When learning of this film, it certainly seemed interesting to me but for some reason was one of those films i had always kept putting off watching. Now i have and I'm very glad I did.What hooked me was seeing Emmanuelle Seigner ass crawling through the rear of car in Frantic when I was 14 and ever since then a vivid image stayed in my mind of this woman for obvious reasons, wondering who she was and what other movies she may have been in... Seeing quite a bit more of her in this movie was my interest that if I knew about when i was younger i'd certainly have wanted to watch it, however I'm glad for my own sanity I didn't know about it, which I'm sure is how most of the men that come in contact with Mimi must feel and then some. That they never knew she existed after being drawn in like a moth to a flame...The context of the film was what i was unsure about so never watched it up until now as it's very different to the type of movie I'd usually be interested in. If you can relate to this, I advise you watch it.The direction of this movie was amazing and is what gives this movie an edge on subject matter I've never seen explored in any other movie. It toys upon lust, desire, jealousy and control confused as love by many people, something which is analysed and scrutinized in a very artistic manner, which can have a deep impact - hence people confuse such emotions with love - and generally we don't philosophize such thoughts which this movie sure helps provoke and should make you question or want to block out if you're not at ease with subject matter or have been affected by parts of the story in relationships yourself. Such a story telling of deep rooted entanglements as this I could on,y compare with Stanley Kubrick direction of Eyes Wide Shut to the same effect and impact. Yet this is different. This is more direct and in your face whereas Eyes Wide Shut is more subliminal and paranoia, interwoven into another story of perversion and corruption within high society.It explores difficult territory that should be mandatory watching by prescription for every couple before commitment, in the same context as one may watch a birthing video before actually giving birth...The whole movie pulls on your emotions in a way that can only be done by the movies control by its director, until in the end your on the edge of you seat wondering what the hell is happening, feeling sorry for Nigel yet also wondering why he isn't as happy with his wife or that he didn't toss the idea of a threesome into the ring?This is another carefully crafted piece of direction, from the start Oscar is seen with at least two different women that look exactly like Mimi or at least just as attractive. One who walks bare ass behind him while he is on the computer and the other who he mistakes for her in a shop window. Yet they don't have the same affect that Mimi has, an impulse and desire which quickly sets into a pattern of self destruction and torment for both candidates of this trap they have created for themselves.Then you wonder how much of this maybe secretly repeated - maybe largely to a lesser extent - throughout society behind the many masks?Such Philosophical thinking and questioning this movie seeks to inspire of relationships, seeking out the fulfillment of desires and lust confused as love is what the movie Ex Machina is to seeking the questioning of the human condition, technology, transhumanism and A.I.

It's very hard to separate the turbulent events in Roman Polanski's life from his movies; surely they have defined his work, especially as he has so much control over what he does. So what are we to make of Bitter Moon? When directing his real-life wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski placed himself in the position of Peter Coyote's character, who seems to take perverse pleasure in watching his wife having affairs with other men. One can only wonder what Roman was thinking as he directed Coyote to lick the milk spilling down Seigner's naked torso - even if it was just acting. Later in the movie, Seigner cavorts sans pants a couple of more times with Coyote. Maybe everyone involved could have used a session or two with Doctor Phil.The film starts on a cruise liner as a young married couple, Nigel and Fiona Dobson (Hugh Grant and Kristen Scott Thomas), become involved with wheelchair bound Oscar Benton (Peter Coyote) and his seductive wife Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner). Benton has a goading nature and takes delight in telling Nigel details of his life with Mimi sparing no juicy detail, much of which is seen in flashback. He tells how he went from lust to obsession then to absolute disdain before becoming totally dependent on her when he landed in the wheelchair.When Nigel learns that Benton practically throws his wife at other men, he becomes entranced with her and is determined to be one of those men. However, near the end, Nigel and Fiona receive a jolt that reignites their marriage, or so it seems as the ship sails off into the sunset.It wasn't until halfway through the film, about the time Benton entered the disdain phase of his relationship with Mimi, that I think I finally got this movie - it's a comedy - a black one to be sure. The change of pace midstream, especially when Benton starts to bully Elsa, is pretty ridiculous, and Coyote's performance isn't all that convincing from that point on unless the whole thing is seen as a big joke played on the hapless Nigel – then it makes perfect sense.Although definitely over-the-top, "Bitter Moon" doesn't give you much time to think about the inconsistencies. It's not in the same league as "Chinatown", "The Ghost Writer" or "The Pianist", but just waiting to see how far Polanski will let his wife go is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat without worrying too much about the story.

Almost everyone would talk about politics of sex, twisted passions, and state of fantasy, which this film is partially about. I think the final scene, when the little Indian girl came to wish those husband and wife a happy new year for her father, who stood at a distance, tells it all. Western way has become too greedy, overflowing, and dangerous to oneself. Oscar and Mimi had it all their way, perhaps all the tasteful and tasteless sex known to man, and they ended up losing everything over them. We don't know if the Indian gentleman's presence is to offer an oriental civilization as a cure to western capitalistic decay, but Polanski seems to offer that scene as an alternative of life. This is a man who mocks oriental civilization all his life, Polanski that is. Any Chinese personality in his films is portrayed as mysterious, mischievous, and a mockery. Maybe at this point in life, Polanski starts to see things through. This film is a phenomenon. It is made by someone who perhaps tasted all the tastes and smelled all the smells. Tragedies in real life of Polanski may have even added to his firm grasp of what human beings are really like. As a true artist, he is so masterful in exhibiting what he knows, and we all benefit from him. Please watch this film without asking too many questions at first. Live along and you'll be rewarded.

Bitter Moon is one of those really good movies from 1993, another I imagine was overlooked. It could of not have gotten the respect it deserves, but respectively it should. Starting with the great opening score by Vangelis, in no nonsense style, we're thrown into the story. A reserved British couple, none more fitting than High Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas, though the other three mains are better than Hugh, are on board a ship, en route to Istanbul. They became part of this guy's game, crippled and of course bitter playboy, Peter Coyote. Through much flashback running time, we see how he got this way, where, before his crippling fate, he struck up a romance with a dependant beauty (Polanksi favorite, Seigner), many years his junior. What begins is one steamy affair, which slowly begins to break away, where I thought Peter Coyote's character, was for most part, during the flashback, was an utter ar..hole, where finally the romance puts a strain on him. I'm actually glad he got what he deserved, where now Seigner, the best performer in this, became the victor. Becoming a painful though aroused ear to Coyote's wonderfully and boldly descripted, if slightly explicit recounts is Grant, who stays for the long duration over many days, in Coyote's cabin. You really don't see much of KST in it, but it's more Seigner and Coyote's movie. The movies not explicit as you would expect, where you'd fare better with Body Of Evidence, earlier around the traps that year. Seigner's erotic scene, stroking her boobs with spilt milk indeed is the highlight, which owes a bit to 'Last Tango' in Paris. What the movie has that I loved, is the way this love stories told, in detail, as to how we see more differences of opinion, the more we firther through the story, where it worsens later in the break up phase. Seigner's so emotionally dependant on Coyote, the point where she suffers rejection, truly tugs on your heartstrings, where this dependence starts to weigh Coyote down. As for the finale shock ending, I would say it ended this very dangerously dramatic tale off beautifully. Love him or hate him, Polanski knows how to make movies, this one, of his greatest feats. Fine drama, all the way down the line. A definite track down.