Stealing Beauty
The most beautiful place to be is in love.
Renowned Academy Award®-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor) explores one girl's personal journey into womanhood in this lushly filmed romantic adventure starring Liv Tyler and Jeremy Irons.
When beautiful 19-year old Lucy (Tyler) arrives in Italy to spend the summer with her late mother's bohemian friends, she's determined to fulfill two dreams. The first, to consumate her romance with the Italian boy she fell in love with four years earlier, and the second, to discover the identity of her father through clues in her mother's diary.
As thoughtful as it is sensual and visually stunning, Stealing Beauty is "an exquisite, erotic adventure." (Guy Flatley, Cosmopolitan)
Member Reviews
Disappointing - Guyatthemovies
I was hoping for an artistic movie with at least a story. It was a group of miscellaneous characters moping around in an idyllic farmhouse in Tuscany, eating, drinking and having sex. I have no idea who they were, how they were related to each other or the main character. There was drunkenness and smoking highs, both of which are incredibly tedious on the screen.
The main story, if there was one, seemed to be Lucy (Liv Tyler) trying to decide which of these characters is her father. Frankly, I wouldn't have wanted to acknowledge any of them. They all seemed total time wasters.
As for the character, Lucy, she seemed to be sexually repressed despite everyone else in the movie trying to encourage her to get it off with the locals, for reasons that are not clear, which she did in the end.
I watched it because the director and actors all have track records of worthwhile movies. Not this one. Leave it on the shelf.Subtle Beauty - 0930tracey
I loved everything about this movie. The gorgeous, lush scenery, the stunning Liv Tyler, in one of her best, and the simple, yet complex, storyline. Some of the best films are the little known ones, and this one is no different. I highly recommend this fim. Zip It!Who gets to deflower the virgin? - cathyottawa
This would have been a more apt title, as it's all this movie is about.
There's a subplot involving Lucy (Tyler) trying to find her birthfather that's a non-starter and goes nowhere. There's Jeremy Irons in the wise old sage role, but he really doesn't teach Lucy anything. That leaves Lucy and her suitors, and the question of who she will have sex with - and even that is pretty easy to guess from pretty early on.
It all leads to "the big sex scene" in the final minutes of the film, that's pretty anti-climatic (isn't the first time always so?).
I don't know what Rachel Weisz's character was meant to add to the plot. She's completely superfluous.
This purports to be about love, but it's not. It's about sex. Not unlike with Last Tango In Paris, Bertolucci thinks he's saying something really deep, when he's just having fun filming a scantily clad Liv Tyler.
At least it was filmed in beautiful Italy, and is indeed like an "Italian travelogue" as the descriptor says.
As the other reviewers suggest, the lovely local is about the only redeeming quality of the film.
Member Reviews
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Disappointing - Guyatthemovies
I was hoping for an artistic movie with at least a story. It was a group of miscellaneous characters moping around in an idyllic farmhouse in Tuscany, eating, drinking and having sex. I have no idea who they were, how they were related to each other or the ...Subtle Beauty - 0930tracey
I loved everything about this movie. The gorgeous, lush scenery, the stunning Liv Tyler, in one of her best, and the simple, yet complex, storyline. Some of the best films are the little known ones, and this one is no different. I highly recommend this fim. ...Who gets to deflower the virgin? - cathyottawa
This would have been a more apt title, as it's all this movie is about.
There's a subplot involving Lucy (Tyler) trying to find her birthfather that's a non-starter and goes nowhere. There's Jeremy Irons in the wise old sage role, but he really doesn't ...