It's great to be back to my rental run. Now it's the turn of my favorite Spanish actress Penélope but as i have watched a lot of her movies, this would be quick. I never understand European cinema because we never heard about it in France, except the blockbuster ones. So it's only because i have thoroughly checked her filmography that I pick this one. It's about a cheating husband and it's not the only movie that Penélope did in that field. The movie illustrates clearly why it happens : just because the cheater (whose i saw younger in « Le Grand Bleu ») has better life with his new lover than with his wife, who is a look alike of Sienna Miller. For sure, after it's the usual dilemma as this cheater fails to choose and act morally. It's hard to understand why he falls for Pénelope as she has really nothing for her : no happy past, no future, almost jobless and living in a ruin. Anyway, it's only because she is that lost soul with a heart and smile of a princess that Pénelope is really exceptional ! So the movie is sometimes a bit long, needlessly too erotic but at the end, it has a real story, moving moments, it made us alert with its Italian background and it's finally an excellent recommendation and her best Italian movie!

I didn't even recognize Penélope Cruz the first time I saw her. It was an amazing transformation. She is a poor housekeeper, but looked like a cheap whore.Co-writer, director, and leading man Sergio Castellitto, repays her kindness after his car breaks down by raping her. He won his third David (Italian Oscar) for his magnificent performance in this film. Cruz also picked up a David for her performance.Of course, Castellitto returns to the scene of the crime, apologies, and rapes her again. This time he treats her like a cheap whore by leaving money.Now, I love Cruz, but Castellitto has a wife at home, the ever lovely Claudia Gerini. She is definitely hot! Eventually, Cruz and Castellitto establish a relationship. He even takes her to a medical conference.Then things really get complicate with both women, and the film really starts to explode with emotion.

I disagree with the "very compelling movie" comment. It seems that I have seen these images so many times, too many times. I saw this film last night and could not believe that films are made in this day and age that serve to reproduce myths of masculinity and to cover up the epidemic problem of men's violence against women not just as "uneventful" but even as leading to love. Close to 500,000 women report having been raped yearly in the US and they do NOT fall in love with their aggressors. Even if director/actor Castellito is willing to shed light on a disturbing violent product of masculinity (Timoteo) in our patriarchal system, he offers no explicit sign of this and that message(if it is intended) is completely lost. Since every piece of media educates the viewer, all that remains to unenlightened viewers is that: - it is easy (desirable?) for men to rape women because women are "natural" victims and men are "natural" preys. - it is possible that women even want to be violated or have "violent" sex with their male partner whenever this male partner wants it and however this male partner wants it. - it is likely that women do not have any sexual desire of their own that would be worth showing on screen - vaginal/penile intercourse is the ultimate interesting sexual act. Pa-the-tic... Such films construct women as eternal victims with no sexual desire and as objects of men who are constructed as natural inevitable aggressors. Such images are troubling for both women and men. Regardless of other qualities this film may have such as excellent interpretations by all three main actors, the scripted message is just unbearable to any "responsible" human being of any gender or orientation.

Emotionally intense movie handled unflinchingly by lead actor Castellitto. This immersive character study into an unfulfilled doctor's love affair is a tad too lengthy and perhaps the director indulges in his on screen action a little too much, but the dedication that the two ill-fated lovers give to portraying the rawness of their emotions and instincts will, despite once in a while misfiring, leave few viewers unfazed. Penelope Cruz is great as the counterpoint, and deserves much respect for assuming such a demanding, unglamorous role at this point in her well established career. Obviously it is the love of acting that propels her(no comparison to her English jobs), as this mildly received Italian film must have been several notches down from her draw, but when you see the psychologically harrowing sex scenes (not always for the sex, but for the right before and right after) you realize why someone would be interested in such intimate work. As the film slightly overextends itself to reach it's climax which sort of dumbs down it's poignant theme, the performances and overall taste left are nonetheless real and life affirming despite all of it's muddied ramifications.