The Loss of Sexual Innocence (1999)

Confused, non-linear film tells the sexual story of a film director from his life at age 5, age 12, age 16, a man embarking on his first film in 1950's Tunisia, and finally to his current ... See full summary »

Director:

Mike Figgis

Writer:

Mike Figgis

Stars:

Julian Sands, Saffron Burrows, Stefano Dionisi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julian Sands	...	Adult Nic
Saffron Burrows	...	English / Italian Twin
Stefano Dionisi	...	Luca
Kelly Macdonald	...	Susan
Gina McKee	...	Susan's Mother
Jonathan Rhys Meyers	...	Nic, aged 16
Bernard Hill	...	Susan's Father
Rossy de Palma	...	Blind Woman
John Cowey	...	Nic, aged 5
Nina McKay	...	Mixed Race Girl
Dickson Osa-Omorogbe	...	Wangi
Jock Gibson Cowl	...	Old Colonial Man
Justin Chadwick	...	Flash Man
Femi Ogunbanjo	...	Adam
Hanne Klintoe	...	Eve

Storyline

Confused, non-linear film tells the sexual story of a film director from his life at age 5, age 12, age 16, a man embarking on his first film in 1950's Tunisia, and finally to his current life. Along the way he has sexual exploits with an older woman as a teen, gets involved with an Italian couple Tunisia that culminates in the killing of a local boy and the brutal revenge murder of the woman, and ultimately is married to a cold woman.

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Plot Keywords:

tunisia | murder | italian | 1950s | film making | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual images, pervasive nudity, violence and language

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 January 2000 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Death and Loss of Sexual Innocence

Filming Locations:

Northumberland, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$50,354 (USA) (28 May 1999)

Gross:

$399,793 (USA) (27 August 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Newmarket Capital Group, Red Mullet Productions, Summit Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was made on an extremely low budget and scenes supposedly set amidst the "red soil" of Nigeria were actually filmed in the Northumbrian countryside, near Morpeth (UK)

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Soundtracks

"Träumerei"
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Joanna MacGregor

User Reviews

The loss of intelligent film. Faux-Art

Oh my, what a piece of c***. This movie feels like something a freshman in film school would do when he was trying to be "artsy." The Adam and Eve thing was so cliche. I didn't learn anything from this film. There were no new insights into life, or new ways of looking at things. Through the most basic symbolism (that a college kid would be embarrassed to use) the director tries to say something about sex I guess. The film was shot beautifully, but so what. Britney Spears albums are recorded beautifully by talented producers but the music underneath still sucks, and that's what happened here. Figgis would be a great cinematographer, that's about it. He really does do some inventive and passionate work visually, unfortunately, the rest of the movie is total garbage and you need MORE than just visuals to make a quality film. His story ideas are hackneyed and cliche.

He tries to tie together different times of a man's life, yet he uses a blond haired, big-headed kid as a young child; a fat brown haired kid as a pre-teen; and then a blond stick-thin man as an adult. If you are going to show different stages of someone's life, especially not in sequence, you should at least have the actors bear some minimal resemblance to each other. Don't tell me this movie is sooo abstract that you can have totally physically differing looking actors playing the same person. I can't fathom how or why they would do this. Totally ridiculous casting.

By the way, Why is Eve a thin white woman and Adam a strapping black man (who looks like there must have been a solo-flex in Eden)? There was absolutely no point in those scenes. Oooh, I get it, a snake. At one point I thought the whole movie was just one long Diesel Jeans commercial--all pretension with no substance. I have no problem with non-linear film, in fact I have loved some and gotten a lot out of them, but this movie manages to at once be incredibly obvious and predictable and at the same time totally incongruent and non-sensual.