CARRIED AWAY
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1996 Ben Hoffman
It is a small town which a passerby, if he gave it any thought at all, would imagine to be like the thousands of small farm towns that dot our country. For the most part it would be true. It is the little things that make the difference between one place and another.
There is Rosealee (Amy Irving), a war widow and there is Joseph Svenden(Dennis Hopper). Joseph had been a good friend of Rosealee's husband before the war. Over the years since the war ended, Rosealee and Joseph have struck up a close friendship that became more than that, much like husband and wife without an actual marriage and each having a separate home. Rosealee has a teenaged son, Robert (Christopher Pettiet) while Joseph has an aging, dying mother (Julie Harris). Hal Holbrook plays her doctor.
Both Joseph and Rosealee teach at the small local school. When the county extends its jurisdiction to include the school it is found that all these years Joseph had never had a license to teach. . . and the school is closed down.
Although both Rosealee and Joseph have had sexual relations these many years, the passion for each other has diminished in time. Nothing exciting happens until the arrival of a beautiful, blonde, 17 year-old student and her father. Joseph cannot help his eyes from following this new student, Catherine (Amy Locane). When her father asks if Catherine can board her horse at Joseph's stable, he readily agrees. One day when he is in the stable but does not see Catherine, he climbs the ladder to the hay loft where she is lazily lying. Almost before he knows it, despite his being in his late 40s and she a mere 17, she strips and the movie takes a new turn. For one thing, Amy Locane has a stunning body and it is exhibited for a good part of the film. Frontal nudity by Amy Irving and Dennis Hopper, as well as Amy Lucane, make this a most sensual film. No point in pretending otherwise.
Once this new relationship becomes known to practically everyone in the village, the fireworks begin and the film takes on a new aspect. What do each of the characters do in this situation? What does the film's title, "Carried Away" mean if not that you have but one life to live and you had better live it now.?
Directed by Bruno Barreto.
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Ben Hoffman
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