tightspotkilo — 20 years ago(January 10, 2006 10:07 AM)

I just saw this movie on TV yesterday for the first time since right after it came out. And I must say, as was my impression back then, that this is an utterly depressing movie. Watching these people indulge their base drives is not pleasant. It is with dread that you watch their "affair" unfold. And can there be any doubt but that's exactly what Lois Malle intended?
But what impressed me most in re-watching it was Juliette Binoche. I cannot think of a more beautiful, more attractive, more fetching woman in a movie who is also as fundamentally flawed as she is. And Juliette does it masterfully. As a man the same age as Irons/Fleming, I have no problem relating to getting obsessed over her.
While I can't remember another character like Anna in movies, oddly I encountered one in real life, and to make it even more odd she resembled Binoche. A woman like this enters your orbit, a woman with this kind of beauty, this kind of sensuality, this kind of raw animal appeal, a woman who knows how to bring all of that to bear, well, let's just say that men will succumb to that, and will disregard all manner of red flags and will blow past all kinds of stop signs that usually restrain ill-advised behavior.