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Stealing Beauty
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MPAA Rating: R
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Entertainment: +1
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Content: -4
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In this sensual drama from famed Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor), Lucy (Liv Tyler) visits Italy to have her portrait sculpted by the same artist who sculpted her mother 19 years earlier. Everyone in this artists' community is amused to discover that 19-year-old Lucy is still a virgin and set out to find the perfect match for her first time. An American lawyer (D.W. Moffett) with a wife and mistress considers himself the perfect candidate. A playwright (Jeremy Irons) dying of leukemia thinks about it, but can't do more than smoke a few marijuana joints with Lucy. The neighbor boy (Robert Zibetti) tries, and though Lucy had a crush on him four years earlier, it just doesn't feel right. Finally she meets someone she thinks is worthy and they make love. The experience is so life-changing that Lucy begins to write good poetry instead of bad and, in a cathartic moment, realizes she came to Italy to find her real father. Although the film is beautifully shot and the musical score is entertaining, STEALING BEAUTY is rather dull and the theme of losing one's virginity is not compelling enough to make an adult audience care.
STEALING BEAUTY has few glimpses into Italian life, concentrating on the wealthy, indulgent British artists. The bohemian colony is in a gorgeous villa where everyone sunbathes and swims in the nude and indulges their every whim, including drugs, sex and talking philosophy. The conversation includes much crude and obscene language and one regular profanity. Lucy's innocence stirs up the sensuality of the jaded artists. One man has her pull down the strap of her sundress so he can sketch her breast. The numerous intercourse scenes are long and graphic. There are several scenes of violent sex involving an unmarried couple. Lucy and her first partner remain partially clothed for her sexual experience. Frequent and flagrant nudity, graphic sexuality, drugs and foul language make STEALING BEAUTY not beautiful at all.
Preview Reviewer: Theresa Zumwalt
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures, P.O. Box 900, Beverly Hills, CA 90213-0900
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Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.
Crude Language: Few (2) times - Moderate
Obscene Language: Many (10) times - S-word 4, f-word 4, other 2
Profanity: Once - Regular (C)
Violence: None
Sex: Many times, often graphic (unmarried couple has sex several times with nudity, couple has sex while clothed).
Nudity: Many times (characters swim together in the nude, models pose bare-breasted, woman sun-bathes without her shirt)
Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Several times (sexual experiences and fantasies shared, woman asks man to have sex, later he makes sexual advances, woman asked to expose her breast, suggestive artwork)
Drugs: Heavy alcohol drinking, marijuana smoking, ci-gar and cigarette smoking
Other: Woman urinates on the floor, woman vomits on suitor
Running Time: Unknown
Intended Audience: Adults
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