Product Details

• Actors: Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson, Helen Mirren, Manfredi Aliquo
• Directors: Paul Schrader
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 5, 1991
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302130115
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,448 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Based on a creepy Ian McEwan novel, this Paul Schrader film stars Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett as a married couple who find their marriage sliding into a morass of tedium. To reignite it, they visit Venice, where they fall under the spell of an urbane older couple, played by Christopher Walken (in one of his most chillingly insinuating roles) and Helen Mirren (who seems to be more his crippled acolyte than his wife). British reserve forces the younger couple to be polite to these strange birds, but increased exposure to them through coincidental meetings gradually pulls them into their deadly orbit. Adapted by Harold Pinter, it's a slightly arid but still goose-fleshy film in which nothing is what it seems to be and, what's worse, nothing familiar looks familiar anymore. --Marshall Fine

From The New Yorker

Harold Pinter's screenplay, adapted from a novel by Ian McEwan, is a kinky contemporary variation on the sort of plot that made Victorian readers shiver-the story of innocents lured into the clutches of charming villains. The innocents here are an unmarried English couple (Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett) vacationing in Venice; the evil seducers are a husband and wife (Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren) whose tastes run to voyeurism and sadomasochism; the dread lair in which the monsters toy with their prey is a huge, ornately furnished apartment with a spectacular view of the city. The director, Paul Schrader, dresses his characters in Armani and sets the camera in motion to swirl gracefully around them, picking up miragelike shimmers from the canals and beautiful but ominous architectural details; the languorous camera movements create an authentically gothic sense of catastrophe just around the corner. Walken glides effortlessly through his role as the embodiment of Old World evil. He gives the character a lordly, sinister air, and suggests, as well, that he's wearing something really odd underneath his superbly tailored white suits. And Richardson is characteristically amazing: she brings a touch of humanity to this rather formal party. The movie improves on the novel by jettisoning its dubious psychology and its pretensions to literary significance. Schrader treats the story as an elegant horror-movie game, a trick done with mirrors, and he carries it off. Dante Spinotti's cinematography and Gianni Quaranta's production design contribute to the luxurious, decadent atmosphere. Music by Angelo Badalamenti. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Haunting and Deep masterpiece of cinema! MUST SEE!, February 14, 2005

By 

Mark "Technology, Music and Movies" (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)   

This review is from: The Comfort of Strangers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Comfort of Strangers will appeal to those who are perceptive, have a long attention span, and love films that require attention to detail. This film is the model for understated elegance, with a plot line that at times seems mundane but with a world of subtext that could only have been created by the combined genius of Harold Pinter, Ian McEwan, and Paul Schrader.

Rupert Everett gives an excellent performance alongside Natasha Richardson as the self-obsessed boyfriend. But Walken and Mirren are even better, putting in career defining performances as the deviant couple that pulls Everett and Richardson into their twisted web.

There seems to be some confusion over the relationship of Everett and Richardson's characters. They are a couple that is considering moving in together, but nowhere in the film does it say that they are married as several reviewers have stated. In fact, Richardson is not even sure if Everett likes her kids, and she does an excellent job evoking the angst of the single mother trying to decide what she wants out of this man. Their state of uncertainty is important to this film because it provides the vulnerability that Walken preys on.

Everett and Richardson do find comfort in their sexual connection, but it needs to be noted that this connection only peaks after they've been subjected to the cruel mind games of Walken's "Robert." They too are strangers, in a sense, to each other. Robert senses this, and cunningly picks apart their fears and weaknesses. In the end, their polite tolerance of Robert and Caroline's strange games has very negative consequences.

The dialogue of the movie can alienate the viewer sometimes. The "thighs conversation" and the "we were this gang" monologue are slightly forced. But these are minor bumps in a road that requires careful study and appreciation. The characters speak out of things from the recesses of their minds and hearts. It's not always "entertaining," but it is always meaningful and profound.

The film is also visually stunning, evoking of sense of Venice as few other films have. The use of colors and lighting make this a masterpiece of cinematic precision. While this type of shooting is more commonplace today, the high quality is really stunning when considering this movie was made in the early 90s on an independant film budget. Simply brilliant.

I highly recommend this picture. Fans of Pinter and McEwan will not be disappointed! Enjoy!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death in Venice, August 20, 2001

By 

"sathompson" (Gold Coast, Qld Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Comfort of Strangers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an excellent adaptation by Harold Pinter of the McEwan Novel with superb cinematography and an evocation of the eirie atmosphere as well as the incredible beauty of Venice.All four main castmembers put in great performances with Christopher Walken at his dangerous best as the sophisticated yet strangely chilling protagonist.Helen Mirren,Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson are perfectly cast and give faultless performances.The scenes shot on the Lido are especially interesting and bring back memories of Dirk Bogart in Thomas Manns "Death in Venice",which you will find is a surprisingly appropriate reference even though the subject matter is vastly different. I also enjoyed the scenes shot late at night in which Christopher Walken mysteriously introduces an innocent Rupert Everett to some of the seedier nightclubs of Venice. Beautiful shots of the more well -known parts of Venice abound,with a beautiful soundtrack to highlight them. All this plus a spinechilling ending!

A pity this is out of production .I recommend it to the studio that they put this out on DVD.It could become a cult classic

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Anyone For Venice?, February 17, 2008

By 

El Lagarto (Sandown, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Comfort of Strangers (DVD)

The Comfort Of Strangers is worth watching simply for the photography. Venice turns up often in film, but director Paul Schrader really gets it right. From the endless alleyways, so ominous at night, to the outdoor sewers - whoops - I mean canals - to the exquisite public buildings and lavish, dark interiors, expertly dressed down to the last detail, the sense of place is intoxicating. Much of the film finds Venice bathed in gentle afternoon sunlight, rendering it soft, opulent, alluring. Every obligatory cliché is touched, from the pigeons to the gondoliers to the gold leaf domes and the charming bridges. Anybody who is anybody arrives at his or her 500 year old crib by water taxi. Art with a capital A is so ubiquitous and so in decline that the stench of decadence and licentiousness linger in the air like perfume. That's the good news.

The bad news is, everything else. To paraphrase Churchill, never has so much talent been assembled with such lack of result. This line-up has "dream team" written all over it. Novel by Ian McEwan. Screenplay by Harold Pinter. (Memo to Harold Pinter: Harold, sometimes less is less.) Christopher Walken, Natasha Richardson, Helen Mirren, and Rupert Everett. Granted, Everett would probably be in over his head shooting a Calvin Klein commercial, but the other three are world class. Walken exudes the kind of malice required for films like this when he's picking up lunch at Arby's. Top it off with the master of unsettling music, Angelo Badalamenti. Venice is the ideal city for a tale of sexual corruption, depravity, and decay. What started well became - staggeringly boring.

Sadly the blame must be laid squarely at the feet of Schrader and Pinter. The dialogue in this movie is so appallingly listless it makes Last Year At Marienbad seem like a Marx Brothers comedy. Our lead characters don't have enough energy between them to lift a teaspoon, or chemistry enough to cause the decomposition of leaves. The malevolent sexuality of Walken and Mirren, far from being either frightening or exciting, or - in a better movie - both - is simply dumb. In fact, everything about how these characters meet and interact is both dumb and pointless. Schrader has written and directed some great pictures; in this one he seems convinced that plush interiors make an adequate substitute for plot, characters, motivation, interesting situations and point. I have seen maple syrup pour onto pancakes with more urgency.