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Bitter Moon

  • 1992
  • R
  • 2h 19m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
45K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,544
1,186
Emmanuelle Seigner in Bitter Moon (1992)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer1:49
1 Video
99+ Photos
Dark RomanceErotic ThrillerDramaRomanceThriller

After hearing stories of her, a passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.After hearing stories of her, a passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.After hearing stories of her, a passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.

  • Director
    • Roman Polanski
  • Writers
    • Pascal Bruckner
    • Roman Polanski
    • Gérard Brach
  • Stars
    • Hugh Grant
    • Kristin Scott Thomas
    • Emmanuelle Seigner
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    45K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    2,544
    1,186
    • Director
      • Roman Polanski
    • Writers
      • Pascal Bruckner
      • Roman Polanski
      • Gérard Brach
    • Stars
      • Hugh Grant
      • Kristin Scott Thomas
      • Emmanuelle Seigner
    • 141User reviews
    • 69Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 2 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:49
    Official Trailer

    Photos185

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    + 179
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    Top cast30

    Edit
    Hugh Grant
    Hugh Grant
    • Nigel
    Kristin Scott Thomas
    Kristin Scott Thomas
    • Fiona
    Emmanuelle Seigner
    Emmanuelle Seigner
    • Mimi
    Peter Coyote
    Peter Coyote
    • Oscar
    Victor Banerjee
    Victor Banerjee
    • Mr. Singh
    Sophie Patel
    • Amrita Singh
    Patrick Albenque
    Patrick Albenque
    • Steward
    Smilja Mihailovitch
    • Bridge Player
    Leo Eckmann
    • Bridge Player
    Luca Vellani
    • Dado
    Richard Dieux
    • Partygoer
    Danny Wuyts
    • Bandleader
    • (as Danny Garcy)
    Daniel Dhubert
    • Bus Inspector
    Nathalie Galán
    • Girl in Boutique
    • (as Nathalie Galan)
    Eric Gonzales
    • Cook
    Jim Adhi Limas
    Jim Adhi Limas
    • Thai Maître D'
    • (as Jim-Adhi Limas)
    Boris Bergman
    • Oscar's Friend
    Olivia Brunaux
    • Cindy
    • Director
      • Roman Polanski
    • Writers
      • Pascal Bruckner
      • Roman Polanski
      • Gérard Brach
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This movie was based upon Pascal Bruckner's 1981 novel "Lunes de fiel" - a pun on "Lune de miel", the French word for "honeymoon". "Lunes de fiel" literally means "bile moons".
    • Goofs
      In the scene when Mimi cuts her hair for the first time and bakes a Turkey for Oscar, he is wearing the same turtle necked blue sweater that was ripped off with a razor blade during a previous sex game.
    • Quotes

      Oscar: What happened to your dance classes?

      Mimi: Dancing has to come from the heart.

      Oscar: So?

      Mimi: My heart is broken.

    • Alternate versions
      The version submitted to the India's CBFC made cuts to remove about 3 minutes of footage to achieve an 'ADULT' rating (Cert No.: 2729).
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult/Monkey Trouble/The Paper/Bitter Moon/Savage Nights (1994)
    • Soundtracks
      Fever
      Written by Otis Blackwell (as John Davenport) and Eddie Cooley

      Performed by Peggy Lee

      Courtesy of MCA Caravelle Music France

      EMI France

    User reviews141

    Featured review

    Consuming Passions

    Roman Polanski again explores the depths of the human psyche in Bitter Moon, a magnificent epic tale of obsessive lust and the oh-so-familiar winding course of a passionate romance gone sour.

    Bitter Moon centers around a familiar Polanski theme, that we are capable of being both torturer and victim, and usually both simultaneously. For anyone who doubts the validity of much of the past century of French intellectual thought, from the likes of Andre Gide, Foucault, and others, see this movie. For anyone who has been in a painful twisted relationship, see this movie. You will understand it. Some of it might be hard to stomach but that is the nature of truly great filmmaking.

    A beautifully crafted movie, almost lyrical at times, Bitter moon is set in contemporary Paris but is told in a series of long complex flashbacks superbly narrated by Oscar (a terrific Peter Coyote) to Nigel (Hugh Grant as the usual British prat), both passengers on a cruise ship to India. Nigel and his wife Fiona, played by Kirsten Scott-Thomas, are on a holiday to enliven a stable but stale marriage. The couples become embroiled through the lurid tale of Oscar and Mimi's (Emmanuelle Seigner) love affair. Emmanuelle, Polanski's real-life wife, is superb and her incredible performance takes her from sumptuous beauty to complete wreck, a performance that deserves far more praise than was received. The lack of attention to her performance in this movie is no doubt due to the notoriety in the puritanical American press of her husband.

    As a whole, Bitter Moon may not be Polanski's best film but some periods of the movie represent his very best work. Throughout, limits are pushed to the brink of tastelessness but Polanski masterfully pulls back just in time. The direction is complex and highly sophisticated and the movie arouses a range of emotions from dread to empathy to disgust to hilarity. The story line is far too complicated to synopsize appropriately in this review. Bitter moon is a great film, one of this reviewer's top 10 for the 1990s. Another must see! A word of caution, however, Bitter Moon is not a good date movie.
    • dragon-90
    • Dec 2, 1999
    • Permalink

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 18, 1994 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • France
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Luna amarga
    • Filming locations
      • Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France(Studio)
    • Production companies
      • Canal+
      • Columbia Pictures
      • Les Films Alain Sarde
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $5,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,862,805
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $37,997
      • Mar 20, 1994
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,862,805
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 19 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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