Customer Reviews

Beyond Obsession [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Exotic Morocco is the background for this psychological thriller. Marcello Mastroianni plays an exdiplomat in jail for the murder of his wife. He is soon visited by a young woman, who not only happens to be his lover, but his step-daughter as well. In turn, she meets an American engineer (beringer) and ultimately falls in love with him. A bizarre erotic triangle forms, as this tale of strange bedfellows comes to a shocking climax

This is a very interesting and provocative movie but this DVD is a very poor representative of it. Much of the dialogue is lost in the general blur of the soundtrack and the image quality is on a level with a poor tape or television broadcast. The sex scenes are drastically cut. It is a shame that some of Cavani's work has been treated to such sloppy production.

The threads of the pathological domination can become true dark labyrinths and even constitute an enigma for all those who never have participated around this complicated hell of passions, aberrations where the guilt feelings are mixed with the luxurious and delirious enjoy of the senses, where the additional fascination interweaves with the forbidden.

The film is really sinuous to follow. You will never see again a picture with so many doors that open and close it is a clear allusion and visible metaphor. The abominable circumstances of full possession and steal of the childhood and the expected youth illusions are substituted by a kaleidoscopic domination; it is something like happens with Lolita but with major psychological implications. The eagerness of possession will reach unsurpassed levels, and we will witness a tragic process of mutual degradation and wild impulses derived of this distorted state of mind by both of them.

Perversion, anguish, depression, evasion and above all a true impossibility to escape and even less , to redeem from this infernal circle. She will fall in love with an Engineer but that won 't be enough.

The final sequence is simply devastating. Not for squeamish and obviously not recommended for those accustomed to happy endings.

A painful vision, an awful nightmare told by Liliana Cavani and magnificently acted by Berenger and Mastroianni.

You need closed captioning to understand the French & Italian in this film. I bought it for Berenger & actually threw it away after one viewing. It should have been rated R. There's nudity in 3 different scenes that will have you sick. The 1st is right at the beginning in a shower & it's totally uncalled for! Gist of movie is this: Young blonde is in Marakesh toiling for money any way she knows how doubling as a travel agent to finance her father/step-father in prison as an ex-diplomat. The American engineer is Berenger who takes a liking to the blonde & tries to make sense of her obvious obsession with the much older man played by Marcello Mastrionni (sp?). He tries to get her away from him when he takes leave from prison at odd times. (It seems one can do or have just about anything for money here!) Berenger finally takes her away to live with him in Italy & she finds peace UNTIL her father/step-father finds her & the obsession begins all over again. She actually leaves Berenger for the older man who has an unholy hold on her. It's pitiful & I don't recommend it. Sure, Berenger looks good as usual but it's just not worth watching all the filth to see his memorable paces he's put through. Skip this one.

This is a sick, cornball piece of amateurish trash, trying to masquerade as a sophisticated European slice-of-life. Tom Berenger notwithstanding, this film is junque. Life is precious; don't waste time, money, or effort on going to see this dribble; file it in #13.