Reviews

One of those films that bit off more than it could chew. The subject could hardly be more challenging and raises multiple, complex issues : female sexuality, male prostitution, North- South relations. But the treatment somehow fails to tackle any of them convincingly. The film is surprisingly claustrophobic, most of it taking place in a "huit clos" atmosphere with mostly close-up and medium shots - this is presumably the director's choice, but the effect, as far as I was concerned, was to make it feel like one of those rather unsuccessful screen versions of stage plays. Much of the dialogue sounded thin and false to my ear. One good point - Karen Young's sensitive portrayal of Brenda. Charlotte Rampling did almost too well what was expected of her and the resultant performance is perhaps a trifle predictable.