It was hard to sort out my feelings about this film. One of the reviewers at IMDB said it was probably the best film that could be made from the novel. I probably agree with that. The settings and costumes were very appropriate for the period and location (WW II England), and soft focus and subdued lighting were used for atmosphere. The technique was effective, but not much help for capping.

Warning: Spoiler Ahead

The story is a simple one. Julianne Moore is married to a Govt. official, but it is a sexless arrangement. She has an affair with a friend/neighbor who is researching her husband for material for a book. When he is caught in a bomb blast and seems dead, she begs God to save him, and promises to end the affair in return. God keeps up his end, and she tries for two years to keep up hers. Meanwhile, the author feels it was his jealousy that drove her away and becomes very bitter. They meet again, and the author hires a Private Eye to find out who she is cheating with now. He discovers the truth, and falls in love with her all over again. Unfortunately, she is terminally ill with some un-named coughing disease.

End spoiler

Several things detracted from the enjoyment of this film for me. First, the sexual interludes were scattered throughout in a series of flashbacks, which kept them from developing any sort of sexual energy. Second, neither the author nor the husband were very likable. Third, the "miracle" at the end (she kisses the Private Eye's son on a strawberry birthmark that completely covers one side of his face, and it goes away after her death) was a little over the top for me, and not necessary to the story. Last, there was a serious continuity problem. She was baptized Catholic by her mother who was Catholic, but was not raised in the church because her father was Jewish. After her death, the priest she had been seeing said that she could have been given a Catholic burial because "the church recognizes baptism of desire."

For those who are not familiar with Catholic Doctrine, here is a brief explanation:
1) You become a Catholic by being baptized.
2) There are three kinds of baptism; water, blood and desire.
3) Water involves pouring, sprinkling or submersion, and someone saying the proper words: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost."
4) Blood covers those martyrs who gave their life for the church before they could be baptized.
5) Desire is the catch-all that makes every sincere person a Catholic. If you admit the existence of God, and desire to do everything necessary for salvation, you have a baptism of desire and are a Catholic. Given that she had seen the priest several times, and that she would have been asked by him about baptism in the first meeting, the priest would never have mentioned baptism of desire, as she already had the baptism of water.

IMDB readers have this at 7.2 of 10. Moore was nominated for Best Actress, and the film also received an Oscar nomination for cinematography. It was nominated for a host of BAFTAs. Ebert says 2 1/2 stars, and Berardinelli three. Rotten Tomatoes says 66% positive, but only 57% from the top critics. All in all, I would say that it is a well-made film (other than the continuity error above), and I enjoyed what was achieved technically, but I didn't relate to the story or the characters. C

Movies:

More on Carol Laure -  following up on that thread. Here are additional pictures of the Quebec native from four more films, nod to Señor Piel. The amazing thing is that these pictures span nearly 30 years, yet she doesn't change much at all.

• la Mort d'un bucheron (1973, age 22). Approximate translation: Oh, I'm a lumberjack, and I'm not Ok. In fact, I'm dead (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

• Sweet Movie (1974, age 23) (1, 2)

• La Nuit avec Hortense (1988, age 37) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

• Rats and Rabbits (2000, age 49) (1, 2)

Other crap:

• I didn't even make the final 25 in the competition for a date with Kournikova
• The five most difficult celebrities
• The ten most overexposed celebrities. Man, J-Lo dominates these things!
• the Sun picks the best bodies in show business
• Jan 1, 2002 is the internet's 20th birthday. Wow, 20 years since its father, Al Gore, was wearing his "It's a Boy" tie? Can it be that long?
• the Dysfunctional Family Circus archive - a web legend which was both funny and literate. Glad to see someone preserved it.
• I'll be honest. Those guys at JasonRivera.com are so damned crazy that I don't know what they are talking about half the time. They are completely politically incorrect, and they know more about camwhores and professional wrestling than anyone should really know. They are also very funny. Here's their completely obscure and pretty much demented list of the best and worst of 2002. Do they really like this stuff on the list. Yes. Or no. I think they like these things in the same sense that we like Bill Shatner. Or not. Who knows? I'm not easily bullshitted, but I never know when these guys are bullshitting me. Here is their hilarious and strange article about the international communist conspiracy, as embodied in Tatu, those teenage Russian Lesbian pop singers.
• the city of Bucharest, Romania officially approves of naked Romanian gymnasts
• working with idiots can kill you
• how to have sex Amish style
• Lord of the Peeps
• A new record. The movie Psychedelic Cop was the worst box office performer of 2002, taking in less than forty dollars. In a related story, Madonna and Guy Richie, jealous of the record,  announced their two new projects, Swept Away Again, and Psychedelic Lady Cop.

Here are the latest movie reviews available at scoopy.com.

• The yellow asterisks indicate that I wrote the review, and am deluded into thinking it includes humor.
• If there is a white asterisk, it means that there isn't any significant humor, but I inexplicably determined there might be something else of interest.
• A blue asterisk indicates the review is written by Tuna (or Lawdog or Junior or C2000 or Realist or ICMS or Mick Locke, or somebody else besides me)
• If there is no asterisk, I wrote it, but am too ashamed to admit it.

We return today to the "Amazons". First up is Fabiana Smith looking cute and naked. Then it's on to Danitza Kingsley in a love scene with the evil guy. Moving on to the "Babe in Bondage" scenes with two unknowns at the hands of some pretty creepy guys. The second babe is really good looking and gets rewarded with a knife to the belly (what a waste). Finally Penelope Reed winds up in bondage (sadly, with her clothes on today). The good news for her was she got rescued.

• Fabiana Smith

• Danitza Kingsley (1, 2, 3)

• Penelope Reed (1, 2, 3, 4)

• Unknown (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

• Anicée Alvina topless in the 1975 film, "Isabelle devant le désir" (1, 2)

• Béatrice Dalle topless in the tub from "À la folie" (1994).

• Edwige Fenech topless in "Madamoiselle Cuisses Longues" (1, 2, 3, 4)

• Elisa Servier, topless and almost frontal nudity from "Pour 100 briques t'as plus rien" (1982).

• Jeanne Goupil toplessness in "Marie-poupée" (1976). (1, 2)

• Laura Antonelli, the Italian beauty bares her wonderful chest in scenes from "Malizia" (1973). (1, 2, 3, 4)

• Marie-Christine Descouard, very nice breast exposure in all 3, a hint of pubes in link #3. (1, 2, 3)

• Mathilda May, a scene all Fun House readers are familiar with...topless in the sci-fi movie "Lifeforce".

• Miou-Miou, the long time French celeb topless in "La Marche Triomphale".

Diane Lane

Somewhere sometime I picked up a tape called "Human Experiments". When I finally got around to watching it, it turned out to be a hybrid WIP/psycho-medical thriller from 1980, sort of like a collaboration between Robin Cook and Roger Corman. It's a little better watching than you might expect, because of a fairly coherent script. But the good news is full-frontal exposure from Linda Haynes, who appeared as the designated blonde in several well-known films of the 70s. I think these are her best nude scenes.

This seems to be pretty obscure stuff. Bare Facts cites the film in Linda Haynes filmography, but doesn't indicate that it has nudity. The Fun House Encyclopedia has a nude pic of Haynes that looks to be from this film, but without crediting the source. The Fun House search engine turned up no hits for the film s title, or for its aka Beyond the Gate (per IMDB).