GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

MisterWhiplash 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.

SunSeekerScot I think I saw this film at a film festival when it was newly released (or prior to release) and seem to recall a scene that was missing when I watched it again recently.Remember when they all go over to that grand villa for the evenings party and the artist guy stays home to carve away at his tree stump with the chainsaw. I remember him sanding more and creating this lovely (and suggestive!) hole in it that later when his wife returns home and finds him caressing the hole suggestively and the two of them then make love. This time when I watch the film it just cuts to the place where she leans against the wall and hikes up her dress above the knee (what the hell is that all about?). The original was one of my favorite parts because of how that scene was enhanced with the music soundtrack... but now it's gone! So my question is: Am I right or dreaming? Anybody else remember this?

zeklo "Stealing Beauty" depicts (two hours of) Tuscany summer, slow paced drifting camera, a beautiful girl, lots of dark people around, candid sex, and pop music.Hey, Bertolucci... Slow down, take a deep breath, say "no, thanks" to the American audience, cry a little, and start again. I mean, from the very beginning.Remember: Pier Paolo and Michelangelo are contemplating you from above. And Godard says he wants you to show up in his next movie; "Un Italiano is an Italian is an englishman". Are you really sure you still want to make films? How about entering History, or Buhdist philosophy, for a change? Are you aware that your work as director here is as sordid as Marcello Clerici's life was?Reveille toi!

fedor8 The poetic tale of a girl trapped in her past which keeps her unavailable and sexually closed, and a study of the increasing urges and temptations that she feels pressuring her. Or: the story of who will have sex with a beautiful virgin first. It's a guessing game for the viewer: which one of the many male characters will deflower the Tyler girl? I'm sure Bertolucci sees this in a different light but then again he is a pretentious European director who would summarize the plot in a far more philosophical manner, looking at it from angles that don't exist. This is, after all, the same "genius" who made the ridiculously long, extreme-left-wing "1900", in an attempt to create movie history. (I suppose Depardieu and De Niro getting simultaneously masturbated by a prostitute is what everyone always wanted to see. Real art.) The camera-work, though it captures Tyler's good looks well, makes me suspect that either Bertolucci or the cameraman had lusted after her during the filming; sometimes the camera is so close to her it almost touches her. Rather plot less, but watchable. The dialogues strive for something powerful and meaningful and something... oh, je ne sais pas quoi I should call it - when in fact the dialogue is actually quite unremarkable and sometimes bordering on total malarkey. Anyone who takes this film too seriously is just as hopelessly naïve as Bertolucci hopes the viewer to be.