Salt on Our Skin
Tags: tragedy, melodrama

Plot synopsis:
On the death of her lover, George McEwan, a half French/half Scottish woman, recounts in flashback her passionate relationship with Gavin McCall, a humble fisherman. Their romance goes back in time more than thirty years.
In the 1950s, George, then a vivacious young woman living in France, comes to Scotland to spend her long summer vacation with her younger sister, Frédérique. While helping the locals take in the straw, she meets an attractive and simple man Gavin, whose sister, Mary, becomes one of her friends. Smitten with each other, George and Gavin begin a torrid affair going for a moonlit swim. As the summer ends, George and her sister return to attend school in Paris where they live with their parents. Mary asks the two sisters to be her bridesmaids. Back in Scotland for Mary’s wedding, George and Gavin continue their romance escaping the wedding celebration on a cave at the seashore.
Months later, back in France, George is surprised by Gavin’s visit. She shows him Paris while they continue their love affair. He asks her to marry him but she refuses. George wants to study at the Sorbonne and pursue her intellectual goals. She does not see herself as the wife of a fisherman in a Scottish Village. Realizing that, for her, the cultural and life style differences between them are too great to overcome, she refuses his marriage proposal. Their lives take separate ways and they stop seeing each other. George becomes an intellectual and feminist activist. She marries and has a son. Ten years later, George, now divorced, moves to Quebec pursuing an academic career teaching and writing a book on women's studies. Her second marriage to Sidney, an intellectual, proves to be dry and ends in divorce.
George's friend, Ellen, a fellow feminist writer, invites her to accompany her for a summer trip to England. On a street in London, she comes across Gavin once again. He still resents her refusal to marry him a decade ago. She would like to rekindle their romance. Gavin, hurt and still in love with her, initially refuses. Soon, however, he has a changed of heart and accepts to go with George to a romantic vacation in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. From then on, they begin to meet each other with some frequency through the years, loving each other despite their differences. Scotland, Montreal, and the St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church in Florida, served as the background for their encounters.
George and Gavin’s romance ends abruptly with his death. At the funeral, Josie, Gavin’s widow, gives George a letter Gavin left to her. It reads: Before you came in to my life, I believed that each day resemble the other. And they will continue this way until I died. Since you, and don’t ask me to explain, I only know that I want you in my arms from time to time if you wanted too. A thought that you exist somewhere and that you think of me sometime helps me to live...

Review: Very worth seeing yet it takes some life experience to sink in it.
If you are looking for a movie with a prudent life lesson or just a "happy end/justice to all" thing or an ordinary chick flick, than you might want to go back to Maid In Manhattan's...It takes some life experience to let the beauty of this movie sink in...
and by that I mean - no judgment, simply going for the essence, which ultimately has to be love.Why am I submitting this comment 13 years after the movie's release and 5 years since I've seen it first?
Because they are timeless occasions in life, so common in this new internet/long distance dating era, in which this story reveals that you really don't need to always have it all, the socially acceptable and expected full packaged "life together" deal in order to feel the true love and happiness.This love story gives hope to those, that haven't had the luck to spend their happily ever after with a person they love and respect the most.
Why it didn't happen between the main protagonists, might be the discussion point to the crew that gets their answers by judging other people's choices.For the rest of us that crave simply feeling alive, loving and loved, the storyline (not perfectly done and not perfectly acted) offers the wealth of thinking beyond the compromise and the white picket fence.
Upliftng, hopeful, giving and enriching for what it is - a treasure that can happen in one's lifetime..
The film is wonderful, but not so successful..
I was deeply moved by this film.
The use of a wonderful poem by Matthew Arnold as the guideline for the movie was extremely well made.
I loved the story and the way it was told.
In Brazil it was not as successful as I expected it to be, but to me it was a must..
two persons, two world, one love.
This movie is about love and all the sacrifices we have to make sometimes to have just one moment of true happiness.
I've seen the movie and read the book and i truly think that this is the best movie i've seen.
It's intense and intelligent plus the actors are perfect in their roles.
Vincent D'onofrio has the perfect body and face for this.
I even bought the movie and i watch it once a month.
The book is even more intense because of all the details.
The title of the book is Les vaisseaux du coeur in french and the autor is Benoite Groult.
If someone wants to read it!
I saw the movie for the first time in 1994 and never forgot about it since then.
I was just a teenager but i remembered the title and two years ago i found this movie in a garage sell and it became my treasure!!!.
