Stealing Beauty (1996)

After her mother commits suicide, a young woman travels to Italy in search of love, truth and a deeper connection with herself.

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Bernardo Bertolucci (story), Susan Minot

Stars:

Jeremy Irons, Liv Tyler, Carlo Cecchi

3 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carlo Cecchi	...	Carlo Lisca
Sinéad Cusack	...	Diana (as Sinead Cusack)
Joseph Fiennes	...	Christopher
Jason Flemyng	...	Gregory
Anna Maria Gherardi	...	Chiarella Donati
Jeremy Irons	...	Alex
Jean Marais	...	M. Guillaume
Donal McCann	...	Ian
D.W. Moffett	...	Richard
Ignazio Oliva	...	Osvaldo Donati
Stefania Sandrelli	...	Noemi
Francesco Siciliano	...	Michele Lisca
Mary Jo Sorgani	...	Maria
Leonardo Treviglio	...	Lieutenant
Liv Tyler	...	Lucy Harmon

Storyline

For 20 years many visitors have come to the villa on an Italian hilltop owned by an English artist. Lucy, a 19-year-old American, was last there four years ago and wants to meet up again with the young Italian who kissed her and corresponded for a while. And she has brought the diary of her late mother filled with enigmatic poems that suggest Lucy was conceived on that hilltop. Lucy wants to find out if Daddy is the Italian war correspondent who wrote to her mother for 20 years. Then again Daddy could be the dying English playwright in residence or the artist who uses a chainsaw on tree trunks for his sculptures. The three, of course, have no idea that Lucy is there to solve a mystery. They, the artist's wife, daughter of that wife and the daughter's American lover are most intrigued by Lucy's virginity.

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | skinny dipping | sex scene | hand under skirt | white panties | 

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Taglines:

The most beautiful place to be is in love.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexuality, nudity, some drug use and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Liv Tyler's real-life father Steven Tyler, lead singer of the rock band Aerosmith, didn't contribute to the film by composing a song for the film's soundtrack. However, Steven Tyler and Aerosmith did compose the song "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" for Liv Tyler's later film- the blockbuster 1998 film Armageddon (1998).

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Goofs

As Lucy is writing on the corner of the newspaper, she jots down "the dye is cast" rather than 'the die is cast.'

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lucy: What are you doing?

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Crazy Credits

During the opening credits, there is a montage of Lucy (Liv Tyler) being recorded on a video camera during her travel to Italy by an unknown man.

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Connections

References Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)

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Soundtracks

Say It Ain't So
Performed by Roland Gift
Written by Roland Gift
Courtesy of London Records for the world excluding North America and MCA Records for North America

User Reviews

America is not ready

When this filmed first came on the scene, there was a lot of critics that downed the intensity of this film... of course their favorite words were pseudoartistic crap. America is not ready for this film. Look at what we embrace in our films: blood, sex, nudity, shock value. America is not ready for a film that sees the attraction towards a 19 year-old as a natural thing. American normalcy sees this as wrong, deceitful, and impure. Bertolucci did not make a film, he reflected humanity through a camera. This film dives into our own psyche seeking the desires to be pure and innocent. Only America would see this as a piece of psycho sexual fantasy into our own pedophiliac desires. Watch it people, there's a substance that you're not used to seeing in everyday flicks.

Details

Country:

Italy France UK

Language:

English French German Spanish Italian

Release Date:

14 June 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dancing by Myself

Filming Locations:

Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$103,028, 16 June 1996

Gross USA:

$4,722,310

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,762,310

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fiction, France 2 Cinéma, Jeremy Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1