I loved this film - it is haunting

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2005)

I read some average reviews of this film in New Zealand, where I reside, mostly mentioning how it made the reviewer feel "uncomfortable" etc., They made me feel lukewarm about seeing this film, but I am so glad I ignored them and went to the cinema. I think perhaps these reviewers were under the age of 35, and it shows.
This film gives me not only hope, but definite knowledge, that people are still making films for the right reason.
The topic of infidelity doesn't make me feel uncomfortable, but I think any serious indulger of this activity would perhaps feel extremely uncomfortable. Who knows - maybe not . . .
This film illustrated clearly the no man's land of the line between love and sex, proximity and fate.
Thank God - this is not "movie sex or love"- there is no romance to be found. Desire is not romance - it is simply an appetite to be sated - with consequence. Who can seriously pull sexuality and love apart, they are surely one and the same - whether anyone likes it or not.
This was a film like no other film because, it's portrayal of love and sex was honest. There was not a cliché to be found in this movie. How wonderful, and so like life.
I thought this was an interesting and absorbing film, such a necessary film in its overview of the dynamics of relationships. And, although I thoroughly marvelled at the film at the time, on top of that - I found I couldn't stop thinking about it . . . .
Natalie Portman's character, a stripper, ironically, possessed the most integrity. All characters were beautiful, physically, at the very least. It's easy to see why Natalie Portman was nominated for the Oscar in 2005.
The R16 on this film I think applies to the brutality of emotion - there was very little actual nudity and no actual sex scenes - but the words were explicit, yes, bad language, but so succinct.
The complexities of the pivotal arguments between the main characters (there were just four characters) were superb, alternating between the sexual, possessional, moral and poetic, perfectly. At no point was the audience insulted.
What can I say. Previously I have always voted a 9 on films I loved, to allow for some superior movie to come along, but on this topic I can't think of a better expose, so I go to the maximum praise. Maybe I'm crazy, but does anyone else out there this was some amazing piece of cinema?