Alicia I love this movie so much

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

MARIO GAUCI Stately period piece in the meticulous style of BARRY LYNDON (1975) - down to frequent shooting by candlelight - if done on a more intimate scale; actually the plot, adapted from a novel by Ivan Turgenev, is quite reminiscent of THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993). Still, it's not all solemnity and Skolimowski (who even appears, uncredited, in a brief but plum role) manages to insert his trademark irony and the odd visual touch on occasion! Timothy Hutton and Nastassja Kinski may not look Russian, but they aren't too bad under the circumstances - she being especially radiant as the cold-hearted but irresistible temptress; ingénue Valeria Golino, then, is the final component of the romantic triangle. Despite the obvious Russian setting, the film was mainly shot in Italy (being an Italian/French co-production) - to where it actually relocates for the melancholy finale, which takes place against the colorful backdrop of the Venice Carnival.The color utilized is generally muted and bathed in warm hues, with great care given to the lighting (most effective during a love scene inside a barn, set at dusk) - making the film's look and its overall period sense feel completely authentic. Though not usually linked with this type of film, Stanley Myers contributes a lovely score.

dmangibson-1 Turgenev's novel is ripe for cinematic treatment but Jerzy makes one wrong decision after another and sucks the life and drama out of the novel. Though Timothy Hutton is a serviceable lead -- his Russian dance though completely out of character and not in the book is a standout -- Valeria Golino is horribly miscast as is Kinski. The script also takes such liberties with the structure and characterizations that the movie ends up collapsing under its own weight. As the filmmaker never truly establishes Hutton's commitment and love for Gemma we don't care what happens between he and Kinski. Throughout the movie the director takes what were written as character scenes and opens them up into elaborate set pieces -- the fair, the opera, the masked ball -- underscoring his insecurity about our attachment to his characters and their wants and desires. He also has the most annoying directorial tic of starting almost every scene by dollying the camera behind some foreground element; flowers, tree branches, curtains and then finding our characters making their entrance. Miramax should have repo-ed the dolly and track and given him a tripod to stick the camera on.Turgenev deserves better. Read the book; it's much more cinematic on the page then in this film.One last question: what is William Forsythe doing in this movie?

Lunar_Eclipse_Scoping *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

Carl S Lau Warning: spoilers follow"Torrents of Spring" is an HBO European, horse and carriage, costume drama from the late 1980's. Bought off of e-Bay for less than $7, it is an ex-rental VHS tape that immediately says something about the movie: the initial scenes show tape wear, indicating that the movie was watched for a few minutes and then quickly taken out of the VHS recorder/player and dumped back into its box. The entire movie is told in flashback in which the heart of the movie depicts a young nobleman, Timothy Hutton, in conflict over two women: Valeria Golino, in the role of a bakery shop owner's pretty daughter, and Nastassja Kinski, as a rich married woman who can buy anything."Torrents of Spring" has a running time of 102 minutes and neatly breaks into two parts. It would be charitable to characterize the first part of the movie as awful because descriptive phrases come to mind: stiff as a board, stuffed shirt, trite dialogue, awful framing, amateur hour, cardboard characters. Hutton has the look of Pierce Brosnan, trying to do the right thing. Very early on, he falls in love with Valeria Golino's character and after a series of events proposes marriage that he will finance by selling his estate and giving his serfs their freedom - thus drastically cutting the proceeds of the sale. Somewhere around the twenty minute mark, Nastassja Kinski appears in a dreadful looking wig. She takes a fancy to Hutton and through a telescope watches his courting of the pretty shop owner's daughter in a tethered balloon. It is difficult to suppress the thought that Nastassja has just escaped from a villainous role from "The Three Musketeers." Empty chatter and strained moments fill the first sixty minutes of the film, leading one to wonder how much worse "Torrents of Spring" can get. Some way or other, Nastassja finds out about Hutton's marriage and the necessity to sell his estate. But she is after him and sets a trap for him by offering to buy it. At this point, "Torrents of Spring" has risen to the top of the heap as potentially Nastassja's worst movie, ever.There is a very clear break in continuity in which "Torrents of Spring" shifts from its lackluster veneer into a completely different phase that holds out the potential of vitality. Without her wig, Nastassja loses her hat while chasing Hutton on horseback through a forest. This is a transforming moment that leads into Nastassja's seduction of Hutton. From that moment in the forest, one sees and experiences what Nastassja can do on screen. She takes control of it and never lets it go. It would be very unfair to reveal how the movie ends. It is too bad that the same vision and energy was not invested in the first sixty minutes of the movie. "Torrents of Spring" has its problems or perhaps Nastassja can't act while wearing a wig?This film looks a lot better on the DVD transfer because it is in widescreen format and gives a much needed added dimension compared to the restrictive full screen version on VHS tape.