Sidney Lumet's melodrama is far too cryptic to be enjoyed. Omar Sharif is a Rome lawyer enamored with mysterious Anouk Aimee. Is she a high priced fashion model or high priced call-girl? Sharif spends a lot of time trying to figure it out. Although there's more than one montage of long shots with Sharif and Aimee in the throws of passion, Lumet's direction is fairly inert. This is the dullest romance imaginable. Sharif looks very Mastroianni-like but certainly does not have the charisma his role warrants. Aimee wanders the streets of Rome in a depressed fog. This is an Antonioni movie without depth and without Antonioni. Carlo Di Palma's cinematography is stellar and the performance by Lotte Lenya (as an antique-dealer-cum-pimp) spices up the few scenes she's in. There is a fine, occasionally creepy, score by John Barry.
Review of The Appointment
