amberberglund I didn't see this film when it first came out, because I kept reading these terrible reviews. One review has stuck with me, for 12 years. "Liv Tyler is the perfect piece of cardboard." I don't remember who said that, but that line kept me from seeing this film. This film was offered for free on cable on-demand, and since then, I've watched several times. Probably about 20 times. Why do I keep watching it? Because details are revealed each and ever time I see it. Things that I didn't notice before. Liv Tyler gives a very subtle and masterful performance in this film. Her character is experiencing things internally, and it would be inappropriate for her to be wildly expressive. Her character is reacting to her surroundings, but her reactions fall under the radar of normal viewing. The opening scene is shot on (what looks like) digital video by a man on the plane from America to Italy. I didn't notice at first, but, there is a close-up of this man's wrist, wearing a leather bracelet. Fast forward several scenes and this close up of this same bracelet appears on the wrist of this character "Carlo Liska"...and this leads me to believe that the man on the plane was this character "Carlo." But, back to Liv Tyler's character, "Lucy"...this character is a virgin, but that doesn't make her unsophisticated. She speaks Italian, smokes marijuana, and (really forward-thinking for 1996) fearlessly allows a man - a character of a writer (probably dying from AIDS) played by Jeremy Irons, to dress an open, bleeding wound on her knee. AIDS isn't mentioned, but it is implied. Making the subject of sex (circa 1996) that much more shocking. This is a dangerous activity, according to the zeitgeist of the 1990s. Life and death. I like to have this film just playing in the background, because the music is pleasant, and it's pretty much like being on vacation in Tuscany. It isn't a demanding film. It doesn't scream at you. It meanders from beautiful shot to beautiful shot, and having seen it 20 times already, I can leave the room and come back and it's still like a vacation in Tuscany. Naked, beautiful people on the surface, but there's more there if you choose to look.

Osman Boroyewski I gotta admit, I had quite high expectations when I bought the DVD of Stealing Beauty, having heard mostly good stuff about the film. So I sat down in front of the screen, expecting a highly emotional, entertaining flick. Boy was I wrong! There were just too many things that didn't seem right in this. I don't even know where to start so I'll just write the first things that come to my mind;The plot. It just went nowhere. Before watching the film, I had an overall idea of the story, in which there was this 19-year old American girl involved, who travels to Italy in order to resolve the mystery surrounding the father she never knew. With a premise as simple as this, I was expecting the director to surprise his audience with a twist in the plot or two. Alas, as soon as I saw the credits popping up, I shouted out loud "so, is THAT it?!" What was the point of all this? What was I supposed to get? Nothing important happened during those 114 minutes. Let's face it, the countryside is fine for resting, but if you don't have a damn good story to tell, it's just a boring setting for a movie.Cinematography is not enough to make a good film. If I want pretty images, I watch a documentary, or here's a better idea, I just take a walk outside. Watching the regular lives of useless country people don't really match my idea of quality entertainment.The characters are another matter. There are simply no characters that you can relate to/show sympathy, because frankly, there's something disturbing about horny, aging hippies. The only likable person is Lucy, then again, that might only have something to do with Liv Tyler herself, rather than her character.Come to think of it, Liv Tyler's the whole reason I forced myself to watch this to the end. 2 stars for casting her.

clarenceisagirl I first watched this film when I was fourteen when it came out in the cinema. I squirmed and blushed at the sex scenes and it made me incredibly uncomfortable at that age, sitting with my parents. But I didn't forget it, and have watched it again and again since. It is not for people who want to sit on the edge of their seat, it is not a white knuckle ride of adventure, with clever plot-twists and turns. No, you watch Stealing Beauty at your leisure, sprawled over your armchair, supine,with a little smile on your face. You absorb it. It changes the world for you for a while afterwards, which is why it is best to watch it in the summer. You go out and appreciate the sun more, because you have that residual sense of viewing it all through Bertolucci's eyes. The film even manages to blend beauty with vulgarity so perfectly that it seems impossible to make a distinction between the two. Your small existence with all its petty problems, relationship difficulties and unglamourous sex seem suddenly shifted into a new light, and you realise for a few moments that to be real, to be here in this fraught life, is, in its own way, beautiful.

ffilix I was looking forward to seeing this film but I was disappointed. I found it dull, a random assembly of unlikely people gathered together in a house in Tuscany, the grounds of which were dotted with awful "sculptures", people entering scenes and dropping out, the whole generally going nowhere.The film didn't capture the beauty of the Tuscan countryside, it felt very detached from the film in my view, as if the characters had been plucked up and dropped down at this villa. Many of the characters I found stereotypical American or British (and Irish) and at the end of a tiring day, hoping for some spiritual refreshment, well I didn't get it from this film and frankly,I'd rather have had an early night.Liv Tyler looks beautiful (my boyfriend didn't think so) but that's about it.Not one to see again and this from someone who loves Italian cinema.