While this is not my favorite Bertolucci film, Stealing Beauty left me inspired and contented. Bertolucci's brush strokes are wide, yet meticulously placed, leading us down a sensual and beautiful path of discovery. He packs a lot of plot into a week of story and two hours of film, but it is believable because many extraordinary things can happen in a short time frame when one travels abroad. Liv Tyler did well, reminding me of my teenage years, yearning yet still undecided. This movie has one of the best (sexy!) loss of virginity scenes in recent memory.
99 Reviews
Erotic, but artistic.
shanfloyd27 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
The movie seemed mostly a brilliant portrayal of director and writer Bertolucci's erotic imagination, expressed in a highly artistic manner though. The picture was somehow very, very soothing towards our eyes and our minds. Lucy, a 19-year-old visits to the country house of Tuscany and becomes enough to light everyone's fire on, be it old writer Alex or young jerk Niccolo. The story centered around everyone's experiences and dreams around her, during her short visit. The ending was expected, but quite enjoyable. It was not the director's intention to offer any surprise. Rather he was to show us a much-known story, described slowly and only told in a different way.
Liv Tyler as Lucy was ravishingly beautiful, and Bertolucci used her right. It was basically only her movie, everyone else is minor. Jeremy Irons also acted quite well. Rest of the cast wasn't bad either, except Rachel Weisz. Somehow she didn't quite fit into the whole thing. I would give it 7/10.
Liv Tyler as Lucy was ravishingly beautiful, and Bertolucci used her right. It was basically only her movie, everyone else is minor. Jeremy Irons also acted quite well. Rest of the cast wasn't bad either, except Rachel Weisz. Somehow she didn't quite fit into the whole thing. I would give it 7/10.
"I didn't say the movie was good, but it's so beautiful"
Bored_Dragon12 April 2021
Liv Tyler's first leading role was in a movie about a girl who, after mother's death, travels to Italy, to the property of mother's friends, in search of father and her own identity. After great movies such as "Ultimo tango a Parigi" and "The Last Emperor", not to mention the later masterpiece "The Dreamers", I expected much more from Bertolucci than the coming-of-age drama about a nineteen-year-old virgin, which brings nothing in terms of storytelling and plot, nor does it stand out as a study of personalities. However, "Stealing Beauty" has one indisputable quality. The film is visually excellent, and a perfect choice if you want to relax, rest your mind and feast your eyes on the beautiful landscapes of Tuscany.
6,5/10.
6,5/10.
Watch again and again to understand Bertolucci
manufortdev19 October 2004
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.
Deep or flat?
rivera66_992 July 2001
A question especially uneasy to answer in this case. The plot, of course, is very simple and even trivial: young girl loses her virginity and discovers her father's identity, gaining love and surrendering death (the never understood death of her mother), while her older admirer (Jeremy Irons) who only felt in love once - with her mother - gains love again but death at the same time. This pretty kitschy plot, together with the lack of movement in great part of the film, could make it unbearable. But it results much more ambivalent... First note that you wouldn't think at all you're dealing with a movie from 1996. Actually, when I saw it I had no idea from when it was and I estimated it to be from the late 1970's or early 80's. That has to do, above all, with the ethereal landscape-cinematography, this really magnific beauty of every movement the camera (and Liv Tyler!) make, but with the music, too. When there appears Mozart's clarinette concert, for the first time, while you see the field and the house sleeping "siesta", it can make you cry because of pure beauty you conceive... And there are many moments in this film, where music (timeless and time-switching) and picture make you feel so unsure about the era this film is telling about. "Beauty hurts the heart" says Jean Marais' character once. And actually, it does. The eroticism of this movie, for my taste, was sometimes almost painfully sad and joyful at once. Difficult to describe. Between, there are many occasions where you can find the vulgarity of the story just repelling, but then comes such a vigorous sequence again... It reminds me of some of the last Rohmer movies, in some respect, although it is much warmer and not that boring. (Rohmer's coolness, nevertheless, prevails him for falling in kitsch, something that Bertolucci doesn't avoid.) The movie, in some precious moments, does exactly do what its title promises: it steals pieces of beauty from this incredible world - but it has few awareness of it. Its explicitly "deep" parts are too immature and presumptious, but its superficiality contents a profoundness that convinced me. As a piece of art, I have to consider this movie too superficial, as a piece of " just feeling" (a word that I normally hate), I cannot let to like it. 6 of 10.
Just about enough beauty to steal
TheLittleSongbird2 July 2019
There were a fair few reasons for wanting to see 'Stealing Beauty'. That it had Italy, or Tuscany to be more specific, as its location, which has as beautiful scenery as one can get. Bernardo Bertolucci was an interesting director and made some great films in his career. The soundtrack also sounded appetising, with some great pieces/songs featured (i.e. the 2nd movement of Mozart's clarinet concerto) as well as an immensely talented cast that one could not go wrong with.
'Stealing Beauty' to me was not a bad film. There are many good points, the best assets brilliant even and luckily they were the components that were what made me want to see it. 'Stealing Beauty' also though could have quite a lot better, with some important components not executed to full potential or properly. There are directors that make great films but also are responsible for the odd big misfire that make one wonder "this comes from the same director that made that". 'Stealing Beauty' doesn't reach that level, or so that's to me (not an agreeable opinion with critics), though it's not one of Bertolucci's best and not on the same level as masterpieces of his such as 'Last Tango in Paris' and 'The Last Emperor'.
Will start with what worked very well. The best thing about 'Stealing Beauty' is the scenery, which really takes the breath away. If you have not been to Tuscany or Italy, it cannot be recommended highly enough as they are even more beautiful in real life than depicted in the film. Adding further to the visual magic is the wondrous photography, a lot of the shots left me in awe and is as entranced by the scenery as the viewer is (the camera also clearly loves Liv Tyler, perhaps a little too much at times, and she does look wonderful in the film as a result). Bertolucci's visual style and overall directing style are all over the film. The soundtrack is also a major strength, a wide variety of styles used well and not feeling too much of a mishmash, the Mozart especially is used well (haven't seen Mozart used this well on film in a while) and brings a real poignant air.
Liv Tyler did go on to much better things and inexperience shows at times here, but mostly she does a more than credible job in a role not easy to pull off. The standout of the rest of the game cast is Jeremy Irons in a very touching performance as the most sympathetic character in the film. His and Tyler's chemistry is both charming and poignant and by far the most believable of all the character interactions. Alex's dialogue is beautifully poetic, and his last scene did bring tears to my eyes. Although the script and character writing is flawed, the cast give more than game performances and nobody really is bad (had reservations with one). 'Stealing Beauty' does have a gentle charm that does endear.
For all those great things, there are elements that 'Stealing Beauty' falls short upon. The script only really rings true with Alex's dialogue, too much of the rest felt artificial and insipid. The only well developed characters are Lucy and Alex, found the rest one-dimensional and lacking in warmth. Focusing on less characters and developing the rest more that already would have made things better. Rachel Weisz's character is especially shallow. Do agree that Weisz didn't seem to fit and does little to bring much to her role.
