The Comfort of Strangers

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Neil F A film that never adds up to the sum of its parts. Excellent actors. Natasha Richardson is especially watchable. Excellent director. Good source material. But somehow it never jells. And is often tedious. The real star of the show, IMO, is the Venice apartment that the Christopher Walken character and his wife, Helen Mirren, live in. Wow! Forget the narrative and skip ahead to the scenes that take place in the apartment. Never has a set so upstaged its characters! Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 06/27/24 Full Review Mary C Terrible film, acting, and boring. Great actors but not in this film… terrible. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 06/06/24 Full Review Alec B Walken is perfectly cast here but I mostly liked watching this for the odd melding of McEwan's source material, Pinter's screenplay adaptation, and Schrader's direction. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/24 Full Review Bobby S On paper a psychological drama, based on a book by Ian McEwan, adapted for screen by Harold Pinter, directed by lauded screenwriter Paul Schrader, staring Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson & Helen Mirran in a dream like Venice sounds like movie gold in this somewhat lost picture. It's recent restoration & criterion bluray release peaked my interest and then I watched it. It's hard to place the blame for its utter failings at one door but there is a feeling that all of the original story was stripped and cut due to its true queer nature in this hollow, vacuous fever dream of a movie. The stand out performance is that of the wonderful Natasha Richardson who does her all to shine through what is happening around her. But you can't help feeling that Walken and Everett were horribly miscast here. Everett and Richardson come off as siblings not lovers with zero sexual chemistry despite Natasha exuding it from every pore. They needed to appear in love with issues not BFF's. Walken comes off as asexual maniac that anyone would run a mile from rather than a beguiling Venetian drawing his victims into his web. These casting issues leave you unable to believe a thing you see. The screenplays hypnotic intent comes off as if all the cast speaking inner thoughts rather than actual conversations leaving dialogue stilted, disconnected and lacking any depth of feeling. Finally the costumes, cinematography and sets were rich, warm, sexy and vibrant proving how far costume, set design & cinematography can still make a miscast, misdirected shambles of a wasted opportunity look beautiful in every frame. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/18/24 Full Review Pragya Kirti R A beautiful film with a halfbaked plot and frivolous narration ! Schrader's use of lighting and art design (along with lavish locales of Venice) is brilliant and masterful. It gradually takes the film from a purposeless and confusing void to an echoed beauty and fascination, lurking in the mysterious alley of city unbeknownst to it until its very end. Screenplay is good but it does take support from the technical aspects of the film especially the finely shot and executed visuals and cinematography, and the soulfully charming score. Its theme is mysteriously terrifying, creepy, carnal and mostly beautiful. Christopher Walken stands out alone, He takes you in, welcomes you, tenders you and then he'll do something you would not see coming. His ability to terrify and charm the audience at the same time is amazing, He can bring chaos and terror without even raising a voice or a hand. That's the beauty of him, What a legend he is! But at length the film lacks purpose and that's why its ending is preposterous. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/15/23 Full Review Raymond A Been awhile since seeing it, but recall finding its different kinda intrigue unusual, unsettling. Fine cast where Walken plays his part with humor and intimidation. His reference to his father is both funny and scary. Anyway, cool to visit Venice for awhile. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/18/22 Full Review Read all reviews

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