boring.....

What don meant to say was:
They should all be thrown into prison, AND THE KEY SHOULD BE THROWN AWAY, for making such a worthless and boring movie that had absolutely no redeaming value, AND MADE NO SENSE. They should be ashamed. Those who see it as beautiful need major medication.

I thought it was as far from borning as you could get.

I think it's a good but vastly overrated film. What exactly makes this film so great? Yes, Brando does some good acting and the sexual journey itself is interesting but most of the time his character is making no sense and Schneider's character reacts as if he was indeed making sense. I mean, she sees the guy on her way to the apartment, later she finds the same guy in a fetal position at the exact same apartment she was checking out (coincidence?), the guy proceeds to combine some mumbling with a few coherent words while averting his eyes from her in a very suspicious manner, then calmly shuts the door and rapes- I mean, takes her and has sex with her, Schneider reacts to this as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a man clearly deranged to do as he pleases with her, and in fact rejoices the experience so much she comes back for seconds, thirds and keep counting. Then, by the end she accepts the marriage proposal from her boyfriend, but the bf doesn't like the apartment so she tells Brando that she is in love with him, they have a good time making fools of themselves on the dance floor and then, out of the blue, she decides that this is all wrong and they should stop seeing each other because, umm, because he is acting sooo different from before? (I don't think so) So she runs from him for what seems like hours (nighttime when the chase starts, daytime when it ends), he is getting crazier by the second and finally she does the one sensible thing in the whole movie, and puts that mad dog to sleep.

So how can a movie that forces its way into the premise and blunders its way out of it be considered WITHOUT ANY DOUBT one of the half dozen greatest films of its era?

Now, I have read that it was originally a four hour cut, so I'm willing to concede that perhaps that cut manages to clean up the movie, but if that's so then the version I watched is decidedly horrible cut that doesn't do justice to "one of the top six films of the 1970's".

I had heard many mixed reviews about the film before watching it. I think I enjoyed it because I focused on everything the film was instead of everything it wasn't. Some think that it's disgusting, some find the film overrated, and some believe it to be a masterpiece. I thought none of those things. Yes it's graphic, but (and this is just my opinion) not in a disgusting way. No I don't think the film is a masterpiece, but I also don't find it overrated because I found it to be a very moving work. It's all just a matter of personal preference really. I personally did not find the film boring.

I can understand people who find this film boring, but that is because I believe they don't know what the film is really about. A guy who wants a filthy, dirty, sordid relationship after the death of his wife, then ends up falling in love. That's a great story.

Nothing really happens, thats what makes it so stupid. There is no exposure, just facial expressions. it was almost a throwaway scene.

*beep*

i hate when folks tell when a film is boring, it says more about the person.

I suppose this isn't really a direct response to hakopt's post, however I felt compelled to juxtapose my positive view of the movie with one of the more recent negative views, at least to be able to give a bit of balance to the arguement.

Onto my point though: I don't think this is the type of movie that you see purely for enjoyments sake, but rather to try and take a close look into the nature of people's relationships, love in particular being of interest. Many of the scenes are a bit gruesome and unsettling, but I did not feel that anything was done out of pretension or in an effort to merely shock the audience. Although some of the actions of the characters were reprehensible, and some of the dialogue at first glance might seem boring and unecessary (I do not think this, but I do see how others could), everything was done with a very acute sense of realism and honesty. It was an unflinching, unpretentious close examination of some very real questions about the nature of peoples closest types of relationships. If this is something you are interested in understanding, I think this is a movie that will intrigue and interest you; if you aren't really too curious to begin with and are just looking for an entertaining movie this probably is not it.

What interests me most is the examination of love as a purely one sided emotion, it is a driving need in one person that does not care particularly about the object it is directed at. It looks at relationships in society as something completely separate, and tragically embodied by this almost insurmountable gap that exists between people. It amazes me, in this movie and in real life, just how little people can know about eachother even after years of supposedly loving them and having a close relationship with them. How little some people really know about themselves and what they really need, and the lies and misrepresentations and illusions that necessarily embody our everyday interations.

Paul is sickened by these lies, having spent a good deal of his life and his emotions with a woman who he suddenly finds out was never really as close to him as he thought; they were almost strangers to eachother even though they were married and had loved one another. On the opposite side of the spectrum, despite Paul and Jeannes desperate attempts to circumvent these lies by never knowing anything about eachother outside of that room, they do in fact fall in love with one another, at least with what each of them means to eachother. Then, once they introduce certain realities to eachother and try to have a normal loving relationship, they realise that even then they are still complete strangers to one another, and we see the tragic turn that takes.

Not many great books and movies take a really grown-up look at what relationships and love are really like, however I think this is one of those movies which goes to great lengths to show, albeit with a series of rather exaggerated events, the many layers of complex things that go on in love and relationships. Some of the things which go on here may seem unreal to us, but if you think about it they aren't really as far removed from everyday life as we may like. People enter relationships all the time barely knowing the person, having a completely made up sense of who they are, and loving that illusion for years with no clue that the person is anything other than what they think. Other people are in relationships only for what they get out of it, and don't really care who gives it to them. This movie takes a very good look at some of the real challenges which exists in trying to really know and love a person, especially when that person doesn't even really know themself.

Well I'm a woman and I found it just as much a female jerk-off fantasy. The movie was both beautiful and poignant. The only part that sucked was the very ending. But the movie in total, even in its heterosexuality, was still erotic, emotionally pulling, the pace was brilliant, the cinematography,...I couldn't find anything to not like. The contrast of the two protagonists is what propelled it. She was so soft and vulnerable and he was so rough and unpredictable. Given the passion/s shown, it wouldn't have mattered, man or woman, it's the very contrast in characterization and desires that drives the plot. Loved it, and I found it not only a physical turn on fantasy film, but it also grappled with my mind and that duality is part of what makes this so exceptional.

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Sic vis pacem para bellum.