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The Sheltering Sky
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The Sheltering Sky (1990) More at IMDbPro »

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The Sheltering Sky (1990) -- The American artist couple Port and Kit Moresby travel aimlessly through Africa, searching for new experiences that could give sense to their relationship. But the flight to distant regions only leads both deeper into despair.

Overview

User Rating:
6.6/10   3,725 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 2% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Writers (WGA):
Paul Bowles (book)
Mark Peploe (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Sheltering Sky on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
12 December 1990 (USA) more
Tagline:
A woman's dangerous and erotic journey...
Plot:
The American artist couple Port and Kit Moresby travel aimlessly through Africa, searching for new experiences that could give sense to their relationship. But the flight to distant regions only leads both deeper into despair. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Streep Nom #9 and Act III: Funny Lady
 (From FilmExperience. 10 July 2009, 10:38 PM, PDT)

Paltrow's Celebrity Book Club
 (From WENN. 23 January 2009, 8:08 AM, PST)

User Comments:
For me an initiation more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Debra Winger ... Kit Moresby

John Malkovich ... Port Moresby

Campbell Scott ... George Tunner
Jill Bennett ... Mrs. Lyle

Timothy Spall ... Eric Lyle
Eric Vu-An ... Belqassim
Amina Annabi ... Mahrnia
Philippe Morier-Genoud ... Captain Broussard
Sotigui Kouyaté ... Abdelkader (as Sotigui Kouyate)
Tom Novembre ... French Immigration Officer
Ben Smaïl ... Smail
Kamel Cherif ... Ticket Seller
Mohammed Afifi ... Mohamed
Brahim Oubana ... Young Arab
Carolyn De Fonseca ... Miss Ferry
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Il tè nel deserto (Italy)
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Runtime:
138 min
Country:
UK | Italy
Language:
English | French | Arabic
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The last film of Jill Bennett. more
Goofs:
Continuity: There is a moment when Port is with Kit in her room, she is sitting and he is caressing her belly. A good deal of pubic hair is notoriously visible, but immediately follows a closer shot in which she is completely covered. more
Quotes:
Port Moresby: You know, if Tunner didn't take such long siestas, I'd never be alone with you. I think he's in love with you.
Kit Moresby: Port, don't be silly.
Port Moresby: Sillier things have happened. The way he hangs around making inane conversation, the way he looks at you when he fingers his DDT can...
Kit Moresby: What else?
Port Moresby: Oh, the ferocity with which he counts your luggage.
Kit Moresby: Oh, he counts yours too.
Port Moresby: It's not the same.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (2005-12-05)" (2005) more
Soundtrack:
Goulov Limma more

FAQ

have u ever feel like this?
more
33 out of 47 people found the following comment useful:-
For me an initiation, 15 October 2000
10/10
Author: Martin (yogalandau) from Landau, Germany

Please do not read this review if you have not yet seen the film, because I find it necessary to discuss elements of the film which reveal the plot.

The whole film was for me a long introduction into the silence of myself. I like the desert a lot, am not afraid of the void, when the mind can finally be still. Port also actually came home to Africa. He was ready to die, ready to leave behind his intellectuality, to get rid of the inner mess that was himself. Although he seemed unconscious of it, his inner soul brought him by force to his own roots. When in delirium his hands dance happily, demanding the music to continue, to push him through and out of this existence, Kit is left aside and alone, madness kissing her forehead for the first time, unable to stop the approaching avalanche which will sweep over both of their lives, leaving one dead. Kit, ...how one must feel going to a foreign country to mate again with the mate with whom you, through so many silly, careless incidents, have lost essential contact - and to suddenly find him dead and silent lying in front of you in the vastness of an indifferent desert. The desert we all live in unawares. "Oh, God, what have I done, how could I have allowed this to go so far?" Suddenly she wakes up to notice the immense impact of nothingness.

Her mind broken, she goes off with a Bedouin, and this is actually what I like most about the film. It allows me to let my mind break too, traveling with her through the desert, mostly listening to the silent sound of camels and bells and voices crying out in a strange unknown language.

Some of the professional critics didn't to go down that path. They need their thoughts to run incessantly, .. for them it must have certainly been a threatening movie, or so their comments would suggest.

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I still dont get it thurrockparanormal
Why did Debra Winger leave at the end of the film? lebellue
only 6.5 ??? popularru
Better Film Of All Time supermaxou114
names of towns pinetree_83
Favorite Malkovich Moments endlessrain
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