*May Contain Spoilers*
Timothy Hutton as Dimitri has great chemistry with both innocent Gemma (Valeria Golino) and bad girl Maria (Nastassja Kinski) in this lusciously filmed period drama. Even if I wasn't a Tim Hutton fan, the worst I could say about his performance is that he does have a bit of trouble with the Russian accent. The emotion is still there, though, especially whenever he seems to look at either one of his leading ladies. He also gets to don, in addition to the period costumes, clown apparel (!) in one scene and old-age makeup at the beginning and end!
The sex scenes are fantastic due to great accompanying music that is in rhythm with the movements and passion of the actors; then of course there's the impressive camera work involved.
I loved the soliloquy at the very end as we see Hutton staring at the water from his boat, as well as the scene where Golino catches Hutton and Kinski together. This scene in particular was handled very well by everyone.
I really enjoyed seeing the highly photogenic Kinski display her devilishly beautiful grin while speaking the film's most memorable lines, such as:
Maria: Do you mind if I give you orders?
Dimitri: No.
Maria: Good. We will get along well.
The "rose" sequence which leads up to a confrontation between Hutton and Urbano Barberini is an enjoyable enough plot diversion. The plot actually is pretty irrelevant to the qualities of this film; I didn't care at all about it, the spark between the actors was what I enjoyed.
I wouldn't say it's one of Skolimowski's best films, like "The Shout", but of course they're two totally different types of films.
My rating: 7/10
Timothy Hutton as Dimitri has great chemistry with both innocent Gemma (Valeria Golino) and bad girl Maria (Nastassja Kinski) in this lusciously filmed period drama. Even if I wasn't a Tim Hutton fan, the worst I could say about his performance is that he does have a bit of trouble with the Russian accent. The emotion is still there, though, especially whenever he seems to look at either one of his leading ladies. He also gets to don, in addition to the period costumes, clown apparel (!) in one scene and old-age makeup at the beginning and end!
The sex scenes are fantastic due to great accompanying music that is in rhythm with the movements and passion of the actors; then of course there's the impressive camera work involved.
I loved the soliloquy at the very end as we see Hutton staring at the water from his boat, as well as the scene where Golino catches Hutton and Kinski together. This scene in particular was handled very well by everyone.
I really enjoyed seeing the highly photogenic Kinski display her devilishly beautiful grin while speaking the film's most memorable lines, such as:
Maria: Do you mind if I give you orders?
Dimitri: No.
Maria: Good. We will get along well.
The "rose" sequence which leads up to a confrontation between Hutton and Urbano Barberini is an enjoyable enough plot diversion. The plot actually is pretty irrelevant to the qualities of this film; I didn't care at all about it, the spark between the actors was what I enjoyed.
I wouldn't say it's one of Skolimowski's best films, like "The Shout", but of course they're two totally different types of films.
My rating: 7/10