Lost and Delirious (2001)

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

I am really not sure who this film's target audience is supposed to be.If you take out the bare flesh parts, I would have put this as one of those made-for-TV movies that would be shown on one of those small film channels whose number is way, way down on the PVR. It is Mills and Boon romance that deals with "issues" with a bit of nakedness thrown in for good measure.However if it IS aimed at the teenage boy market, there are going to be a lot of very disappointed young men out there. Whilst all three of the girls are clearly ideally attractive, young, fit people with just-washed hair and white straight teeth, a quick search on the internet is going to be far more fruitful for any voyeurs. The nakedness is not really needed and indeed probably would have been a better film had it not been there.My biggest gripe however is that this has all been done before. The coming- of-age through discovery of one's sexuality and or first love was handled far better more than 25 years earlier in Bilitis and as for the using an animal to compensate for lack of human closeness has been done a thousand times from Kes to Lassie and Flipper! They even throw a bit of "Seize The Day" in there!All very nicely shot but the plot and dialogue is often so clichéd that you are left feeling that someone has just slapped you in the face with a fish to get the point across. REPEATEDLY. Even the ending is predictable.Overall I really felt this was a bit of a waste of both mine and the actor's time.

I came across this film whilst channel hoping and so wasn't expecting very much; however, I was soon enthralled by it. The subject matter could have easily been exploited and the filmed turned into something seedy, but instead it is a sensitive portrayal of the difficulties of overcoming loss and rejection. The fact that the two main protagonists are female is incidental to the story of love and heartbreak and tragedy that unfolds. It is very well acted by all the cast, but Piper Perabo and Jackie Burroughs deserve particular mention. The ending is poignant and heart-rending, one can not failed to be moved by it. This film is everything that "Blue is the Warmest Colour" tries and fails to be.

Ah, "Lost and Delirious." Where do I begin? Imagine everything that can go wrong in an indie film. I'll give you a minute, there's a lot to think about.You done? Okay.Everything you just thought of is present in this movie. Bad writing - horrible, pretentious writing - that's at the core of it. Bad acting - that's not necessarily the fault of the cast, though some of them give truly horrid performances. A flood of angst. Not just any angst, but pathetic, teenage, *gay* angst. Which would be sickening even at the best of times.It's also a bad adaptation. No, not a bad adaptation. That's inaccurate. It can hardly be said to have been adapted from its source material at all. Anybody who's read "Wives of Bath," the novel on which this movie is (allegedly) based, can tell you that the only things the two share are the (first) names of some of the characters.That being said, let me get to the point.I. Love. This. Movie.I remember the first time I ever saw "Lost and Delirious." That's not something you forget. I just happened upon it whilst flipping through movie channels one day. I watched it; because though I've seldom been met with anything that's not crap, I continue to watch lesbian dramas, because I think maybe - just maybe - one of them will surprise me.Well, this movie did surprise me. And when I say that, I mean that every scene made me think, incredulously, "Are you kidding me?" Yes, it was crap. But I slowly began to realise that this crap was, in fact, comedic *gold*. This movie was - is- a laugh riot.I mean, come on, these little lesbians are ca-razy. Picking up shards! Crying like girly-girl, sucky-sucks! Misinterpreting Shakespeare! Barfing bad poetry! Slow-motion crying! Duels! And when Paulie jumps off the roof at the end. Hoo-lordy. Because, if you'll notice, that is a slanted roof. So she's not just going to fall straight off of it, that's not how physics works. There's too much slope to that roof for that to happen. No, she is going to jump, slide down the tiles, then fall. Lollerskates! Honestly, it's like the first time, every time with this movie. Yes, I own it. From time to time, when we want to have a little fun, my girlfriend Sarah and I will pull out our copy with Chinese writing all over it and pop it in. Hilarity ensues. It's not that we're insensitive. We're just mature enough to see this movie for what it is. A badly written, badly acted, coked-out-on-angst melodrama. And in that, we have found pure joy.

This movie is so incredibly powerful and important to lesbians and others all over the world. It shows that two girls can love each other the same way as straight couples. It has an amazing, moving, soundtrack that fits like the hand in the glove to the moving tale. I would recommend this movie to everyone, it's impossible not to be moved by it. A lot of lesbians may rate it less than 10 because of the ending. But I think the ending was very good and the reason you want to watch it over and over again... you want it to end differently so badly but you can't change the story. And this could happen in reality. Tough love, love of your life... first love... forbidden love... This movie is LOVE.