Although the gentle charm is there, there are poignant moments in the chemistry between Lucy and Alex and the character of Alex and the atmosphere is there, the story does slip on more than one occasion into bathos. It also tends to meander and feel unfocused and it can drag, too little feels explored enough. The ending felt almost too pat and abrupt.
Overall, lots of great things but some big flaws too. 6/10
'Stealing Beauty' to me was not a bad film. There are many good points, the best assets brilliant even and luckily they were the components that were what made me want to see it. 'Stealing Beauty' also though could have quite a lot better, with some important components not executed to full potential or properly. There are directors that make great films but also are responsible for the odd big misfire that make one wonder "this comes from the same director that made that". 'Stealing Beauty' doesn't reach that level, or so that's to me (not an agreeable opinion with critics), though it's not one of Bertolucci's best and not on the same level as masterpieces of his such as 'Last Tango in Paris' and 'The Last Emperor'.
Will start with what worked very well. The best thing about 'Stealing Beauty' is the scenery, which really takes the breath away. If you have not been to Tuscany or Italy, it cannot be recommended highly enough as they are even more beautiful in real life than depicted in the film. Adding further to the visual magic is the wondrous photography, a lot of the shots left me in awe and is as entranced by the scenery as the viewer is (the camera also clearly loves Liv Tyler, perhaps a little too much at times, and she does look wonderful in the film as a result). Bertolucci's visual style and overall directing style are all over the film. The soundtrack is also a major strength, a wide variety of styles used well and not feeling too much of a mishmash, the Mozart especially is used well (haven't seen Mozart used this well on film in a while) and brings a real poignant air.
Liv Tyler did go on to much better things and inexperience shows at times here, but mostly she does a more than credible job in a role not easy to pull off. The standout of the rest of the game cast is Jeremy Irons in a very touching performance as the most sympathetic character in the film. His and Tyler's chemistry is both charming and poignant and by far the most believable of all the character interactions. Alex's dialogue is beautifully poetic, and his last scene did bring tears to my eyes. Although the script and character writing is flawed, the cast give more than game performances and nobody really is bad (had reservations with one). 'Stealing Beauty' does have a gentle charm that does endear.
For all those great things, there are elements that 'Stealing Beauty' falls short upon. The script only really rings true with Alex's dialogue, too much of the rest felt artificial and insipid. The only well developed characters are Lucy and Alex, found the rest one-dimensional and lacking in warmth. Focusing on less characters and developing the rest more that already would have made things better. Rachel Weisz's character is especially shallow. Do agree that Weisz didn't seem to fit and does little to bring much to her role.
Although the gentle charm is there, there are poignant moments in the chemistry between Lucy and Alex and the character of Alex and the atmosphere is there, the story does slip on more than one occasion into bathos. It also tends to meander and feel unfocused and it can drag, too little feels explored enough. The ending felt almost too pat and abrupt.
Overall, lots of great things but some big flaws too. 6/10
Deliberately Paced and Atmospheric Tale.
rmax30482321 June 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Watching this is like taking a leisurely vacation in the rolling hills of Tuscany. I don't think there's any place in America that has such a sky. The sun seems a misty ochre and the land, where it's not tilled in straight furrows, consists of gravel paths between low stone walls, olive groves, chest-high grape arbors, and dark sturdy oaks. The arbors are populated by hordes of skittery lizards, Lacerta muralis. It's no wonder that summer dinners so often are eaten on long tables al fresco. What an appealing location.
And that, maybe, is the principal virtue of Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty." It takes patience and concentration to follow the story closely enough to be engaged by it, and, at heart, there really isn't much to it. A visiting American, the pretty and leggy Liv Tyler, finds out that a local artist is probably her real father, and shortly afterward gives up her virginity to an equally inexperienced local boy.
There's a lot of casual conversation, some of which seems to have little point. The function of some characters is a bit obscure. Jeremy Irons, a splendid actor, plays an older man who offers to serve as Liv Tyler's father. He's ill and is finally driven away in an ambulance. An almost unrecognizable Jean Marais is a dotty French visitor. Where do the French get these actors? They're sympatico without being particularly handsome. Jean Gabin, Philippe Noiret. I think I'll exclude Yves Montand because a girl friend once told me he was handsome, and I'm not talking about physical beauty.
With Bernardo Bertolucci you generally get some fairly explicit sex, as you do here. There is a party one night. After the guests are exhausted by all that dancing, they retire to engage in sexual activities of various stripes. (Poor Rachel Weisz.) But it's far from soft-core porn. Bertolucci avoids the billowing curtains and candle light clichés. There are no fingertips caressing unidentifiable furrows of someone else's body. When the sweet but innocent Italian boy is about to deflower Liv Tyler, he asks, "Can you help me?", and she slides her hand down inside his jeans. It's not exactly a torrid scene, though, and it doesn't end dramatically. The next morning, strolling back to the villa, the kid says that he'd like to follow her to America. She turns and replies, "Do so." And that's that. The kid runs off, waving, and we don't know whether he'll follow her or not, nor do we care anymore than Liv Tyler seems to care.
It's in no way a breakthrough film. Bertolucci takes his time and forces us to relax too. There's no violence and no tragedy. I have some trouble imagining most teen-aged kids enjoying this, especially the boys, whose taste and patience have been eroded over the years by exposure to a nimiety of films in which a shoot out with ugly guns has to take place every ten minutes. (Compare the original 1974 "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" with this year's remake, for an example of how esthetic values have devolved.) Liv Tyler gets stung on the arm and the breast by bees, but, you know what? I don't care. I'd like to be among that crowd for a summer. Sure, it would be tough, brushing up on whatever Italian I remember, but I wouldn't have to relearn any of it if Liv Tyler and her legs should come visiting. She speaks surprisingly good English for an American.
And that, maybe, is the principal virtue of Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty." It takes patience and concentration to follow the story closely enough to be engaged by it, and, at heart, there really isn't much to it. A visiting American, the pretty and leggy Liv Tyler, finds out that a local artist is probably her real father, and shortly afterward gives up her virginity to an equally inexperienced local boy.
There's a lot of casual conversation, some of which seems to have little point. The function of some characters is a bit obscure. Jeremy Irons, a splendid actor, plays an older man who offers to serve as Liv Tyler's father. He's ill and is finally driven away in an ambulance. An almost unrecognizable Jean Marais is a dotty French visitor. Where do the French get these actors? They're sympatico without being particularly handsome. Jean Gabin, Philippe Noiret. I think I'll exclude Yves Montand because a girl friend once told me he was handsome, and I'm not talking about physical beauty.
With Bernardo Bertolucci you generally get some fairly explicit sex, as you do here. There is a party one night. After the guests are exhausted by all that dancing, they retire to engage in sexual activities of various stripes. (Poor Rachel Weisz.) But it's far from soft-core porn. Bertolucci avoids the billowing curtains and candle light clichés. There are no fingertips caressing unidentifiable furrows of someone else's body. When the sweet but innocent Italian boy is about to deflower Liv Tyler, he asks, "Can you help me?", and she slides her hand down inside his jeans. It's not exactly a torrid scene, though, and it doesn't end dramatically. The next morning, strolling back to the villa, the kid says that he'd like to follow her to America. She turns and replies, "Do so." And that's that. The kid runs off, waving, and we don't know whether he'll follow her or not, nor do we care anymore than Liv Tyler seems to care.
