Bitter Moon
Bitter Moon
R | 11 March 1994 (USA)
Bitter Moon Trailers

A passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.

Reviews
ada the leading man is my tpye
FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
fionadp A psychologically sadistic narcissist/sociopath (Oscar) subjects an immature naive young woman (Mimi) to a relationship of Idealization- -devaluation--callous discard. She moves from highly valued to worthless in the blink of an eye and does not comprehend why this happened. After completing the disordered relationship loop and lacking the internal prohibitions that prevent normal people from deliberately maltreating a vulnerable person, he becomes highly sadistic & gratuitously cruel,he literally brings her to her knees. Not realizing that he is severely personality disordered,she desperately clings to him trying get an explanation-some kind of reasoning that will allow her to make sense of it all. Unfortunately, instead of moving on from this negative experience she becomes seriously unhinged and decides to play him at his own game. Furious and unable to fully understand why he went off her, she embarks on a vicious campaign of revenge which leaves him physically paralyzed & dependent on her as his caregiver. The two of them become locked in a disordered form of mortal combat. Everything becomes a power play which eventually leads to her murder and his suicide.
Anthony Iessi Many have thought this to be a low point for Polanski. Many critics blamed it on the strange sexual fetishism that the film celebrated. I guess its just creepy, coming from Polanski. Perhaps it was to much to watch coming from a man with such a disgraceful past. But Bitter Moon is so good, at being so risqué. This is some pretty heavy erotica. The performance by Peter Coyote and Emmanuelle Seigner as the on-and-off, shagging couple is damn delicious. They just let it all hang out, and I mean that in the most literal sense. I loved seeing those two lusting over each other, then completely tearing each other apart in over-sexed rage. It's so over-the-top. A few things bring it down a bit. One, I have a problem with dogs involved in sexual acts.. I think this movie may have violated a code in the AHA. Also, Hugh Grant. Going into this, I had my hand hovering over the stop button, because of.. well, Hugh Grant. He's a terrible actor. It's that same shy but dashing British gentleman over and over. It kind of works here, since his role is so insignificant, but he can still get under your skin. The scenes on the boat also seem unnecessary next to the exquisite tale that Oscar spins. I think the movie would have been perfect, if it was just that sick love story, and nothing more. I really appreciated Polanski's effort. This is a little- known, but satisfying art-house film.
tomsview It's very hard to separate the turbulent events in Roman Polanski's life from his movies; surely they have defined his work, especially as he has so much control over what he does. So what are we to make of Bitter Moon? When directing his real-life wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski placed himself in the position of Peter Coyote's character, who seems to take perverse pleasure in watching his wife having affairs with other men. One can only wonder what Roman was thinking as he directed Coyote to lick the milk spilling down Seigner's naked torso - even if it was just acting. Later in the movie, Seigner cavorts sans pants a couple of more times with Coyote. Maybe everyone involved could have used a session or two with Doctor Phil.The film starts on a cruise liner as a young married couple, Nigel and Fiona Dobson (Hugh Grant and Kristen Scott Thomas), become involved with wheelchair bound Oscar Benton (Peter Coyote) and his seductive wife Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner). Benton has a goading nature and takes delight in telling Nigel details of his life with Mimi sparing no juicy detail, much of which is seen in flashback. He tells how he went from lust to obsession then to absolute disdain before becoming totally dependent on her when he landed in the wheelchair.When Nigel learns that Benton practically throws his wife at other men, he becomes entranced with her and is determined to be one of those men. However, near the end, Nigel and Fiona receive a jolt that reignites their marriage, or so it seems as the ship sails off into the sunset.It wasn't until halfway through the film, about the time Benton entered the disdain phase of his relationship with Mimi, that I think I finally got this movie - it's a comedy - a black one to be sure. The change of pace midstream, especially when Benton starts to bully Elsa, is pretty ridiculous, and Coyote's performance isn't all that convincing from that point on unless the whole thing is seen as a big joke played on the hapless Nigel – then it makes perfect sense.Although definitely over-the-top, "Bitter Moon" doesn't give you much time to think about the inconsistencies. It's not in the same league as "Chinatown", "The Ghost Writer" or "The Pianist", but just waiting to see how far Polanski will let his wife go is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat without worrying too much about the story.
videorama-759-859391 Bitter Moon is one of those really good movies from 1993, another I imagine was overlooked. It could of not have gotten the respect it deserves, but respectively it should. Starting with the great opening score by Vangelis, in no nonsense style, we're thrown into the story. A reserved British couple, none more fitting than High Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas, though the other three mains are better than Hugh, are on board a ship, en route to Istanbul. They became part of this guy's game, crippled and of course bitter playboy, Peter Coyote. Through much flashback running time, we see how he got this way, where, before his crippling fate, he struck up a romance with a dependant beauty (Polanksi favorite, Seigner), many years his junior. What begins is one steamy affair, which slowly begins to break away, where I thought Peter Coyote's character, was for most part, during the flashback, was an utter ar..hole, where finally the romance puts a strain on him. I'm actually glad he got what he deserved, where now Seigner, the best performer in this, became the victor. Becoming a painful though aroused ear to Coyote's wonderfully and boldly descripted, if slightly explicit recounts is Grant, who stays for the long duration over many days, in Coyote's cabin. You really don't see much of KST in it, but it's more Seigner and Coyote's movie. The movies not explicit as you would expect, where you'd fare better with Body Of Evidence, earlier around the traps that year. Seigner's erotic scene, stroking her boobs with spilt milk indeed is the highlight, which owes a bit to 'Last Tango' in Paris. What the movie has that I loved, is the way this love stories told, in detail, as to how we see more differences of opinion, the more we firther through the story, where it worsens later in the break up phase. Seigner's so emotionally dependant on Coyote, the point where she suffers rejection, truly tugs on your heartstrings, where this dependence starts to weigh Coyote down. As for the finale shock ending, I would say it ended this very dangerously dramatic tale off beautifully. Love him or hate him, Polanski knows how to make movies, this one, of his greatest feats. Fine drama, all the way down the line. A definite track down.