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plotline
May 11, 2016plotline rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Eros In Agony MARLON BRANDO 1924-2004 Bernardo Bertolucci's caustic mood piece meditates at length on the absence of love in human (male/female) relationships. What's left without that deep fondness and its related emotional bonds? The answer is that fundamental drive which usually ends up populating the planet further and even brings some measure of gratification to a fair percentage of the teeming masses. Brando and Schneider are less like Adam and Eve in an urban purgatory (Paris has never looked so gloomy on film) and more like an embittered guru of melancholy (he's so wise and so depressed) embarking on a spur of the moment experiment into the boundless regions of sexual abandon with a willing, young acolyte. The gauzy photography and Gato Barbieri's sweet and dour music soften the corrosive lack of sentiment up to a point. But Brando's brilliant turn as the deep-grieving widower eats up and spits out every iota of tenderness. The film is very hard cheese for those who want to believe that the war between the sexes might come to some kind of romantic, semi-sweet armistice. It is not an exploration into how people should keep their affairs together but a microscopic examination of how the pieces of a person's shattered life are ever so difficult to mend and, further, how attempting to set things right often leads to greater tragedy. The brokenhearted and lovelorn will nod in sad recognition. Starry-eyed lovebirds may grimace in puzzlement. Those flirting with chastity or abstinence or repressive attitudes towards unbridled fornication should seek out less sexually graphic fare lest they be gripped by an uncontrollable bout of apoplexy. Note: listen closely as Brando's character outlines his job history- it's a quick rundown of the actor's filmography.