It's in no way a breakthrough film. Bertolucci takes his time and forces us to relax too. There's no violence and no tragedy. I have some trouble imagining most teen-aged kids enjoying this, especially the boys, whose taste and patience have been eroded over the years by exposure to a nimiety of films in which a shoot out with ugly guns has to take place every ten minutes. (Compare the original 1974 "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" with this year's remake, for an example of how esthetic values have devolved.) Liv Tyler gets stung on the arm and the breast by bees, but, you know what? I don't care. I'd like to be among that crowd for a summer. Sure, it would be tough, brushing up on whatever Italian I remember, but I wouldn't have to relearn any of it if Liv Tyler and her legs should come visiting. She speaks surprisingly good English for an American.
A beautiful, dream-like nothing of a film
Littlegussy6 January 2001
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.
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.
An Underrated, Misunderstood Gem of a Film
gks102913 June 2005
While Liv Tyler is the "star" of this film she is only one facet of a beautiful film. While many comments focus on the coming of age plot line. This film not only presents a sexual beginning, but also an emotional journey. With the death of her poet laureate mother, Lucy (Liv Tyler) must find her way to emotional and sexual adulthood. Fortunately, the film never gets bogged down, or depressing.
Set in the lovely Tuscany province, Lucy's father sends her to spend time with friends of her mother and pose for an artist. Several of the characters are transparent, and easily understood, others are far more complex. Like life not all the answers are give, but the film rewards the viewer on multiple levels.
Enjoy watching the secondary characters grow in their own ways as well.
I hope this helps you.
Set in the lovely Tuscany province, Lucy's father sends her to spend time with friends of her mother and pose for an artist. Several of the characters are transparent, and easily understood, others are far more complex. Like life not all the answers are give, but the film rewards the viewer on multiple levels.
Enjoy watching the secondary characters grow in their own ways as well.
I hope this helps you.
Stealing Boredom
osloj20 August 2001
Bertolucci used to be a decent film maker, somewhere along the frame of his career he got pathetic and pretentious, this is probably related to his acceptance by middle class theater patrons and Hollywood flunkeys after he won the Academy for "Last Emperor". I think after he left his Marxist principles and communist leanings, his films sunk to a new time low. Take for example, "Stealing Beauty", this must be the most pretentious and bloated of his works. This film is almost unbearable to watch, it is dreadfully painful even. The characters are nothing but a bunch of spoiled, irreverent, upper middle class pseudo-intellectuals and artists who live out in an Italian country side. Liv Tyler plays Lucy, a sheepish, spoiled teen who wants to lose her virginity as if brushing her teeth. The problem is that Tyler can't act, nor can she pass off as an incredulous youth. She simply is annoying to the point of our exhaustion with her. One thing good to say about this ostentatiousness is the film cinematography and color which is in contrast to the dull and ridiculous story, and the revolting acting. In every role Jeremy Irons is in, he castigates us with his foreboding and absurdly patrician methods. I've never liked him in any film, and in this one he isn't any better, he mumbles around with diluted solecisms. What more is there to say about this unbearable tripe in excess?
No beauty to steal
misslv8025 July 2003
Warning: Spoilers
First of all, I am surprised why this movie was rated so highly. I was expecting something interesting and unusual in the storyline in this film, but I was very disappointed. Any "beauty" was I was expecting from this film was "stolen" away from me. I kept waiting for something important to happen, but it turned out to be long and boring.
Liv Tyler plays a 19-year old girl named Lucy who travels to Italy to learn the identity of her father - but by the end of the movie I was too bored to tears to care - and lose her virginity, and no doubt she has all the guys more than willing to help her get rid of it. As if it were all that simple, right? Apparently, it was. I did not believe her "performance" at all. She acted like an old pro, not a shred of inexperience at all.
I can't believe I watched this whole movie, and at the end, I was thinking, "That's IT? What was the point of this?" I kept waiting to see who would be the person Tyler would finally lose it with, but it was a big disappointment because it was with someone she barely knew and he was a minor, insignificant character that we are introduced to towards the end of the film. The sex scene was not erotic, it was annoying and unrealistic.
The only interesting and redeeming character is the man dying of AIDS played by Jeremy Irons. Aside from some beautiful Italian scenery and some tender lines of poetry here and there, I would not recommend this movie and it was a waste of my time and money.
Liv Tyler plays a 19-year old girl named Lucy who travels to Italy to learn the identity of her father - but by the end of the movie I was too bored to tears to care - and lose her virginity, and no doubt she has all the guys more than willing to help her get rid of it. As if it were all that simple, right? Apparently, it was. I did not believe her "performance" at all. She acted like an old pro, not a shred of inexperience at all.
I can't believe I watched this whole movie, and at the end, I was thinking, "That's IT? What was the point of this?" I kept waiting to see who would be the person Tyler would finally lose it with, but it was a big disappointment because it was with someone she barely knew and he was a minor, insignificant character that we are introduced to towards the end of the film. The sex scene was not erotic, it was annoying and unrealistic.
The only interesting and redeeming character is the man dying of AIDS played by Jeremy Irons. Aside from some beautiful Italian scenery and some tender lines of poetry here and there, I would not recommend this movie and it was a waste of my time and money.
A master work by a master director. Excellent!
i-got-away30 May 2006
I am a Bertolucci fan, and this film is one of the reasons why. I watch it again and again and never get tired of it. Don't be fooled by the 'losing virginity' theme; this film is about life, and death, and everything that happens in between. It's about what you seek and what you're willing to give up to get it.
One of the best things about this film is that every character has a story, and an arc in the film, most of which is given by just one or two lines or shots in the film. For example, near the end of the film, Sinead Cusack's character slumps at the table after having taken an old friend to the hospital, probably for the last time. She says she misses England "and rain, and milk that goes off", and says that she's tired of looking after people. Then everyone starts coming in and asking about dinner, and she just gets up and opens the fridge. In less than a minute, we see into her life and character in a way that most films would take at least an act to explore. We even learn a lot about Lucy's mother (Lucy is played by a young Liv Tyler), even though she has died before the beginning of the film and never appears in it except in a photograph (also of Tyler).
There is not a flaw in any of the performances. Never do we feel that these are people acting. They just feel like people, interacting, and we always have a feeling of their life leading up to the moments we see them, and they are interesting lives.
The location itself is one of the characters, and it is beautifully shot, the colours saturated and rich. It feels like you can touch the stones, smell the air, feel the grass and flagstones beneath your bare feet. If you don't want to go to Tuscany after seeing this film, you are ill or on the wrong medication. The beauty that is being stolen, or that people want to steal, is not just the beauty of the young virgin on the hill, it is the beauty of life, of living, of learning, of looking back and finally giving it all up, knowing it cannot be stolen. I know that some people criticize Bertolucci for his aesthetic, for bringing the beauty out of every moment, even the horrible ones, and I say to those people that they live the life they choose.
Finally, there is the soundtrack, which runs from alt-pop to classical to everything in between and works perfectly. It illuminates Lucy's internal reality and is true to the music that a girl of her age would have been listening to at that time, and it also helps set the scene and smooth transitions between scenes.
