The most artistically ambitious of Rank's late 70s slate - Jeremy Thomas had produced The Shout for them, and then got attached to this to work with Nic Roeg.
It's basically a two hander, and a sexy one, starting with Teresa Russell trying to kill herself and flashing back to the relationship she had with Art Garfunkel. It's a showy role for Russell even if a little pervy - a lot of showy roles from auteurs tend to be pervy (eg Blonde), showing sexy women to be uninhibited, abused, horny, naked, rooting older men.
There's non linear editing so you see a bit of nude Russell and Garfunkle, so Garfunkle fans won't want to miss it (actually a lot of him is nude). Harvey Keitel is an Austrian cop investigating - the film is set in Vienna. Denholm Elliot is an ex (or is he "ex") of Russell's.
The film consistently cuts to shots of Russell getting a tracheotomy and ends with Garfunkle poisoning Russell and then raping her while she's comatose. Also he stalks her and is obsessed. But he isn't punished for it so the film isn't very satisfying from a justice point of view.
After a while the acting and direction don't really hold the interest. It does have a swing, I'll give it that, it's just a bit too pervy for me ("oh I'm showing how badly men treat women by making a film about a young fuck doll who loves to root older guys").
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