nice idea, but....

the idea of "love" is great; the idea of the "love triangle" is even better...even though the realities of both strike many people as far short of the fantasies our culture embraces about them.
i rented this film on dvd because i was interested in seeing how the love triangle idea was executed in it. after all, it's been done exceptionally well in films like "jules et jim" and "carnal knowledge," to name just two. i was disappointed, though. and, one of the main reasons why is the camerawork. there are no (i repeat, no) closeups in this film! i can't ever remember seeing a film with no closeups (and i've seen a few films in my time). even the couple of sex scenes are two-shots; and everything else is wideshot. this has the effect of distancing the characters. if you had to pick any of them out in a crowd after viewing this film, you couldn't because the camera doesn't bring them close enough to detail their faces (even in the most intimate and crucial scenes).
none other than martin scorsese introduces the film on the dvd. this has the equally unfavourable effect of raising your expectations - as he was obviously enchanted by, and in love, with it.
as i say, though, i like the idea. and the opening music is memorable. it's repeated a couple of times during the film. there's not much incidental music, otherwise. which can be a good thing (and i think is for this movie). maybe it's a cultural difference, but i just think that if you're going to make a film about 2 (or 3) people involved - to some depth - with one another, you want to bring the audience as close as possible to what's making their relationship(s) tick. and, with film being a predominantly visual medium, the camera is your primary tool for doing that.

gregory 042207