This is a master work by a master director, and one of my favourite films of all time.
One of the best things about this film is that every character has a story, and an arc in the film, most of which is given by just one or two lines or shots in the film. For example, near the end of the film, Sinead Cusack's character slumps at the table after having taken an old friend to the hospital, probably for the last time. She says she misses England "and rain, and milk that goes off", and says that she's tired of looking after people. Then everyone starts coming in and asking about dinner, and she just gets up and opens the fridge. In less than a minute, we see into her life and character in a way that most films would take at least an act to explore. We even learn a lot about Lucy's mother (Lucy is played by a young Liv Tyler), even though she has died before the beginning of the film and never appears in it except in a photograph (also of Tyler).
There is not a flaw in any of the performances. Never do we feel that these are people acting. They just feel like people, interacting, and we always have a feeling of their life leading up to the moments we see them, and they are interesting lives.
The location itself is one of the characters, and it is beautifully shot, the colours saturated and rich. It feels like you can touch the stones, smell the air, feel the grass and flagstones beneath your bare feet. If you don't want to go to Tuscany after seeing this film, you are ill or on the wrong medication. The beauty that is being stolen, or that people want to steal, is not just the beauty of the young virgin on the hill, it is the beauty of life, of living, of learning, of looking back and finally giving it all up, knowing it cannot be stolen. I know that some people criticize Bertolucci for his aesthetic, for bringing the beauty out of every moment, even the horrible ones, and I say to those people that they live the life they choose.
Finally, there is the soundtrack, which runs from alt-pop to classical to everything in between and works perfectly. It illuminates Lucy's internal reality and is true to the music that a girl of her age would have been listening to at that time, and it also helps set the scene and smooth transitions between scenes.
This is a master work by a master director, and one of my favourite films of all time.
Beauty and a lot of beasts
terraplane7 February 2006
There is beauty in this movie. The landscape, the light, the photography...but the people, oh the ugly people! A nastier bunch of lazy, hypocritical arseholes I've yet to see. Except for Jeremy Irons' character Alex, every one of them is a waste of space. The men sit around in the glorious Tuscan countryside moaning about their useless lives, hoping to de-flower Liv Tyler while the women drift around waiting on the men, knowing that the vapid Liv Tyler is hovering around like a mayfly, just waiting to be f****d. The men sniff around her like slavering, leering dogs on heat while she shows them her knickers and wafts clouds of pheromones in their direction, oblivious to the flames of lust (and possibly incest) she is fanning. How innocent she looks as she reveals her naked breasts for the artist, who isn't actually drawing her but intends making an ersatz Picasso-type sculpture from a lump of wood. Of course she has no idea that the artist just wants to see her tits and show her his idea of a good time. While she sits around waiting to be be de-flowered, she writes poetry on newspapers and then burns it. She writes "I wait I wait so patiently I'm as quiet as a cup I hope you'll come and rattle me Quick! Come wake me up." The only rattle she really wants to hear is from the bouncing rusty bed springs of course. That should wake her up pretty quickly. And of course she has no idea that every male in the villa is nursing an erection and wants to soak her in his gene pool. It's just a question of which one of these walking spermatazoa will reach the target first. In the end, she chooses the nice boy with morals and a conscience to lose her virginity with, and so "become a woman". How innocent, how beautiful, how unlikely. Not much of a story really, young virgin girl on holiday in Tuscany supposed to be having her portrait painted by a miserable bloke in a commune of middle aged bourgeois hippies. Or at least they would like to be hippies but they can't really be bothered. They smoke a lot of dope and talk a lot of rubbish. How do these people make enough money to be able to afford this beautiful Tuscan villa? They don't work, unless carving up logs with a chainsaw to make ugly sculptures is classed as work, they don't sell anything because all the ugly sculptures are scattered around the grounds of the villa, they don't DO anything except sit around all day. The art they make is ugly, the lives they lead are ugly and what they stand for is ugly. It's a shame really because there is some beauty in this movie. But too many beasts.
Beautiful scenery. Beautiful Liv Tyler.
eber3-130 December 2007
Unfortunately the scenery and Liv's looks are the only things good about this film. Pointless plot and go nowhere characters. A day in the life of mundane artist hippies set in Italy. Story, what there is of one, seems to have been made up on the spot as the film was shot. No point to anything in the movie. Seems like the people who made this did it for no reason other then to state their views on sex, and display a vulgar European fetish. If you've always wanted to see Liv's breasts, or you love looking at the Italian countryside then this is the movie for you. Otherwise stay clear of this bore fest. I gave it a two instead of a one for one simple reason, there are worse movies... although it's hard to imagine when watching this.
Liv and Bertolucci Make Italian Movie Magic!
bdeyes815 April 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Some of the most memorable sequences in Stealing Beauty occur in group situations. In one scene, a troupe of family members chat, sketch, and lounge in a sun drenched backyard while the camera follows each member of the family, capturing glimpses of their facial expression and bits of their conversations in what seems to be one endless take. In another scene, the camera pulls a similar track at a large outdoor celebration, this time using a few virtually seamless cuts to cover more territory and more people. These sequences, more than any other in the film, are representative of the essence of Stealing Beauty. The camera flows like a warm summer breeze, blowing through the trees and people, taking us back to your youth while rejuvenating a love for life in the moment. Stealing Beauty is about as solidly structured as such a movement; it has no finite beginning, no middle, and an abrupt end. Like so many great Italian films, it merely flows from one scene to another, defying genre or perhaps even storyline. Few films of the 1990s were so richly cinematic, and it's unlikely that Stealing Beauty would have achieved such a feat had it originated from any other country.
With all that having been said, the plot of the movie would seem rather incidental, but it obviously does set up the events of the proceedings. Lucy (Liv Tyler) is an American who travels abroad to Italy to spend the summer with the friends of her recently deceased mother and their own extended family. She houses at their exotic country villa, where the virginal nineteen year old is secretly on a quest to find the identity of her father, convinced that her `father' back home is not a biological parent. While staying in Italy, she comes of age, learning the hard truths about first love, fidelity, innocence, and her budding sexuality.
Of course such a succinct plot description lends the impression that this is an American-style loss of innocence drama, and this could not be further from the truth. The film never fully establishes itself in any genre. It is at once a drama, a comedy, a mystery, and a sex film. It is this element that adds to the film's distinctly cinematic flair, a trait that defines Italian cinema. With notable exceptions, Italian films are often (rightly or wrongly) criticized for their emphasis on the role of the director over the importance of actor and screenplay. In the case of Stealing Beauty, the latter is true but the former is not. In what had been heavily hyped as her star-making performance (the film's disappointing critical and commercial reception hampered this prospect), Liv Tyler delivers what thus far remains the finest work of her career. With her pouty lips, big blue eyes and long legs, her unconventional beauty stems from her appearance as a perennial adolescent on the verge of womanhood. Never before-and presumably never again-had this feature about her been so thoroughly exploited by a director. As Lucy, she brings to the screen the perfect mix of gawkiness and confidence, naïveté and overwhelming sexuality; she carries the presence of a femme fatale, full of mystery and fascinating to look at, and yet her heart is always planted firmly on her sleeve. She achieves that rare feat of not simply reciting lines, but speaking them; it's a performance so clearly personal and passionate that one might think we were watching a wholly improvisational film.
