The more I think about this movie, the sadder I find it.
To begin with, it is yet another Hollywood presentation of a middle-aged male college professor (Smart People, etc., are others of late). Once again, he is an unhappy and self-centered individual, who clearly earns more than any professor of literature I know. He also throws cocktail parties for his students, which would send most modern college administrators into fits.
But the truly sad thing about this movie is the presentation of the young woman, played by Penélope Cruz, and her relationship with the professor. Yes, she is very attractive. Yes, he wants to have sex with her and is only interested in that. But she is getting an MFA, he has an apartment full of art books, yet we never see her talk to him about art, her necessarily educated and refined ideas on art, etc. When, at the end of the movie, she learns that she has breast cancer and then loses a breast in the operation, she is devastated because she will no longer be beautiful and he will no longer desire her. Her physical beauty and her attractiveness to men seem to be her whole world, and this is not put into question.
And yet the movie was directed by a woman. Even from a good male director I would have expected some putting into question of those values, but with a woman director and an educated character, the lack of it particularly bothered me. If this movie was condemned by a breast cancer association, I would understand.
There isn't really much intellectual substance to the professor's life, either. He and his colleague, another literature professor, seem to talk only about having sex. That would be a normal part of their conversation, of course, but we never see why the lit professor is esteemed for his mind, as he would appear to be.
I haven't read the Phillip Roth novel on which this is based. Maybe all this is there, maybe not. But the movie has to be judged on its own grounds, of course, and while I found this well acted, I found the script to be sadly lacking. Such supposedly intelligent, educated individuals could have been a lot more interesting.
To begin with, it is yet another Hollywood presentation of a middle-aged male college professor (Smart People, etc., are others of late). Once again, he is an unhappy and self-centered individual, who clearly earns more than any professor of literature I know. He also throws cocktail parties for his students, which would send most modern college administrators into fits.
But the truly sad thing about this movie is the presentation of the young woman, played by Penélope Cruz, and her relationship with the professor. Yes, she is very attractive. Yes, he wants to have sex with her and is only interested in that. But she is getting an MFA, he has an apartment full of art books, yet we never see her talk to him about art, her necessarily educated and refined ideas on art, etc. When, at the end of the movie, she learns that she has breast cancer and then loses a breast in the operation, she is devastated because she will no longer be beautiful and he will no longer desire her. Her physical beauty and her attractiveness to men seem to be her whole world, and this is not put into question.
And yet the movie was directed by a woman. Even from a good male director I would have expected some putting into question of those values, but with a woman director and an educated character, the lack of it particularly bothered me. If this movie was condemned by a breast cancer association, I would understand.
There isn't really much intellectual substance to the professor's life, either. He and his colleague, another literature professor, seem to talk only about having sex. That would be a normal part of their conversation, of course, but we never see why the lit professor is esteemed for his mind, as he would appear to be.
I haven't read the Phillip Roth novel on which this is based. Maybe all this is there, maybe not. But the movie has to be judged on its own grounds, of course, and while I found this well acted, I found the script to be sadly lacking. Such supposedly intelligent, educated individuals could have been a lot more interesting.