Boris Grushenko

Fernando Rey and Gonzalo Vega feature as two screenwriters who retreat to a monastery to pen their next work. During their stay, they witness the slow toil of monastic life and become fixated upon a local girl, played by Maribel Verdu.

There is very little plot to speak of - the two writers compete for the affection of Verdu, even though Fernando Rey looks more like her grandfather. Maribel performs excellently as the wily minx looking to be cast in a screen role.

The saving grace of the film is the beautiful lush setting and insight into monastic life.

Reading through the comments, there seems to be a lot of nonsense about the emotional banality of La Pianiste. I find this hard to comprehend given the outstanding performance by Isabelle Huppert. Huppert is gripping - she manages to convey perfectly the woman on the edge, full of self-hate and delusion.

The film is wonderfully paced and judged. It would be so easy to portray the lead as a ridiculous figure - consider the scene in the porn store for instance. Somehow, Huppert is able to carry it off, partly because of her brilliant performance but also because the director makes her surreal life real and identifiable.

Don't ignore this film. It is one of the most startling and engaging films (and performances) I have seen.

Trust Boris!

Oh please, this was a truly awful film. The performances were so wooden it made me cringe. Steve Martin should be ashamed of himself, delivering a kind of hammed up "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" role which did not do himself credit. The lead and the femme fatale were unbelievably wooden and completely unbelievable in their roles (her final line was awful).

The plot did have a few interesting turns but each twist was signposted so large that all suspense eventually disappeared.