wow
Roman Polanski’s “Bitter Moon” tries to show the bitter torments of infatuation and occasionally plays out scenes that would give "Stephen King's Misery" a run for its money. Still, while his conclusions here are obvious, the eroticism on display is unquestionably compelling, as are his trainwreck characters.
His story begins on an ocean liner headed to Istanbul where two couples are destined to meet and change each other’s thinking. Hugh Grant and Kristen Scott Thomas play fuddy-duddy Brits Nigel and Fiona, whose marriage has already turned sexless only a year into it. One night Nigel becomes taken with a sexy young woman named Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner), only to be confronted by Mimi’s wheelchair bound husband Oscar (Peter Coyote) on the ship deck, and Oscar has a story to tell.
The wheelchair and Mimi’s pouty good looks are used as teases to draw the Brit in and before he knows it, Nigel becomes swept up as Oscar tells him the tale of how he and his wife met. Through flashbacks, we see how the relationship progressed. Oscar, a would-be writer living in Paris, is drawn to Mimi’s shy maturity but that only masks a more sexually adventurous heart. The two go on three day long sex binges, engage in bondage and other forms of sadomasochism, and Mimi does something to a television that probably had to be excised from most versions of this film so good luck finding that specific copy of the film.
The lurid details are enough to send tempered Brit Nigel sputtering even more than he already does but he’s fascinated by the tale just the same. This in turn begins to affect his marriage to Fiona, who is jealous of him spending most of his time with Oscar and also the eyes he makes toward Mimi. The sexual games seen here are as boundary pushing as they sound but the film is crueler even- after a while Polanski shows us the selfishness of only chasing excitement, the sad desperation and heartlessness that comes when one falls out of love with the other, and the inclination to return that pain caused by another with added viciousness.
Coyote and Seigner take top acting honors here, showing great vulnerability in their, very often times, ridiculous games of sexual humiliation as well as in how they eventually try to hurt and be hurt by each other. Both seem like emotional wrecks on the boat, and Polanski has plotted their course painfully, uncomfortably, and truthfully by the end. With two people drawn with such broadly defined ugliness, it’s also kinda nice to have Grant’s characteristic foibles for comic relief. Thomas has less to do but her character has some surprises of her own.
Polanski may take his shock value into overkill but these characters and what they’re going to do next remains pretty intoxicating, and also makes you feel like you need a shower at the end. And not the kind that Mimi does to the TV.