorgeous look of his films hide a serious lack of depth and a rather Machiavellian knack for attracting us, the natives, with shiny pretty things. We fall for it every time, or almost, we couldn't swallow Lolita, oh no, he should have left Lolita alone and shouldn't have made that outrageous statement, remember? "James Mason was all wrong in Kubrick's version of the Nabokov novel" Do me a favor Mr. Lyne, stick to "Flashdance" and suffer all the way to the bank. Sorry, I lost myself for a moment. Where was I? Oh yes "Inidecent Proposal" Imagine that premise in the hands of someone with serious intentions. A young happy couple and the devil. The stranger who, incapable of bearing goodness and happiness, decides to destroy it. Aware of their needs, he presents a solution to their problems. He doesn't care for her, he cares about their destruction. Juicy stuff. But, although Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson are great as the perfect foil for the devil's designs, the devil is Robert Redford. Mr. Redford is a personal hero of mine, instead of resting in his laurels, Sundance, the environment, Ordinary People, Quiz Show and so on and so on. But, I heard him say in a Charlie Rose interview that he would like to play different characters, dangerous, dark but nobody offered him that kind of part. What about this one Bob? This was a part that could transform this pretty candy floss into a classic. It needed guts. Where was the darkness? I looked into Redford eyes and I saw Redford. I would have gone with him for much less than a million bucks because in spite of the fact that involved accepting an indecent proposal there was no danger, really. He allows himself to be Redford all the way. The indecency is in the title in the gimmick but not in the spirit. As a result none of the promises are fulfilled and we're left with a pretty inconsequential movie. Oh well, I hope Mr Lyne learned his lesson. One never bad mouths James Mason, okay?

Wow, I am a little surprised by the rating. Only 5.3? Come on, this was a good movie! Was it the best? No, but it's better than most I have seen. If you were offered a million dollars, could the strength of your relationship survive it? I really got into this movie, because I knew how it would damage the couple's life. I think that they did deeply love each other, but they mention how they were childhood sweethearts, and kind of rushed into marriage. So, the point is, they've probably never been able to question if they had feelings for anyone else.

Struggling financially is horrible. How far would you go to get some money? People will go the distance and sometimes take a front seat with the devil! "Indecent Proposal" goes all the way and shakes up human emotions. I really felt that this was a very good movie and should be watched. 5.3 is a little harsh, what was so bad about it?

8/10

I watched the movie for the first time, on TV. It's not a great film, but it certainly didn't deserve the 5.3 low rating. Something's going on here, and I think it's because most reviewers here are male, and we are threatened by the prospect of losing our wives to a Robert Reford look like billionaire, because we know for a fact we wouldn't stand a chance, even without the million bucks.

With divorce rate at 50% as it now, i am not even married but I suspect when a billionaire ( with a heart nonetheless ) came calling, my wife would leave me in a heartbeat.

sorry but everything does come with a price tag, even your marriage.

I'm only writing a review to share the humorist Erma Bombeck's observation.

In one of her last columns before her passing, she mentioned that she and her husband had gone to see this movie.

As they were driving home, her husband asked "Well? Would you?" "Would I what?" she asked.

"Would you sleep with Robert Redford for a million dollars?" "It depends," she said.

Her husband was shocked. "DEPENDS?" he choked. "Depends on WHAT?" "Depends on whether he'd let me make monthly payments..." she replied.

I passed root beer through my nose when I read that - had to share.

INDECENT PROPOSAL is a great example of a great premise for a movie - Would you allow your wife to sleep with a complete stranger for one million dollars ? and it's not too difficult to understand why this movie was so talked about on its initial release . Well would you ?

The one problem that the movie suffers from is that Robert Redford was cast as John Gage , the middle aged billionaire who desires the company of Demi Moore's character Diane Murphy . Robert Redford who aged in his mid fifties looks about ten years younger and who still female fans to this day . One can't help thinking that Adrian Lyne would have been far better off exploiting the premise further by casting a much more physically repulsive actor as Gage . Some defenders may claim that Redford equals good box office and certainly this movie did superbly as far as world wide receipt's go , but it's a movie whose main selling point must be the simple central idea and would have perhaps ended up a much better film . It's interesting to note that when women in their late 30s to early 50s answer the question " Would you ? " they usually end up replying " Robert Redford ! I'd go to bed with him for free " .

INDECENT PROPOSAL isn't a great movie despite the great premise and I found Lyne's directing style a bit too 1980s with a couple of scenes that are a bit too pop video for my liking but despite not being the greatest actors in the history of cinema both Moore and Woody Harrelson do enough to make the audience feel for their characters who find themselves in a dilemma . Yeah maybe it's Hollywood trash but it's engaging Hollywood trash