Romantic yet missing spice.
"Salt on Our Skin" is the romantic story about the passionate love affair between a Scottish Fisherman and a half French/half Scottish woman {Greta Scacchi} who spent long summers in Scotland where she begun a relationship with Gavin {Vincent D'Onofrio} that lasted until his death over 30 years later, despite marriages to other people.The scenery is divine, as locations change between Scotland, Paris, London, the United States and the Virgin, unfortunately the script fails to match such beauty.
The talented leads do well but due to a lack of action and lacklustre dialogue the passion they feel for each other is never quite experienced by the viewer.The film is a girls movie, it's romantic, beautiful to look and is one for a winter's afternoon when curling up with a blanket and chocolate is just the answer.
Vincent D'Onofrio, despite a suspect Scottish accent is another rather attractive reason to watch..
Great movie.
I loved this movie, being a widow myself I related to the two characters.
Most of the greatest love affairs are wrought with complications and never end in the happily ever after scenario.
This was my first introduction to Vincent D'Onfrio and I loved him in this movie and The Whole Wide World but his other characters have been too harsh and I like to remember him by Salt On Our Skin.
I think it is neat how this movie started a real life love affair between Vincent D'Onofrio and Greta Scacchi and they produced a daughter which they named after Greta's character in this movie (George)..
great story of how love can last a lifetime.
This was an excellent movie of how love can withstand a lifetime of trials and tribulations without the total commitment to each other.
Their love for each other doesn't stop them from living their lives the way they want.
It is my number one favorite movie..
A movie that pulls at your heartstrings.
I loved this movie, it is a very emotional piece and the two leads do brilliantly.
Vincent D'Onofrio does a very good Scottish accent ( very sexy one too ) despite being around 30 at the time he and Greta ( his off screen girlfriend )made this film the makeup is very convincing for his ages ( 19-50 ).
George falls in love with Gavin, but her new life of the arts appeals more to her and she rejects Gavin because his lifestyle doesn't interest her, but they continue their love affair regardless of the obstacles in the way, spanning the globe from Paris to Montreal.
The love scenes between the two actors is very realistic conveying the passion that they feel for one another all the more emotional for the viewers.
Despite Georges treatment of him, Gavin continues to love her.
She tells him she loves him in the end, but it is too late and is left to her memories and regrets at the close of the film..
The grandmother of all chick flicks.
Released as "Desire" on DVD, this flick is a love story about an unlikely pair of star-crossed lovers; he a humble Scottish fisherman (D'Onofrio) and she a capricious intellectual (Sacchi).
The difference between male and female scores on IMDB.com makes this film out to be the grandmother of all chick flicks even though the film gives no good reason why two such very different protagonists would even be able to get along much less love one another from afar sustained only by periodic trysts over a couple of decades.
In spite of the tenuous and somewhat contrived plot, the film does have a story to tell about a woman who learns the meaning of true love while the film begs the question; is it too late?
One for the ladies, not for the laddies.
Loved Gavin, Hated George!.
Vincent D'Onofrio was wonderful in this film!
I Have heard him referred to as a "simple" fisherman, but, on the contrary, I found him to be the more complex character of the so-called romantic duo.
Gavin had qualities such as an inner strength, loyalty, kindness, and he never stopped growing as an individual until he died.The Gavin who first appeared at the beginning at the film was different from the man whose death was being Mourned at the end of the film.George(Greta Scacch) was a pretentious, shallow, and unkind person who mistook acts of sexual passion for love, and remained unchanged until the end.
Her many small unkindness towards to Gavin irked me, and her "contempt" for the presents he chose for her during their trysts together are a prime example of that.I thought the saddest and most poignant scene was during their last meeting together before his death and she finally approved of the small gift he gave her.
Gavin's sweet happiness when he exclaimed, " at last, I got you something you really like" broke my heart!
The character of George was a stone cold witch and she proved it until the end when she intruded on Gavin's funeral like an unwelcome guest to hurt his wife (who had truly loved him and shared her life with him) only to reminded her that that she hadn't had all of his love!.
This was released in French Canada.
Greta Scacchi plays a famous feminist activist, while Vincent D'Onofrio portrays a humble Scots fisherman in this film from director Andrew Birkin.
Despite the obvious ideological chasm between them, the two fall in love.
The couple spend the rest of the film running away from commitment, only to be reunited at every turn.