Yet perhaps the real star of Stealing Beauty is Bernardo Bertolucci. Best known to American audiences for his 1987 epic blockbuster The Last Emperor, Stealing Beauty gave him a chance to go back to his smaller, more intimate roots (previously his best known film was the 1972 soft-core masterpiece Last Tango in Paris) while applying his epic sensibility. He lenses the film in the Cinemascope ratio, but he does not use the frame to capture grand Italian vistas (though several are on display) or masses of people. Instead he frames, in grand style, such tender moments as Lucy's bereavement over the true identity of her first love, or the sun lit walk home from losing her virginity. The film was photographed by Darius Khondji, whose visual sensibility was arguably the most recognizable and influential throughout the late 1990s, and few times in Khondji's career has a director's style worked so beautifully with his images. Much of the action takes place under the golden rays of a burning sun, showcasing a vivid color palette as rich as the fabric of the film itself. Though it takes place in present day, the look of the film lends a distinctly nostalgic overtone to the proceedings, perhaps reminding one of a contemporary, European take on Summer of '42.
When released in the summer of 1996, Stealing Beauty was among the most highly anticipated films of the year for fans of art house cinema. There was a tremendous amount of hype surrounding Liv Tyler's "racy" lead role. It was believed, at the time, that the film could do for her Tyler in the summer of 96 what Clueless had done for Alicia Silverstone in the summer of 1995 (both had rocketed to fame as a homoerotic duo in the Aerosmith video "Crazy"). It was also expected to resuscitate the career of legendary Italian director Bertolucci after the failure of his recent films. Alas, when the film was released it drew mixed reviews and failed to appeal to mainstream filmgoers. Bertolucci's subsequent films were never even released in the United States, and aside from supporting roles in the blockbusters Armageddon and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Tyler never jelled into the movie star the way most industry pundits predicted. Nonetheless, the film remains one of the most extraordinary Italian films of the 1990s. Both Bertolucci and Tyler are in top form here, and the film's unique success as a coming-of-age film despite completely defying the mechanics of the genre is an accomplishment in and of itself. Many of the best Italian films demand that you submit yourself completely to the vision of its director for the movie's duration, putting aside whatever standards or prejudices you have previously held true. Make such a commitment to Stealing Beauty, and the film is a smashingly effective work.
My Grade : A-
With all that having been said, the plot of the movie would seem rather incidental, but it obviously does set up the events of the proceedings. Lucy (Liv Tyler) is an American who travels abroad to Italy to spend the summer with the friends of her recently deceased mother and their own extended family. She houses at their exotic country villa, where the virginal nineteen year old is secretly on a quest to find the identity of her father, convinced that her `father' back home is not a biological parent. While staying in Italy, she comes of age, learning the hard truths about first love, fidelity, innocence, and her budding sexuality.
Of course such a succinct plot description lends the impression that this is an American-style loss of innocence drama, and this could not be further from the truth. The film never fully establishes itself in any genre. It is at once a drama, a comedy, a mystery, and a sex film. It is this element that adds to the film's distinctly cinematic flair, a trait that defines Italian cinema. With notable exceptions, Italian films are often (rightly or wrongly) criticized for their emphasis on the role of the director over the importance of actor and screenplay. In the case of Stealing Beauty, the latter is true but the former is not. In what had been heavily hyped as her star-making performance (the film's disappointing critical and commercial reception hampered this prospect), Liv Tyler delivers what thus far remains the finest work of her career. With her pouty lips, big blue eyes and long legs, her unconventional beauty stems from her appearance as a perennial adolescent on the verge of womanhood. Never before-and presumably never again-had this feature about her been so thoroughly exploited by a director. As Lucy, she brings to the screen the perfect mix of gawkiness and confidence, naïveté and overwhelming sexuality; she carries the presence of a femme fatale, full of mystery and fascinating to look at, and yet her heart is always planted firmly on her sleeve. She achieves that rare feat of not simply reciting lines, but speaking them; it's a performance so clearly personal and passionate that one might think we were watching a wholly improvisational film.
Yet perhaps the real star of Stealing Beauty is Bernardo Bertolucci. Best known to American audiences for his 1987 epic blockbuster The Last Emperor, Stealing Beauty gave him a chance to go back to his smaller, more intimate roots (previously his best known film was the 1972 soft-core masterpiece Last Tango in Paris) while applying his epic sensibility. He lenses the film in the Cinemascope ratio, but he does not use the frame to capture grand Italian vistas (though several are on display) or masses of people. Instead he frames, in grand style, such tender moments as Lucy's bereavement over the true identity of her first love, or the sun lit walk home from losing her virginity. The film was photographed by Darius Khondji, whose visual sensibility was arguably the most recognizable and influential throughout the late 1990s, and few times in Khondji's career has a director's style worked so beautifully with his images. Much of the action takes place under the golden rays of a burning sun, showcasing a vivid color palette as rich as the fabric of the film itself. Though it takes place in present day, the look of the film lends a distinctly nostalgic overtone to the proceedings, perhaps reminding one of a contemporary, European take on Summer of '42.
When released in the summer of 1996, Stealing Beauty was among the most highly anticipated films of the year for fans of art house cinema. There was a tremendous amount of hype surrounding Liv Tyler's "racy" lead role. It was believed, at the time, that the film could do for her Tyler in the summer of 96 what Clueless had done for Alicia Silverstone in the summer of 1995 (both had rocketed to fame as a homoerotic duo in the Aerosmith video "Crazy"). It was also expected to resuscitate the career of legendary Italian director Bertolucci after the failure of his recent films. Alas, when the film was released it drew mixed reviews and failed to appeal to mainstream filmgoers. Bertolucci's subsequent films were never even released in the United States, and aside from supporting roles in the blockbusters Armageddon and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Tyler never jelled into the movie star the way most industry pundits predicted. Nonetheless, the film remains one of the most extraordinary Italian films of the 1990s. Both Bertolucci and Tyler are in top form here, and the film's unique success as a coming-of-age film despite completely defying the mechanics of the genre is an accomplishment in and of itself. Many of the best Italian films demand that you submit yourself completely to the vision of its director for the movie's duration, putting aside whatever standards or prejudices you have previously held true. Make such a commitment to Stealing Beauty, and the film is a smashingly effective work.
My Grade : A-
Bertolucci's Portrait of the Virgin at 19
Quinoa198417 June 2008
Stealing Beauty is a character piece, not so much ever really driven by plot, and which makes it a particularly European-flavored entry in the Bernardo Bertolucci cannon of films he's made. This shouldn't be a surprise; the guy's been making them this way for most of his career, save for when he can't not have some semblance of a story (i.e. 1900 and Last Emperor, which were epics). It's got some purely luscious cinematography- thanks, in part, to the equally luscious and vibrant locations out in these Tuscan fields and villas and vineyards and homes, all secluded like in an over-elaborate dream- and some brilliant moments, though in the end it's almost something of a minor work for the director. The most admirable aspect is that he's able, in short, to make a contemporary movie that doesn't feel stuck in time.
