Lafayette (Gerard Depardieu), a young-ish misfit Frenchman and Nocello (Marcello Mastroianni), an older misfit Italian, live in a run-down section of New York City and are friends. Lafayette works for Flaxman (James Coco), an excitable antiquarian who owns and runs something called the "Roman Museum," by means of which he upholds the standards of a former age. Lafayette also works for a women's lib group, which one day decides to "rape" him to see how the shoe fits on the other foot. Rather than being much bothered, Lafayette starts a liaison with the woman who actually had sex with him. In this rambling tale, these men are shown to have great difficulty enduring intense emotions, and the situations that arise force them to confront this difficulty repeatedly. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
I was looking forward to this film so much, but was disappointed. It was painful, and not in a "you're supposed to feel pain with the storyline" kind of way. The pace was slower than generally acceptable, the "absurd" was inconsistent, and although it is nice to see Depardieu with a baby-face, I just cannot recommend it.
Watch it for the fun of New York that is no more. As a movie it is not great but as a visual record of lower Manhattan right before WFC was built is priceless. You will never forget that image of King Kong on the beach with Twin Towers in the background!
I was looking forward to this film so much, but was disappointed. It was painful, and not in a "you're supposed to feel pain with the storyline" kind of way. The pace was slower than generally acceptable, the "absurd" was inconsistent, and although it is nice to see Depardieu with a baby-face, I just cannot recommend it.