A lot of reviews of BESIEGED said Bernardo Bertolucci was returning to LAST TANGO IN PARIS territory. That may very well be true, but there's one distinction about TANGO which Bertolucci should have remembered; in TANGO, it was a story between two fully realized characters(we may remember the movie for Brando, for better or worse, but Maria Schneider was every bit his equal), and so it resonates long afterwards. In this movie, on the other hand, we get every sense of Thandie Newton, through her acting(as this and previous works such as BELOVED prove, she's one of the most expressive actors out there), and through the gorgeous use of imagery and music, especially in the Africa scenes(if it wasn't for the fact that there's a film coming out next year with that name, this might be called I DREAMED OF AFRICA). Even though very little dialogue is used, we get a history and arc to her, so we care what happens to her.
But a love story, which this purports to be, is best when it's two equals. What of David Thewlis here? Well, we get a sense of his piano playing, which changes the longer Newton stays around(the scene where he incorporates African type rhythms into his music is quite good). And certainly his actions speak for themselves(he's clearly trying to free her husband). But still, he remains closed off from us; not as an enigma, but as in not expressive. It doesn't help that Thewlis is probably more suited to a role where he has more dialogue(he can be expressive, as he showed in NAKED), and seems lost here. But we never really get a sense of him, so when the two finally come together, it doesn't move us the way it should.
Still, the other half of the film, Newton's half, does work enough for me to recommend the film. And while I am a fan of good dialogue, it didn't bother me how little there was here.
But a love story, which this purports to be, is best when it's two equals. What of David Thewlis here? Well, we get a sense of his piano playing, which changes the longer Newton stays around(the scene where he incorporates African type rhythms into his music is quite good). And certainly his actions speak for themselves(he's clearly trying to free her husband). But still, he remains closed off from us; not as an enigma, but as in not expressive. It doesn't help that Thewlis is probably more suited to a role where he has more dialogue(he can be expressive, as he showed in NAKED), and seems lost here. But we never really get a sense of him, so when the two finally come together, it doesn't move us the way it should.
Still, the other half of the film, Newton's half, does work enough for me to recommend the film. And while I am a fan of good dialogue, it didn't bother me how little there was here.