Bela do Senhor

This movie is not made for people in the "progressive" and "modern" world mindset , in this movie you'll see what unconditional love looks like and what it doesn't look like , you can watch this movie over and over again and each time learn something new about the two main characters, A true seducers story.

This is also known as "A Grand Affair ".

The movie did nothing for me, though I enjoyed the glorious settings in Europe (especially Italy) and the stunning architecture. The era is WWII, the story portraying miserable, dislikable characters. We have the Don Juan scenario of Jonathan Rhys-Myers' character, Solal (a high level exec at the then League of Nations in Geneva) seducing his subordinate Adrien's wife Ariane (Natalia Vodianova). Ariane succumbs willingly after a couple of meetings, Adrien is kicked into professional obscurity and the other two embark on their journey of passion.

Then follows scene after scene of sex, fighting, self-introspection, more fighting, more sex. Solal, who - despite his self-assurance as an experienced seducer - seems unsure of himself, fixating on Ariane's past lovers and getting violent; she walks away, comes back (to more sex and introspection). And thus it goes.

Other viewers will no doubt find deeper meaning here, but really how much sex does one need to get it across? The backdrops, costumes, buildings are lovely to behold but ultimately cannot carry the story on their own. One has to be invested in the characters, and I wasn't.

The film is unfortunately a deceptive adaptation of this great and complicate XXth century love story novel by Albert Cohen. Some women friends of mine commented, it's pretty unconceivable to understand how a male writer could so well understand and describe and write (about) woman's psychology, woman's inside.

I loved the book a lot but not the film, pretty poor. I like Meyers as an actor but here, imho, he looks too young (he was 35 then) as Solal, even if Solal had a vertiginous social climb.

At about 31 minutes into the film, we can see a very nice wood house at the Geneva lake. I knew the (unnice) owners so I went there once or twice. For the ones interested, you can see it in Promenthoux at 46.391986° 6.267007° in Google Maps.

One of the best movies made,but it's not for everyone, it has betrayal, delusional ideals and anything a good drama should have. Jonathan's best movie apart from The Tudors, and match point. The movie contains scenes where it's hard to follow and that becomes intriguing you wanna know more. By all means the book was excellent but it's nice to see a movie version which usually never does justice to the paper format. The supporting actress didn't have many lines and wasn't your conventional housewife but her beauty and charm captured him, somehow. If you have time and are confused watch this movie it will keep you busy and interested particularly if you had a fight with your lover it will entertain you.

Anyone writing a bad review for this movie is either fenced in by there own misconceptions of the intricacies of human behavior, only reach as far as their own eyes will take them and do not have the ability to understand the story behind the actual novel itself which is complex, intense and utterly revealing of twisted emotions that day to day minds wouldn't stretch to, or would blindly chose to avoid thinking about.

This film got 100% less acknowledgment than it deserved, perhaps because people are more interested in shallow, fast-paced movies that keep them occupied for a couple of hours without having to delve into anything with depth because it uses too much brainpower and 'scares' them.

Look beyond what you know, expand your mind, thats what a film is meant to do.