Absolute rubbish. I expected so much more from Mirren & Walken. It ambled along without purpose or coherent plot. Wasted 2hrs of the lives of my wife & I.

This movie is a very good example of Walken at his most vampiric, it is titled The Comfort Of Strangers and it is based on a short novel by Ian McEwan. Paul Schrader is the director of this movie, he also directed one of my favorite movies the 1982 remake of Cat People.You know that classic fairy tale about the two human children who were orphans and went off into the woods only to be lured to a candy house by a witch who fattened them up? Well this movie is what you might call a modern version of that story.Our two leads are a British couple played by Rupert Everett - (who you might know as Dr Claw in the live action Inspector Gadget movie and the voice of Prince Charming in the Shrek franchise) and the late Natasha Richardson.Both of them are vacationing in the lovely town of Venice, it is explained that the two of them want to revitalize their relationship, when going through town one night they lose their way and wind up at a restaurant and that is when they encounter the owner Robert (Walken).They are taken to the house of Robert and his wife Caroline (Helen Mirren) and they stay there for the night - but what they don't know is that both of them have really dark and horrible secrets and aren't what they seem.Robert seems to be obsessed with his past among other things..and is quite mentally unhealthy despite being quite a seemingly nice person, he also is a bit suspect over the power females have over males.The British couple are repulsed and attracted to them at the same time, as time goes by Robert draws them in more and more into his influence. It seems that the couple are unable to escape him and his wife...as he continues to draw them in. As a side note Walken gained 20lbs for his role as Robert - and this is the only time you'll see Walken with a slightly hefty body type. The director wanted to have Walken in the shadows to make him look more evil but in Walken's own words: "I don't need to be made to look evil...I can do that on my own."

'The Comfort of Strangers' starts on a promising note. As the opening credits role, we are introduced to the names of a talented cast. Set in Venice, director Schrader maintains the mystery element. Venice looks beautiful but at the same time very secretive and haunting. The formidable cinematography and background score further stresses on this. Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson act well but it is Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren who steal the show. The sexual tension is quite cleverly displayed as sex is a key element. However, it is the ending that is a big letdown.Spoiler: It is shown that Mirren and Walken's characters were sexually obsessed with Everett's Colin. So, why did they decide to kill him? I thought both of them wanted to have some kind of ménage-a-trois with him. That would have made more sense. Also, in the beginning, Mary and Colin, sleep in separate beds. Since they were lovers, why was that the case? Perhaps they were on the trip to find each other. It's suggested that Walken's character is of an Arabian background (the interior design of his house, his speaking Arabic to the people in the bar etc).Nonetheless, it is the ending that ruins the film. Some people compared it to Lynch's work but 'The Comfort of Strangers' is nowhere near any of Lynch's great works.

I bought this in a set marked as 'Triple Feature Romance'. I can't imagine the morbid mind that would consider this movie a romance! I don't think I would have liked it even if I hadn't been expecting an undemanding love story, but then I probably wouldn't have watched it if it had been in a set with an accurate label. Certainly there is sex, even love, mostly of a very odd, sick type, but the obsession that leads a couple to murder the unwitting object of their sexual fantasies goes beyond the mere quirkiness of BDSM and stalking into a truly surreal madness. Yes, the scenery is nice, but I'm not sure Colin is quite so beautiful as to cause such fascination at first sight from a distance, though the obsessive couple are frighteningly believable. *shudder* But I'm not sure I can believe the two would be so stupid as to return to the apartment of a man they already have good reason to feel uneasy about! Going there in the first place was odd enough after their experience with him the night before.Yuck!