Eros (2004)

Directors:

Michelangelo Antonioni
Steven Soderbergh

Writers:

Michelangelo Antonioni (book) (segment "The Dangerous Thread of Things")
Michelangelo Antonioni (story) (segment "The Dangerous Thread of Things")

Release Date:

3 December 2004 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Three visionary directors. One erotic journey.

Plot:

Three short films -- one each from directors Michelangelo Antonioni, Steven Soderbergh and Wong Kar Wai -- address the themes of love and sex.

Plot Keywords:

Anthology | Sex | Dream | Pressure At Work | Tailor

Cast

Li Gong	...	Miss Hua (segment "The Hand")
Chen Chang	...	Zhang (segment "The Hand")
Feng Tien	...	Master Jin (segment "The Hand") (as Tin Fung)
Luk Auntie	...	Hua's Servant - Ying (segment "The Hand") (as Auntin Luk)
Jianjun Zhou	...	Hua's Lover - Zhao (segment "The Hand")
Wing Tong Sheung	...	Tailor (segment "The Hand")
Kim Tak Wong	...	Tailor (segment "The Hand")
Siu Man Ting	...	Tailor (segment "The Hand")
Lai Fu Yim	...	Tailor (segment "The Hand")
Cheng You Shin	...	Tailor (segment "The Hand")
Wing Kong Siu	...	Tailor (segment "The Hand")
Kar Fai Lee	...	Tailor (segment "The Hand")
Chi Keong Un	...	Hotel Concierge (segment "The Hand")
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Nick Penrose (segment "Equilibrium")
Alan Arkin	...	Dr. Pearl / Hal (segment "Equilibrium")

Also Known As:

Eros (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content including graphic nudity, and for language.

Runtime:

104 min | Argentina:108 min

Country:

USA | Italy | Hong Kong | France | Luxembourg | UK

Language:

English | Italian | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Taiwan:R-18 | Brazil:16 | Belgium:KT | Canada:14A | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Italy:T | Argentina:16 | Hungary:16 | UK:15 | South Korea:18 | Hong Kong:III | Japan:R-15 | Singapore:R21 | USA:R

Company:

Roissy Films

Movie Connections:

Featured in Autumn of the Magician (2009)

Soundtrack:

Overture of Sky

10/10 only for Wong Kar-Wai's segment

For fans of Wong Kar-Wai, his segment "The Hands" is a must-see, as it ranks among his best, most fully-realized works. A truly stunning piece of work that not only summarizes everything great about his film-making, but which is also more focused and less indulgent than some of his more recent work. Unfortunately, the other two segments, from Steven Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni respectively, don't fair nearly as well. Soderbergh's piece, titled "Equilibrium", is a tediously self-conscious exercise in cerebral cleverness, typical of his attempts at uncommercial "art" film-making (as opposed to his usual faceless Hollywood products). It is basically the cinematic equivalent of an obnoxious faux-intellectual laughing at his own "witty" joke. It only further proves what a truly cold, soulless filmmaker Soderbergh is that his segment of an anthology film supposedly based around the theme of sex is completely devoid of sensuality of any kind. Antonioni's closing segment (baring the appropriately pretentious title "The Dangerous Thread of Things") fairs slightly better, but not enough to prevent it from being a sad near self-parody from what was once one of cinema's leading lights. It is tempting to blame Antonioni's stroke (which rendered him wheelchair-bound and mute in 1985) for his piece's dirty old man sensibility (parts of it approach bad soft-core porn), but even that doesn't excuse the film's sheer almost laughable (if it weren't so tragic) pretentiousness. It could nearly pass as a parody of obtuse, incomprehensible European art films. That said, the film is still more than well worth watching for Wong Kar-Wai's film alone. Since it comes first in the chronology, you can easily watch it and then turn it off before the other two.