Wooden acting, torpid dialogue: result - what a poor film!

Rating: 4/10 (23 November 2001)

O dear Kubrick - what happened? Was it you or the editing after you left the scene? The acting is wooden. The dialogue is so torpid. The supposedly sexy scenes have been turned into something about as appealing as robots having sex in an ice-cold sea. This film is not good. It's difficult to do satanic-genre scenes well - but there are far, far, better examples. And Kubrick has even managed to make the gorgeous Nicole look awful. Redeeming features: the problems with marriage are dealt with in an interesting way. Poor film.