Love Story ?

Rating: 3/10 (5 February 1999)

I, like seemingly most American males here, think this film is way overrated. Yes, it had some great cinematography, which looked great on DVD. But, for me, there wasn't one character (well, possibly Juliette Binoche) for whom I had even one lick of emotion. I found there to be absolutely *no* chemistry between Fiennes & KST. Fiennes sleepwalked throught virtually the entire thing. Is 30 seconds of weeping supposed to make up for almost 3 hours of being utterly morose ? Also, the Defoe character was a complete red herring, placed in the movie simply to give Fiennes a reason to explain what happened. Why was it necessary to show him getting is thumbs cut off ? Sure, I'm glad Juergen Prochnow got a paycheck, but he should have been left on the cutting room floor.
Yes, I think I "get" it. The theme of losing things that one loves is pretty obvious, but for me, there are many other great, emotional dramas to see instead of this. Blue (w/ Binoche), Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, From Here to Eternity, Double Life of Veronique all tower over TEP when it comes to emotional impact. Ugh.