When Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and everything is possible.
Michael Pitt
Matthew
Eva Green
Isabelle
Louis Garrel
Theo
Anna Chancellor
Mother
Robin Renucci
Father
Jean-Pierre Kalfon
Himself
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Himself
Florian Cadiou
Patrick
Pierre Hancisse
First Buff
Valentin Merlet
Second Buff
Lola Peploe
The Usherette
Ingy Fillion
Theo's Girlfriend
Director
Bernardo Bertolucci
Author, Screenplay
Gilbert Adair
June 11, 2024
6
It's Paris in the springtime, in 1968, and the students are revolting. "Matthew" (Michael Pitt) is visiting from the USA and he encounters the siblings "Theo" (Louis Garrel) and "Isabelle" (Eva Green) with whom he shares a fascination with movies. They invite him to their home for dinner just as their parents are heading off on trip. It's clear to the visitor that these two have a curiously intimate relationship. Not incestuous, but not a kick in the shirt off it. What now ensues sees "Matthew" ensnared in their games that have basically few holds barred - an orgy of the body and the mind fuelled by curiosity, lust and fine red wines. There is something quite unique about the way in which Bertolucci uses sex (and there's plenty of nudity and sex here) as a tool to explore the character of these three young - and beautiful - people, probing their limits and their ideals in a provocative fashion. Until the very end, I'm not sure the ongoing civil disobedience has much to do with this, indeed I thought maybe that was a way of trying to add some intellectual gravitas to a narrative that is often thinly contrived and consists largely of what would have to be described as soft-porn. It's shocking at times, but the characters are completely undercooked with Garell, especially, having little to do except gradually come to resent the burgeoning sexual relationship developing between his sister and the stranger. It's not a good film, but it is a brave film and may well mark the end of the application of Victorian attitudes and mores to 21st century cinema.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$15,000,000.00
Revenue:
$15,100,000.00