Between Strangers (2002)

Touches You

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Between Strangers is about three women who find themselves in an emotional crises with regards to the men that happens to be a big part of their lives.It stars an ensemble cast that includes Sophia Loren,Mira Sorvino,Deborah Kara Unger,Pete Postlethwaite,Klaus Maria Brandauer,Malcolm McDowell and Gérard Depardieu. It was directed by Edoardo Ponti,who happens to be Loren's son.Olivia takes care of her husband John,who is on wheelchair.Despite her old age,she still wanted to pursue a career as an artist.But her husband does not want to listen to her stories about it and she finds solace from Max,a French gardener.While Natalia is a news photographer that is assigned to do work in Angola.She took a picture of a child orphaned during war.Her well-known photojournalist father made her famous for it but she is haunted by the fact that she wasn't able to save the child's life.Meanwhile,a musician named Catherine has never resolved her hate towards her father,who killed her mother by beating her to death.When her father was released from prison,she wanted to kill her father.But she does not know that he has changed for the better.The film tackles three themes:hope,redemption and forgiveness.This was shown by the three main female characters in Olivia,Natalie and Catherine respectively.Although the story could have been interesting,we get into one cliché after another with the three main female characters trying to fight their own personal demons.Added to that,there were really no great performances due to underdeveloped characters in it despite the fact that we have a talented cast on the film.It was obvious that the film tried to rely on the films famous faces particularly the gorgeous and age-less Sophia Loren.Would she have accepted doing this modest film if her son wasn't the director?

Between strangers tells the very loosely connected story of three women, all having lost an important aspect of their lives and the chance to confront their old ghosts.The three women are acted by three ages of women; Mira Sorvino, Debra Unger and finally the perennial Sophia Loren looking deliberately dowdy. They are supported by an able cast of some of Europe's actors, representing where the films finances were presumably gathered- Gerard depardieu (France) in an almost cameo appearance, Klaus Marie Brandauer (Germany)as an ambitious photojournalist father, Pete Postlethwaite(UK) as an embittered ex-runner.Add to that Sophia(Italy), Mira(USA) and Debra Unger(Canada) amongst others and this film must have cost more in airfares than any other cost.It is the second film by Edoardo Ponti, son of Carlo Ponti and more famously Sophia Loren. He never lets that get in the way of the story and directs her without kid gloves. He also wrote the script and, as a second film, it succeeds well with a story that moves along, letting us get to know and empathize with the characters and care what happens.

Rented it because I'm a Sophia Loren fan. It's obvious that she got the illustrious cast to sign on so her son would have something to do. He is a bad writer and even worse director. No energy at all in the film, lots of dead space, trite camera angles; the women in the film are colorless, downtrodden, and hopeless. This portrayal of women is surprising since Eduoardo Ponti's mother is the vivacious Sophia Loren. The camera angles are especially unflattering to her. What's up with that? This film is a complete waste of talent considering the big stars in the film. Even after the women make life-altering changes, they still look weepy and pathetic. The script has every cliché in the book.

I enjoyed attending the North American premiere of "Between Friends" at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 2002), but without the star-studded event -- attended by Sophia Loren, Deborah Kara Unger, Mira Sorvino, Pete Postlethwaite, Director Edoardo Ponti, and others -- the movie would only have been mildly interesting. Comparing the movie with the other films at the festival, I gave it a generous 5 stars and the movie might not have deserved even that. However, I admit that even the worst movie I saw at Film Festival received five stars from me. All the films at the Festival seemed to have a little something, but I just wish this movie had had a little more of that something.If readers are interested in seeing a 2002 movie starring several different actresses in the leading roles, I would rather they saw the French movie "8 Femmes" (8 Women) which was a humorous and surprisingly musical mystery directed by François Ozon.In contrast, "Between Friends" had its pretty moments, but was rather unsatisfying at the end. Hopefully, director Edoardo Ponti (Sophia Loren's son) will gain more experience and courage, so that he will grow beyond the merely pretty and the merely nice.