Review of Stealing Beauty (2007) by Keith R — 20 May 2008

Given the idyllic setting of an artists' colony in the Tuscan hills, it would be more challenging to create an ugly film. This film isn't particularly interested in a challenge. It prefers to meander along a country road, and generally does so pleasantly.

Liv Tyler's performance -- as Lucy, the bundle of virginal energy that sets the hive of variously-jaded aesthetes abuzz -- is creditable. (Though it might have been better if the camera had not lingered quite so long on the vacant expression that is apparently supposed to indicate she is composing poetry.) Jeremy Irons very nearly steals the show, but is wisely left on the periphery where he just enhances it instead.

The rest of the cast is better than adequate, but the dialogue is somewhat unnatural and occasionally becomes awkward. Things work best when the multilingual cast are speaking in their own tongues. The casual mishmash of English, Italian and French feels appropriate.

The strength of the film, beyond the scenery itself, lies in the tension between Lucy's agenda, and everyone else's compulsion to feed on her. It's not an unkind parasitism, but parasitism nonetheless. And the film's voyeurism puts the viewer in the camp of the parasites. But at least the view is nice.