Surexposé

This is a colossal waste of the talent of actors like Keitel, Nastassja Kinski, Carl Lee and Russo. The "revolutionaries" are portrayed as birdbrained automatons. The dialogue is embarrassing. Nureyev is positively wooden. Kinski does a ridiculous dance, made choppy by pathetic editing. If memory serves, the direction was so bad that during a silly car chase the pursued and pursuers are actually passed by a Parisian taxi in a traffic circle. That has to be a metaphor for the entire travesty. The movie would be gauged as sophomoric compared to the worst efforts of high school film classes.

The early 80's seemed to be a ripe time for espionage-themed films and, taken as a whole, is probably somewhere in the middle in terms of quality (goodness knows there were worse!). However, what makes it worth seeing are two things: its European locales (all in monochromatic greys and browns) and, first and foremost, the astonishing and eye-achingly beautiful Kinski, in what may well be her ripest, fiercest, most raw performance captured on film. What surrounds her, unfortunately, is either standard or downright embarassing: wooden supporting performances (particularly Nureyev, who looks singularly uneasy and clodding, ironic for someone who spent a lifetime being praised for his graceful moves), an often senseless plot, and direction that veers from shameful to confused, none of which is helped by sometimes-spastic editing. And yet...there is Kinski, breathing life into this dull affair in spite of itself, wiping everyone else from the screen and the audience's eyes and minds. Here, she is a force to be reckoned with, radiating an intriguing blend of natural awkwardness and just-enough confidence: in essence, she is 100% REAL. There isn't a single false moment delivered by her, as a young woman who falls into the world of both modeling and espionage, giving the film as a whole the unmistakable air of 'what-could-have-been'. If this movie had a tenth of what she provides, it would still rate, despite being dated, as a modern-day classic. As it is, it IS, whatever its many, many flaws, worth seeing (for it's often-silly early-80's fashions, as a time machine, those aforementioned locales) but she is the main reason why. She is brilliant.

... it really bothered me. The direction is flat and anonymous, the script is messy, the dialogues are too long and unlikely, the rhythm recalls me a funeral, and the plot itself is meaningless. The only good things in this movie are N. Kinski and a gloomy winter Paris. I rate it * (out of 6).

The old saying "One swallow does not make a summer" is particularly apt when discussing this film. There is a soaring performance by Natassja Kinski but other cast members, including Rudolph Nureyev, never get off the ground and remain wallowing in mud. Worst of all the director James Toback is so deep in the mire that he could not even produce a story which the average moviegoer could easily follow. Natassja plays the part of a fashion model who appears to have received so much publicity that she has attracted the attention of undesirable characters, which is perhaps a good basis for a drama. But from this point things go rapidly downhill as it becomes increasingly difficult to get any idea of what is supposed to be going on.

For a users rating, one outstanding performance certainly deserves one point; but it is hard to think of any justification for giving this film an additional one, so I will rate it at 1 out of 10 - sorry Natassja, you deserved better.

Yeah, yeah...who could not find fault with this implausible menagerie of models & Marxists? Here, even the most inept of film-schoolers could find a surplus of shortfalls, for which to offer their trite insight. What's blatantly apparent with this film is...the script seems never to have transcended the first-draft stage...the characters all seem either to be on psychotropic drugs, or to be in need of psychotherapeutic ones...and the director seems to have had his mind on other things – perhaps how to act in his small but completely forgettable part.

However, for some of us, the challenge is to discover the good points of 'critical failures', such as "Exposed", and as everyone seems to be somewhat more then vaguely aware, what's most redeeming about this film is, in a word, "NASTASSJAKINSKI"! When she is before the camera, all the problems behind it seem insignificant.

Cheers, J.B. - Prospect Point Productions, Inc.