Le piège du désir

This movie was really bad. Anyone who voted a 10 one this one either owns stock in the movie, or has a severe head injury. It was so slow and plodding I could barely sit through it. The acting is even bad, it's hard to break this film down into what works and what doesn't because all of it doesn't work! Brosnan plays a creepy character and I guess there could be a surprise or two, but the movie plods so badly that it is hindered by it. Hitchcock is nowhere to be found. The best non-Hitchcock film is Charade. Check it out, but forget this one. I paid $5.50 for it on DVD and I feel like I've been robbed!

This wanna-be Hitchcockian thriller shamelessly takes scenes from Vertigo, Psycho, and North by Northwest, with the music of Richard Stone imitation Bernard Herrmann via Pino Donaggio. Psychologist Jobeth Williams is dating Pierce Brosnan, the same man who it turns out is also dating her patient, Virginia Madsen. Or is he? The time it takes Jobeth to realise such a faux pas makes her seem rather dim, though she appears to be preoccupied in showing how she thinks she can do sexy. It is unfortunate that her (many!) love scenes with Pierce play so awkwardly, though having Pierce recite Edgar Allan Poe badly doesn't help. Madsen probably comes off best. She manages to invest emotion and truth in what is a cliche role of the woman scorned. Jobeth has some tiny moments, particularly with her friend played by the baritone-voiced Georgia Brown. Director Jerry London gives us a juggling clown to represent Jobeth's confusion, and rain to accompany Billie Holiday singing Stormy Weather.

I saw "Victim of Love" under the more provocative title "Raw Heat". The original title may be bland, but it's also more accurate, as the director of this erotic thriller goes out of his way not to show "too much" flesh in the erotic scenes. On the other hand, the film is directed with an unusual sensitivity towards the female characters, and it will probably appeal more to women. The "did-he-or-didn't-he?" story does keep you guessing to the last minute (and beyond!), and most of the credit for that has to go to the skill of the actors: Pierce Brosnan as the mysterious, seductive, possibly murderous professor, Jobeth Wiliams as the "mature" but still very attractive psychiatrist who's longing for love, and Virginia Madsen as her fragile, possibly psychotic patient. They all match their roles perfectly. (**1/2)