Deceptions

Some might call this made for television movie corny or boring but I really enjoyed it! I first saw this in 1985 and again about a year ago and to me it was still the same. The story is one of the twins is married with two children a boy and a girl and is really mousey and bored of her life. Her twin is the total opposite she is the life and soul of the party has many lovers and her own business but she to is not happy. So they meet in Venice for a big birthday party and decide to swap lives for a short time and you guessed it they are not able to swap back at the given time so they have to be each other for a little bit longer. I don't want to give away the plot but if you have nothing to do and this is on television one night give it ago!

This happens to be one of my favorite "trash wallows" as we used to call these expensive soapers in the '80s. Unfortunately, there aren't the budgets for TV movies that there used to be.

Stefanie Powers is in her prime in this dual role of a plain Jane wife of a college teacher and her glamorous jet setting twin sister. The cast includes Sherlock Holmes himself, Jeremy Brett and none other than Gina Lollabrigida. Part of the movie takes place in Venice and it's glorious!

Deceptions embodies a certain '80s decadence for me - I love the scene on the yacht where all these hedonists are dancing to the Pointer Sisters. But my favorite is the night of the twins' birthday, celebrated in an Italian villa, where they dance to "Don't Let it Stop" and the shy sister starts to really get into it, juxtaposed against some nefarious doings outside the villa. It's great fun.

Although this is standard stuff, the mini-series is made thoroughly interesting by its appealing stars, especially Ms. Powers who was always a sight for sore eyes. Quite enjoyable although very obvious from the start. Pity this hasn't been released on video or DVD - would be great for a rainy evening.

I hope and pray that this movie is released on DVD in the not too distant future. This is one of the very few made-for-television movies that has really stood the test of time. It could have been made yesterday. I found the carnival scenes filmed in Venice to be especially exciting. The costumes were beautiful and the setting, being Venice, added an air of "magic" to the whole thing. Stephanie Powers was superb in both parts - two very different characters with very different lifestyles - both of which she made very credible. I have this on video and it always cheers me up when I'm feeling low. I have always been a big fan of Stephanie Powers - ever since "Girl from Uncle / April Dancer.

One of the most interesting things about this movie is all the major actors who play minor parts, at a time before they were really famous in the U.S. Tobey Maguire, looking like he's about 8 years old (but who can tell, really, since he looks like he's 8 years old today), plays one of Stephanie Powers' children. Also we get Jeremy Brett, the BBC's definitive modern Sherlock Holmes, as assistant bad guy, looking really hot without his deerstalker cap. And the wonderful Judy Parfitt, who is known to American audiences primarily as the wild widower wearing cowboy boots in the BBC long-running series "As Time Goes By" of more recent fame.

Not sure, but I believe that Tobey's sister is played by an equally young Salma Blair, but since neither of them is listed on the official credits, it's hard to tell.

The movie has some kind of stilted moments, but the scenery and ambiance are unbeatable: Live shots of the Grand Canal in Venice, the Via Condotti in Rome, most of the great shopping streets in London, and the magnetic Stephanie Powers. It's a great way to pretend that we're millionaires traveling around Europe in style. And not a bad movie, to boot.