Salt on Our Skin is also known under the title Desire....This films was released in French in Montreal (along with the other Vincent D'Onofrio film Naked Tango)......these two films were released together by C/FP Videoand are very hard to find in the French Version these days......Naked Tango was released in Quebec under the title "Tango Passion" and Desire was released in Quebec under the name "Abandoned Passion"......they did not sell very well as French Language versions and most have disappeared..
A Love Story without salt or pepper.
Unremarkable love story between a well educated woman (Scachi) and a simple Scottish sailor (D'Onofrio) that goes on and on for almost thirty years.
They lived separate lives but sometimes they get together and live passionate and feverish days of pure joy and lovemaking.
A thin plot and cardboard characterizations and dialogues make this one a boring and peasant look upon the problems of the relationship of two diferent persons.
Besides, D'Onofrio is completely miscast in the role of a Scottish fellow.
An excellent movie to watch for love drama.
It is a very intense and provocative movie.
I was caught and entrapped from the beginning.
It is a crude love story, kinda like the grass is greener on the other side but...stuff happens.
I was fascinated with how Gavin tried to be with her and how she rejected him.
Gavin always loved her, but she was complicated.
Her excuses were that she had to go to school in a prestigious school in France.
Also,Gavin was just a fisherman and not a scholar like she desired.
Then something happen to Gavin and she felt so badly, regretful.
I feel she deserved it because she was very self centered.
Later on she realized what her selfishness had casused;just pain and the thought of what might have been if only I would have listen to my heart and to Gavin..
deeper than appears to be....
It is a brilliant way to prove that there is such a thing as a love that lasts.
This movie is gentle and yet passionate, and the passion never fades, even throughout the years, the passion only grows stronger.
Being without the person that you love is like putting salt on skin, hurts like hell.
***SPOILER***Gavin and George spent their lives apart and yet each time they saw each other they actually found each other all over again.Even though at first she doesn't even take him seriously, at the end he turned out to be the love of her life.You will never forget this movie or the passion shown in it..
Cringeworthy.
***SPOILERS***   ***SPOILERS*** The acting in this film was truly top-notch.
Though D'Onofrio's accent was a bit questionable at times, he was believable enough, and George's character was never in question.
The story, however, was so absolutely dreadful that I'm surprised that the two fine lead actors agreed to appear in it.
I am absolutely shocked that the commentary on this movie has been primarily positive.
I had the misfortune of stumbling across this movie on television recently and getting sucked into it, forcing me to spend the better part of two hours wanting to rip the stuffing out of my sofa and eat it, which probably would have been more pleasant than this pile of trash.
****WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**** This is basically the story of a woman who is too shallow to accept a simple life with a fisherman despite her love for him, and is rewarded by him spending his life cheating on his wife to be with her.
I don't find this "touching" or "romantic" in the slightest.
I find it an appalling treatise encouraging women to go ahead and be gold-digging status mongers; your fisherman will come back to you in the end anyway.
Oh yeah, and if you decide to follow your heart and devote yourself to the fisherman, expect him to turn his back on you for his socialite mistress.
I would have loved it if George had her heart ripped out by Gavin finally telling her that she'd blown her chance and he was going to throw her back to the dogs like the shallow pretentious witch she was.
Even George getting a good, vengeful punch in the mouth by Josie's hand at the end would have been somewhat satisfying.
****END SPOILER CONTENT**** If the film's intent was to disgust, appall, and make the watcher feel like throwing a shoe through the screen in hopes of maiming George, then it succeeded.
Unfortunately, I think it was supposed to be a gooey, touching romance.
Thank goodness real life usually isn't like this horrid commentary on man's values, or I'd be ashamed to be living it..
the fisherman and the bitch.
...is a more appropriate title.Like a couple other reviewers have said, the Scacchi character is so unlikable,that its impossible to care what happens to her.D'Onofrio plays a likable character but who for some inexplicable reason falls for this woman.Of course,the George character is Greta Scacchi,and one assumes the D'Onofrio character,Gavin, just goes crazy over her looks.But in my book,i would never sleep with that woman even if she did look like Greta Scacchi.We are talking about a pretentious,snobbish,self-centered,heartless bitch,who only remembers about that particular man when she needs some sex,doesn't care in the least that he is married.Like another reviewer said,she needed a good slap in the face.I think the people who made this movie thought they made a love story.They either know absolutely nothing about love or have an extremely perverse sense of humor.The only good thing about this movie,is that the sex scenes look very realistic,probably because Greta and D'Onofrio had an affair in real life.