Stealing Beauty

Stealing Beauty

Stealing Beauty was Bernardo Bertolucci’s 20th film and showcased all the characteristics of a classic Bertolucci film. Everything that is Bertolucci can be found in this film, most distinctly the lack of order. The audience constantly finds itself still thinking about the previous scene; always trying to catch up, but always one step behind. However, Bertolucci did more than just direct this film; he also wrote it as well. The tagline of the film, “The most beautiful place to be is in love,” truly stands strong as Bertolucci reminds us what it feels like to fall in love.

For the first 20 minutes or so of Stealing Beauty, the audience finds itself glued to the screen; not paying attention to the actors, but being fascinated by the beautiful Italian landscape where the film takes place. This really sets up the mood for the scenes yet to come. After coming to the realization that Bertolucci did not make this film about Italian geography, he introduces all of the wildly diverse characters. It seems impossible for there not to be chemistry between all of these human beings. Coming from all regions of the globe, these characters have many different upbringings, motives and philosophies on life. However, they all have one thing in common; they are all at this little Italian villa to relax, enjoy life, and enjoy each others company.

To quickly summarize, Stealing Beauty tells the story of a young American woman who travels to Italy to spend time with the friends and family of her recently deceased mother. Little known to the other characters, the main character, Lucy, also has an agenda of her own to find out who her father is. Although she has a “father” back home, she thinks that he is not her real biological father. This film displays her coming of age as her experiences in Italy teach her about falling in love, and her blossoming sexuality.

Lucy is also at the villa to discover herself and to find out more about the enigmatic poems that her mother had written at that same villa several years earlier. Lucy is quite open to the possibility of falling in love while in Italy, and her virginity quickly becomes everyone else’s topic of conversation. Almost all of the major or at least attention grabbing scenes of Stealing Beauty occur in group situations. One in particular that stands out is when everyone is sunbathing in the backyard and everyone is in the nude. As the camera pans, we catch everyone’s facial expression and hear bits and pieces of their conversations. When Lucy arrives on the scene, she hears them talking about her virginity and quickly runs away shocked and disgusted.

There are several of these scenes throughout the movie and although they seem pointless at first, there is more than what appears to the eye. As said before, Bertolucci reminds us what it is like to be in love.