Erotic movies: Stealing Beauty

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4.08.2012 | By: Antonio B.

In this daring erotic drama, its director Bertolucci makes an attempt at turning young Liv Tyler into a new sex symbol of the era ...

Stealing Beauty is a story about growing up of a sexually curious young lady.

Director Bernardo Bertolucci wanted to turn Liv Tylet into a new sex symbol.

Rachel Weisz, a very young actress then, also shows a strip of naked skin.

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Creation of a sex symbol

Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty is an attempt at turning Liv Tyler, who was a 19-year-old girl then, into a new Sharon Stone, or another Lolita, or if you wish, another Maria Schneider from Last Tango in Paris. To put it in a nutshell: he wanted her to be a new sex symbol. Throughout the shooting he was focused on her body, her nakedness, her sexual appeal. He is extreme in doing this and has her showing her breasts, masturbating, licking the mirror, passionately kissing boys, performing fellatio; she allows herself to be touched and aroused and travels to Tuscany to lose her virginity only in the third attempt. Bertolucci wished to re-make Last Tango in Paris but obviously failed to do so it since he wasn’t daring enough (with the above mentioned scenes) and devoted most of his time to Liv Tyler, that is, to making her into a new sex symbol. Stealing Beauty became a perfect advertisement for Liv Tyler, from whom Bertolucci nevertheless extracted some sensual sex appeal and a convincing enough performance, which she later used in One Night at McCool's (a 2001 movie about sexual obsession). However, neither can make up for a pretty average screenplay and a rather protracted plot.

Provocation which lacks a good screenplay

The renowned director’s attempt at reestablishing his former glory failed and the movie was completely overlooked by the audiences, except for Liv Tyler fans who were eager to see the naked Liv, the star of Aerosmith videos (her father Steven Tyler is the lead singer). Jeremy Irons, who stared alongside Liv as an aged and incurably sick playwright was only a faint reflection of the phenomenal Marlon Brando. Some controversy was brought in by Rachel Weisz, also very young back in 1996, who showed an even larger proportion of naked skin than Liv Tyler. In addition, some gay sex and an older couple’s love-making are shown to attract the viewer’s attention. Unfortunately, the film’s weak screenplay and its un-ambitious plot place Stealing Beauty among films which are erotic enough but lack that certain something. Nevertheless, Bertolucci’s camera captures many tremendous scenes and even a few moments of pure poetry, not to mention the ever-present esoteric eroticism that would please even the most demanding viewers.

Uncovering the mysterious past

Liv Tyler plays an American named Lucy Harmon who travels to Italy after her mother’s suicide to visit a family villa in the heart of Tuscany. She’s also on a personal journey of self-discovery. With her dead mother’s diaries as a clue, she wants to discover who her father is. She has no idea who it might be but is obsessed with the idea that she was procreated in one of the rooms of the villa, where she first kissed a boy a couple of years ago. There are a couple of possible candidates: an Italian war journalist who had been writing love poems to her mother for twenty years, the above mentioned playwright who is dying of cancer, and a sculptor who makes wonderful sculptures out of tree trunks. While at the villa, Lucy meets many enigmatic characters including the beautiful Miranda (portrayed by Rachel Weisz) and manages to excite all the men in the household by proposing to lose her virginity.