It's a 90's movie, with a hot-young-talent in her first role (I think it's her first), Liv Tyler, and in a way it works that she's not all that great in the part. Her awkwardness, her moments of sadness over her character's loss of her mother and the confusion over who her father really is, and the girlish and nearly overrated conundrum of still being a virgin, works to her ability as a 'first-timer', so to speak. And, luckily, she's surrounded by much better actors, people like Jeremy Irons who has a presence that is immense and cool even when bed-ridden for much of the film (thankfully it doesn't turn out how I originally thought the set-up would be with him wooing Tyler), and Rachel Weisz in one of her early roles as a woman who has reasonable suspicion her self-absorbed American husband is a lying/cheating louse. There are others as well, like the one who plays the old Frenchman (I forget his name), who's incredible as the old crank who can't bear to be where he's at.
If it does feel like a minor work, as I mentioned, it's that Bertolucci- working from his original concept with a screenwriter- doesn't give very much depth to the situation, or to some of the characters, until a little more than halfway through the movie. For a while it feels like a shallow enterprise, the kind of "will she or won't she" attitude towards sex that should be above him. But at some point there's something that opens up a little bit, then a little more, and all the while as Tyler's Lucy becomes more aware of what matters the central conceit starts to become less and less like some big hurdle and something more natural. As well as this, Bertolucci does litter his film, which is uncharacteristically good in the present setting (he blends musical choices very well, from alternative rock to old R&B and classical and jazz) and has a couple of really tremendous scenes. The bit at the party where Tyler and a possible-father dance and the dancers all choreographed and strange come in, it's enthralling.
Fans of the director should check it out, as should for those of the actors, but this being said it's almost kind of a light work. Lacking really hardcore dramatic tension, it's mostly predicated on a 19-year old girl's quasi-coming-of-age. Which is interesting, up to a point.
It's a 90's movie, with a hot-young-talent in her first role (I think it's her first), Liv Tyler, and in a way it works that she's not all that great in the part. Her awkwardness, her moments of sadness over her character's loss of her mother and the confusion over who her father really is, and the girlish and nearly overrated conundrum of still being a virgin, works to her ability as a 'first-timer', so to speak. And, luckily, she's surrounded by much better actors, people like Jeremy Irons who has a presence that is immense and cool even when bed-ridden for much of the film (thankfully it doesn't turn out how I originally thought the set-up would be with him wooing Tyler), and Rachel Weisz in one of her early roles as a woman who has reasonable suspicion her self-absorbed American husband is a lying/cheating louse. There are others as well, like the one who plays the old Frenchman (I forget his name), who's incredible as the old crank who can't bear to be where he's at.
If it does feel like a minor work, as I mentioned, it's that Bertolucci- working from his original concept with a screenwriter- doesn't give very much depth to the situation, or to some of the characters, until a little more than halfway through the movie. For a while it feels like a shallow enterprise, the kind of "will she or won't she" attitude towards sex that should be above him. But at some point there's something that opens up a little bit, then a little more, and all the while as Tyler's Lucy becomes more aware of what matters the central conceit starts to become less and less like some big hurdle and something more natural. As well as this, Bertolucci does litter his film, which is uncharacteristically good in the present setting (he blends musical choices very well, from alternative rock to old R&B and classical and jazz) and has a couple of really tremendous scenes. The bit at the party where Tyler and a possible-father dance and the dancers all choreographed and strange come in, it's enthralling.
Fans of the director should check it out, as should for those of the actors, but this being said it's almost kind of a light work. Lacking really hardcore dramatic tension, it's mostly predicated on a 19-year old girl's quasi-coming-of-age. Which is interesting, up to a point.
Liv Tyler is hot!!!!
alex-3065 June 2000
I'm not a huge Bertolucci fan, but I checked this out anyway because it was the first movie he had filmed in his native Italy in quite some time. Overall, this film is not great thematically or in terms of plot development. But lord, is Liv Tyler a lovely young woman!
In fact, the primary feature this film has going for it is its visual appeal. There's plenty of beautiful people to ogle, and of course the Tuscan countryside is worth the price of admission by itself. I'm an "Italy-phile," so I'm inclined to look with favor upon anything that reminds me of that wonderful country. Overall, Stealing Beauty is better than average, and at least it makes an attempt, however feeble, to discuss intelligently sex and sexuality.
In fact, the primary feature this film has going for it is its visual appeal. There's plenty of beautiful people to ogle, and of course the Tuscan countryside is worth the price of admission by itself. I'm an "Italy-phile," so I'm inclined to look with favor upon anything that reminds me of that wonderful country. Overall, Stealing Beauty is better than average, and at least it makes an attempt, however feeble, to discuss intelligently sex and sexuality.
The search for Dad
lastliberal22 July 2007
Liv Tyler's (Armageddon, LOTR trilogy) mother has just committed suicide and she goes to Tuyscany to visit her mother's friends in a coming-of-age adventure. Director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emporer) strive to bring out in Tyler what is probably her best screen performance.
This was Joseph Fiennes' (Shakespher in Love) first film role, and one of the first for Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, The Mummy).
With a great performance by Jeremy Irons (Elizabeth I, Reversal of Fortune), this film is a story about life and death and the search for who you are. It is character focused. Some of the best parts are gatherings where you just watch the characters interact.
A good European film for those looking for quality, not action.
This was Joseph Fiennes' (Shakespher in Love) first film role, and one of the first for Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, The Mummy).
With a great performance by Jeremy Irons (Elizabeth I, Reversal of Fortune), this film is a story about life and death and the search for who you are. It is character focused. Some of the best parts are gatherings where you just watch the characters interact.
A good European film for those looking for quality, not action.
compelling coming of age drama
damodara_and_radha7 June 2022
A beautiful film
jersbar10 March 2003
I just saw this for the first time a little while ago and I thought it was one of the most beautiful films I have seen in a long time. It captures all the aspects of life, the anger, elation, pain, and just being. Liv Tyler was perfect for this movie because she can reach into her soul and bring out this perfect, virginal girl. As I watched the first time, I did not pick up on everything, but the second time around, it was all rising action, leading to the end that amazed me in the innocence and beauty portrayed in the love between two people. I found myself wishing that I was that beautiful girl on a trip to Italy, figuring out my past and controlling my sexuality. I view this film as a work of art because of its perfect portrayal of love and the way it can sneak up behind us when it is standing right in front of us.
Here, scenes begin and end abruptly, in lyrical or baffling swirls of motion. There are sudden moments of exhibitionist inventiveness, like the pages of a diary
fernandoschiavi26 December 2022
Eroticism marks the spirit that surrounds this entire film where what is suggested is much more important than what actually happens. After her mother's suicide, Lucy Harmon (a 19-year-old girl played by Liv Tyler) travels to Italy with the aim of seeing herself portrayed on canvas. But that's not her only motivation: she wants to get to know Nicolo Donati (Roberto Zibetti) better - a young heartthrob she fell in love with the last time she visited that country - and decipher some enigmatic texts she read in her mother Sara's diary. But those waiting for her in Italy seem to be more intrigued by the young American's virginity.
