Amateur *** R,105 m,1994 Isabella Huppert
"Amateur" is filled with deadpan humor that might be missed if one isn't on the lookout for it. "Amateur" also shows what it is like for a man to see himself as others do, and not at all like what he sees.
It opens with a scene of a man laying face down on the street. He comes to having no idea of who he is. He is befriended by a woman (Isabella Huppert) at a dinner who acts as if she may have just landed on her head, as well. He quickly learns that she writes erotic fiction for a living. She invites this total stranger to stay at her apartment. (Her trustful- ness may come from the fact that she has lived in a convent for the last 15 years, something she went ahead and did even after the Mother of Christ herself appeared to her in a vision and told her not to become a nun.)
Thomas (Martin Donovan) did not fall from the window by accident; he was pushed by his wife, the lovely Sophia (Elina Lowensohn). She has had enough of him. He got her hooked on drugs at age 12 and used her for his porno films. He also tells her that he will disfigure her if she leaves him.
Sophia believes he died in the fall and contacts an associate who tells her that Thomas was trying to blackmail the person fronting the money to make the XXX movies. Sophia herself becomes mixed up in this when she contacts this person about having some floppy disks with delicate information on them. Some men are dispatched to find her, the disks, and anyone else involved.
One of the striking things is the casualness with which all these characters come across. The two men who are sent to get the disks strike up a conversation about cell phones right before they are about to torture the accountant Sophia contacted with a live electrical cord. Sophia also manages to retain a childlike innocence, even in the face of such an abusive relationship. Isabella and her quest to lose her virginity has an "it can wait another day" feel to it.
Thomas finds it frustrating that people are so fearful of him when he hasn't a clue as to why they should be. Gradually, he discovers that he really would rather not know the person who he was and wishes to be accepted for who he is now.
The film's eccentric characters keep things interesting as the plot is allowed to unfold.
Craig Franck.
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