DAMAGE
[Spoilers]
A film review by Grant Heinrich
Copyright 1993 Grant Heinrich
Directed Louis Malle. Stars Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche (Teresa in THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING).
Irons and Binoche play two aliens stranded on earth in human form and only able to communicate through involved eyebrow wiggling and insertion without foreplay. Irons is a wacky English MP. Bincohe reprises her role from THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, only this time without the benfit of good scripting--certainly, Damage allows no room for anything resembling characterisation or, indeed, any form of acting whatsoever beyond stoicism and the occasional smirk during orgasm.
Spoilers:
Here's the plot: Irons is a talented actor who picked a bad script. Dressed as an well-toned MP, he drags Binoche around France and Britan, looking for some place more uncomfortable than the last to fuck. Binoche is his son's girlfriend. The rest is easily filled in: the octopus position, the half-nelson with triple pike position, the losing control of a two-wheel scooter because of an inexplicable manifestation of Cthulu position.
Since it's impolite to giggle in the cinema (even when everyone else does), wait for the video. Personally, I enjoyed Damage, but I'm a big fan of the badly-executed highbrow wanking flick. Well, not a fan. Not really. But I seem to see a lot of the things.
Good points: the first ten minutes. The last half hour works. The closing music is stirring. The actress playing Binoche's mother has a grey stripe through her hair; she looks and sounds like a Python character--doesn't suit the movie, but she's fun to watch.
Winnner: the 1993 "Close my Eyes" award for sexual banality. This award is named for the '92 film, notable for trite dialogue, inept direction and anatomical correctness.
Avoid.
--- Grant Heinrich ( leroy@socs.uts.edu.au )
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