In the house that welcomes it, some eccentric characters are hosted, a dying gay playwright, a lawyer from the world of entertainment, the sculptor who owns the house, his wife, among others. In this country retreat, intellectually very stimulating and conducive to triggering the most intimate emotions thanks to the summer heat in the middle of silent fields, Lucy undertakes two journeys, the search for the truth about her mother and her own birth and the discovery of her sexuality. The environment you live in awakens desire in the different characters, each in their own way. Lucy's beauty, youth and sensuality make her the object of attention of the men in the house, but it is she who chooses, after several attempts, the one with whom she wants to lose her virginity.
Bertolucci has been, since the last tango a Parigi (1972) an expert director in the presentation of eroticism and sexuality. In this work, we find a vivid contrast between the calm and peaceful beauty of the environments and of the protagonist and the immense work that is done on desire in its different manifestations and realizations, in its rationalization or not. Eros is the essential drive dealt with here, from the most subtle gaze to open-air prostitution, passing through explicit sex scenes. Here, all scenes fit into the projection, showing several truths of life, how no person is what they really appear to be, and also the hard quest for maturity. Strong messages, translated into brilliant scenes. Each new character is presented as if it were a priority in the film. With a well-constructed script, which gave strength to all the characters to fit into Lucy's exciting quest, the film increasingly involves the viewer. With very indiscreet close-ups that draw sighs from the viewer, Bertolucci, awarded by several organizations, does here a less recognized work, but brilliantly filmed! His direction explores the details and, with a slow and safe rhythm, he involves the viewer with the characters, without letting the projection ever get monotonous.
The cast perfectly portrays what the film sets out to show, starting with the protagonist Lucy, played by the beautiful Liv Tyler, who exudes innocence and serenity. The character who draws the attention of all the male characters in the film goes to Tuscany, to the house of some relatives, after the death of her mother, under the pretense of having her portrait painted, when in fact she seeks to meet the boy again. Which she gave her first kiss. Still in the cast we have the couple that welcomes Lucy, Diana, the always impressive Sinéad Cusack, a loving woman, but who brings a semblance of sadness and dissatisfaction, and her husband M. Guillaume played by Jean Marais, the artist who will paint the portrait of Lucy and that brings a long-kept secret.
A great highlight is also the character Alex, played by Jeremy Irons, he is a terminally ill man, who ends up enjoying a better life when Lucy enters everyone's lives and demonstrates friendship and confidentiality with the character who brings the best dialogues in the film. The plot still deals with issues such as betrayal, seduction, jealousy, and self-discovery. A striking singularity is the fact that Lucy, at certain times, writes a few verses in her notebook, and then tears up the pieces and burns them, or throws them in the wind, a way of expressing her feelings.
Nominated for the Palme d'Or in 1996, the film did not receive the award nor did it reach the quality of Bertolucci's other works. Despite the luxury cast and the recreation of an extraordinarily sophisticated environment in the most bucolic landscape, the argument is weakly sustained only by erotic suggestions. In fact, the action is small, based more on the intentions of the characters than on their consummation. Even so, the film achieves moments of great visual beauty and some great performances, such as Jeremy Irons in the role of a terminally ill patient.
It can be said that Stealing Beauty deals with three Great Themes: sexuality, as in sexual discovery or initiation; family and, more particularly, finding your parental origin, as Lucy proposes to do here; and, finally, art - the sometimes painful and difficult mysteries of the artistic process (and in this last topic, Bertolucci is certainly evoking another wonderful film about the beauty of body and soul, La Belle noiseuse (1991) by Jacques Rivette). We could say, with equal validity, that the film is about the beauty of a place, of a landscape - trying to give a little dignity to that chestnut tired of "the landscape being a character" in the cinema - because Tuscany looks amazing here.
And we could also say that it is a film about the 1960s, the radical free spirit of that decade and its legacy half corrupted, half renewed. There is an entire essay about the 1960s and its relationship to the 90s in the fantastically diverse selection of tracks and musical styles that fill the film and alter its texture in such seductive and daring ways - musically, this is a film that is right up there. With the best of Jean-Luc Godard or Martin Scorsese. If it is true that all art (as Walter Pater once observed) aspires to be music, then Stolen Beauty is an art film that aspires to be a musical. The soundtrack selection is an exciting and always surprising collage of classical, rock, blues and soul music. And when Bertolucci combines that sound with his characters' prowling, strolling, resting, and forever dancing movements, the result is utterly intoxicating.
Stolen Beauty is, in many ways, the companion film or book ending corresponding to La Luna. The deepest affinity between the films, however, is not at the base of the inverted plot, but at the level of style. In both, Bertolucci evokes a rebellious path of incident and narrative detail. Scenes begin and end abruptly, in lyrical or baffling swirls of motion. There are sudden moments of exhibitionist inventiveness, like the pages of a diary flashing before us, or the words of Lucy's poems materialized as words on the screen, slithering or bobbing up and down, as she looks straight at the camera and us. Characters sometimes behave in ways that are understandable only to them, sharing the comedy of some particular joke or code. The film gives us a unique diversity of feelings: it is sad, whimsical, delicate and eccentric - and also incredibly erotic. We've been blind to Bertolucci's talents for too long; this film, one of the best of the 1990s, reopens our eyes with an intensely pleasurable shock.
In the house that welcomes it, some eccentric characters are hosted, a dying gay playwright, a lawyer from the world of entertainment, the sculptor who owns the house, his wife, among others. In this country retreat, intellectually very stimulating and conducive to triggering the most intimate emotions thanks to the summer heat in the middle of silent fields, Lucy undertakes two journeys, the search for the truth about her mother and her own birth and the discovery of her sexuality. The environment you live in awakens desire in the different characters, each in their own way. Lucy's beauty, youth and sensuality make her the object of attention of the men in the house, but it is she who chooses, after several attempts, the one with whom she wants to lose her virginity.
Bertolucci has been, since the last tango a Parigi (1972) an expert director in the presentation of eroticism and sexuality. In this work, we find a vivid contrast between the calm and peaceful beauty of the environments and of the protagonist and the immense work that is done on desire in its different manifestations and realizations, in its rationalization or not. Eros is the essential drive dealt with here, from the most subtle gaze to open-air prostitution, passing through explicit sex scenes. Here, all scenes fit into the projection, showing several truths of life, how no person is what they really appear to be, and also the hard quest for maturity. Strong messages, translated into brilliant scenes. Each new character is presented as if it were a priority in the film. With a well-constructed script, which gave strength to all the characters to fit into Lucy's exciting quest, the film increasingly involves the viewer. With very indiscreet close-ups that draw sighs from the viewer, Bertolucci, awarded by several organizations, does here a less recognized work, but brilliantly filmed! His direction explores the details and, with a slow and safe rhythm, he involves the viewer with the characters, without letting the projection ever get monotonous.
