Io ballo da sola

I think I saw this film at a film festival when it was newly released (or prior to release) and seem to recall a scene that was missing when I watched it again recently.

Remember when they all go over to that grand villa for the evenings party and the artist guy stays home to carve away at his tree stump with the chainsaw. I remember him sanding more and creating this lovely (and suggestive!) hole in it that later when his wife returns home and finds him caressing the hole suggestively and the two of them then make love. This time when I watch the film it just cuts to the place where she leans against the wall and hikes up her dress above the knee (what the hell is that all about?). The original was one of my favorite parts because of how that scene was enhanced with the music soundtrack... but now it's gone! So my question is: Am I right or dreaming? Anybody else remember this?

This is my favorite film. I first saw it in 1996 at the age of 16, and have been relentlessly teased ever since for enjoying it as much as I do. True film buffs, I am told, walked out on this one. I insist though that I don't have bad taste; the film simply struck a chord in me early on, and yes, it was probably because its was such a pretty film. Beauty can be quite a hook. Since then I have watched Stealing Beauty no less than a hundred times, studied Bertolucci's other films, and - of course - listened to the soundtrack, and the Mozart Concerti, so much that I have been known to hum them in my sleep. Now, I know why I love it so much. Every time I watch Stealing Beauty, there is more to discover. The premise - looking for her father/true love - and the apparent conclusion seem no more than a frame work for a hundred different leitmotifs that Bertolucci seems strangely familiar with, fascinated by, and adept at expressing in all of his films.

The first twenty minutes of this movie had me riveted. The Italian landscape was incredible and upon meeting all the diverse characters, one would think this was the perfect stage for a fine film.

But it wasn't.

Lucy's search for her father is first pushed on the back burner then brought miraculously to life near the end of the movie. Meanwhile the plot involves the entire house buzzing like old maids about the poor girl's virginity, as if the topic were front page news. But then again Jeremy Irons character said it best: "Up here on this hill, the only thing we have to talk about is each other". Hm, maybe so, but the idea quickly becomes dull.

Instead of becoming interested in Lucy, the only scenes I found enjoyable involved Miranda and her dim-witted "boyfriend". Richard made me laugh so much that I nearly forgave the pointless plot. And I would've been very disappointed were it not for Jeremy Irons and his wonderful character of Alex. Alex's musing, thoughts and expressions made me smile and made me think. (" 'The incredible frivolity of the dying' You have to allow me a little frivolity")

As far as what Lucy sees in Nicholo or what made her take the plunge with someone she barely knew, baffles me. Take the beautiful cinemetography, interesting characters and mold them in an entirely different way and you've got yourself a much better movie than what was presented. Such potential..wasted *sigh*

When this filmed first came on the scene, there was a lot of critics that downed the intensity of this film... of course their favorite words were pseudoartistic crap. America is not ready for this film. Look at what we embrace in our films: blood, sex, nudity, shock value. America is not ready for a film that sees the attraction towards a 19 year-old as a natural thing. American normalcy sees this as wrong, deceitful, and impure. Bertolucci did not make a film, he reflected humanity through a camera. This film dives into our own psyche seeking the desires to be pure and innocent. Only America would see this as a piece of psycho sexual fantasy into our own pedophiliac desires. Watch it people, there's a substance that you're not used to seeing in everyday flicks.

Bertolucci films are always magnificent to look at. From the epic scenes of The Last Emperor to the claustrophobic bedroom in Last Tango, he is a film-maker whose mastery of visual language is immense. Stealing Beauty is no exception. Right from the start, the film has a dream-like beauty which reflects its 19-year-old protagonist, Lucy (played by the stunning Liv Tyler). Lucy is beautiful, naive, dreamy and still a virgin. Her mother's suicide prompts her to go to Italy to visit her parents' bohemian friends...

There is nothing really wrong with this film but there isn't much to it either. The story is extremely slight, and even some good performances (particularly from Charles Dance as the dying man) can't save it from being slightly dull. It hints at some interesting themes - the way the post-AIDS generation is more hesitant about sex, how the past haunts the present - but does little with them. Instead, Bertolucci seems content to focus the camera on Tyler for most of the film, trying to intoxicate us with her breathtaking beauty to make us forget that there's nothing much here. This works for a while, aided greatly by the short summer dresses and some lovely scenery, but basically it can't carry the film through its entire length. Somewhere along the way I just got bored.

If this happens to be on, you could do a lot worse, but it's definitely not worth a trip to the cinema to see - not even to the video shop, I don't think. Considering Bertolucci's pedigree, I had expected better from Stealing Beauty, but I suppose everyone has their off days. Average.