User reviews

Nicolas Roeg's compact, stark art-house drama of scarring psychology and war-torn politics is a thoroughly complex and novel narrative, but not entirely a rewarding exercise in how they patch the two themes together. The revolution of Bucharest that's happening in the streets stays mostly in the background (we get stock footage snippets), to only interrupt when necessary in the paths of the characters' self-reflection of their desire for affection and the corrupted truth of obsessive domination. I wouldn't call it one of Roeg's most arresting work in a visual sense, as his directorial display seems to be quite forward and even subdue in a small-scale production. Honestly it can look quite ugly, but this could be on purpose due to the compulsively cold context to insert that prominent imprisonment tone. Hans Zimmer's soaring music score choicely paints a brooding, and occasionally titillating scent that accordingly inter-cuts with underlining emotions and on-screen events. On this occasion he decides to feed off the dialogue driven story (based upon Stephen Dobyns' novel "The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini"), and the verbally personal play off between the well-etched characters, which can be uncomfortable and unpleasant in its passionate chains of actions revealing sexual hunger, pain and twisted tragedy. Roeg is not one to shy away from erotic seduction and empowerment, and here it's the main driving force up to its stunningly moving climax of Roeg's trademark craftsmanship. The textured performances are thoughtfully portrayed to perfection by the likes of a marvellous Michael Gambon and a gracefully enigmatic Sonia Braga. In support are admirably concise turns by Patrick Malahide, Ion Caramitru and Nickolas Grace.

A Great Film, the best by Roeg, deals with heavy issues and shows how beautiful the human spirit can be in the midst of pain..also how everyone is strong and weak. People both look horrible and beautiful and show themselves to be like us.

the first time I saw Sonia Braga was in the bill cosby TV sitcom of all places. I didn't know who she was but I was struck by her fine Latin looks and interesting way of presenting herself, an honest human with truthful emotions.

this film touches on a spectrum of emotions and situations, making one reflect on the morality of the decisions and actions we take.

it is most assuredly NOT typical Hollywood pap. there are some graphic scenes and nudity but this is vital to the story line, not like Hollywood that strives endlessly to find an excuse to do the same in the interests of higher ticket sales.

the length of the film is just right and there are no loose ends considering the 1:40 +/- time. I recognized some of the actors. this is a production in conjunction with the BBC so that tells you something about the production values.