The cast perfectly portrays what the film sets out to show, starting with the protagonist Lucy, played by the beautiful Liv Tyler, who exudes innocence and serenity. The character who draws the attention of all the male characters in the film goes to Tuscany, to the house of some relatives, after the death of her mother, under the pretense of having her portrait painted, when in fact she seeks to meet the boy again. Which she gave her first kiss. Still in the cast we have the couple that welcomes Lucy, Diana, the always impressive Sinéad Cusack, a loving woman, but who brings a semblance of sadness and dissatisfaction, and her husband M. Guillaume played by Jean Marais, the artist who will paint the portrait of Lucy and that brings a long-kept secret.
A great highlight is also the character Alex, played by Jeremy Irons, he is a terminally ill man, who ends up enjoying a better life when Lucy enters everyone's lives and demonstrates friendship and confidentiality with the character who brings the best dialogues in the film. The plot still deals with issues such as betrayal, seduction, jealousy, and self-discovery. A striking singularity is the fact that Lucy, at certain times, writes a few verses in her notebook, and then tears up the pieces and burns them, or throws them in the wind, a way of expressing her feelings.
Nominated for the Palme d'Or in 1996, the film did not receive the award nor did it reach the quality of Bertolucci's other works. Despite the luxury cast and the recreation of an extraordinarily sophisticated environment in the most bucolic landscape, the argument is weakly sustained only by erotic suggestions. In fact, the action is small, based more on the intentions of the characters than on their consummation. Even so, the film achieves moments of great visual beauty and some great performances, such as Jeremy Irons in the role of a terminally ill patient.
It can be said that Stealing Beauty deals with three Great Themes: sexuality, as in sexual discovery or initiation; family and, more particularly, finding your parental origin, as Lucy proposes to do here; and, finally, art - the sometimes painful and difficult mysteries of the artistic process (and in this last topic, Bertolucci is certainly evoking another wonderful film about the beauty of body and soul, La Belle noiseuse (1991) by Jacques Rivette). We could say, with equal validity, that the film is about the beauty of a place, of a landscape - trying to give a little dignity to that chestnut tired of "the landscape being a character" in the cinema - because Tuscany looks amazing here.
And we could also say that it is a film about the 1960s, the radical free spirit of that decade and its legacy half corrupted, half renewed. There is an entire essay about the 1960s and its relationship to the 90s in the fantastically diverse selection of tracks and musical styles that fill the film and alter its texture in such seductive and daring ways - musically, this is a film that is right up there. With the best of Jean-Luc Godard or Martin Scorsese. If it is true that all art (as Walter Pater once observed) aspires to be music, then Stolen Beauty is an art film that aspires to be a musical. The soundtrack selection is an exciting and always surprising collage of classical, rock, blues and soul music. And when Bertolucci combines that sound with his characters' prowling, strolling, resting, and forever dancing movements, the result is utterly intoxicating.
Stolen Beauty is, in many ways, the companion film or book ending corresponding to La Luna. The deepest affinity between the films, however, is not at the base of the inverted plot, but at the level of style. In both, Bertolucci evokes a rebellious path of incident and narrative detail. Scenes begin and end abruptly, in lyrical or baffling swirls of motion. There are sudden moments of exhibitionist inventiveness, like the pages of a diary flashing before us, or the words of Lucy's poems materialized as words on the screen, slithering or bobbing up and down, as she looks straight at the camera and us. Characters sometimes behave in ways that are understandable only to them, sharing the comedy of some particular joke or code. The film gives us a unique diversity of feelings: it is sad, whimsical, delicate and eccentric - and also incredibly erotic. We've been blind to Bertolucci's talents for too long; this film, one of the best of the 1990s, reopens our eyes with an intensely pleasurable shock.
Snooze fest, nothing happens ever...
deloudelouvain16 June 2020
The international cast looked interesting. That's basically what made me watching this movie. And that it was supposed to be a mystery. That said Stealing Beauty is a big disappointment. It's long, nothing happens during the entire movie, except some weird behavior for grown-ups ever now and then but if that's entertaining to some it sure wasn't to me. As for the mystery, well let's be honest there is almost none and if at the end you don't even get an answer to that I don't see the point of making a movie like this one. They're all good actors though but the story is so boring and pointless you will just be ending wasting your time with this one.
Marvelous coming-of-age story...
dwpollar16 October 2005
1st watched 10/15/2005, 9 out of 10(Dir-Bernardo Bertolucci): Marvelous coming-of-age story about a young woman named Lucy(played by Liv Tyler), returning to a place where her deceased mother spent a lot of time and rejuvenates some of the relationships she had four years prior while her mother was still alive. Bernardo Bertolucci again masterfully weaves this story in his usual poetically-visual style of directing. You feel like he's given everything he has and more to tell this story. It's told mainly from the main character's point of view, which is amazing in itself, but is possibly why the screenplay was written by a woman, Susan Minot. The story begins as Lucy arrives at her destination with a diary of her late mother's in hand. She reads thru this as a means to get to know her mother better(we get the feeling that she was not as close to her as she would have liked to be). The trip is also a way to explore this by getting to know her from the people who were close to her. The trip was the gift from her father, whom she has never met, and thus begins another search for her. Her virginity is also a hot topic, but mostly from those around her. She had only kissed a boy five years prior when she visited before and is still infatuated with him and hopes he will be the one(if you know what I mean). Since her mother's death she has closed herself up in many ways, and this has been one of them(although she denies this). Every character in this story is full of life in one way or another and seems to know their place in it except Lucy. And that's basically what this story is about. Her self discovery and her finding her place in the history of her family. The Italian landscape provides breathtaking views that Bertolucci takes great advantage of, the modern music blended with classical makes for an awesome soundtrack, and of course the storytelling plays it's way to a wonderful ending that leaves you again wanting to know these people more and more. This is where Bertolucci succeeds so well. His characters are rich and full of stories like real people who are merely here to enjoy their life. What a concept and what a film from a masterful director!!
Very sweet movie.
mrsOGB1 November 2012
I saw this movie back in 1998 and I remembered I like it, but watched it again today. It's actually a very good movie and has gorgeous scenery and makes you want to go to Tuscany. There is a lot of nudity of both sexes. Gross. I'm not a prude, I just don't like seeing certain body parts on the big screen. Double gross. Liv Tyler is really beautiful, but I think it takes something away from a movie when you see people's giblets and gravy. I wish that all movies just cut away from that stuff-we know what they are going to do!Anyway, the best scenes are between Liv Tyler and Jeremy Irons. There are a couple of scenes that are very weird-must be very Italian. The best part of the entire movie, however, is the house, its gorgeous. Except the ugly statues everywhere.
An uninspiring film and a disappointment
ffilix20 August 2006
I was looking forward to seeing this film but I was disappointed. I found it dull, a random assembly of unlikely people gathered together in a house in Tuscany, the grounds of which were dotted with awful "sculptures", people entering scenes and dropping out, the whole generally going nowhere.The film didn't capture the beauty of the Tuscan countryside, it felt very detached from the film in my view, as if the characters had been plucked up and dropped down at this villa. Many of the characters I found stereotypical American or British (and Irish) and at the end of a tiring day, hoping for some spiritual refreshment, well I didn't get it from this film and frankly,I'd rather have had an early night.Liv Tyler looks beautiful (my boyfriend didn't think so) but that's about it.Not one to see again and this from someone who loves Italian cinema.
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