Harockerce What a beautiful movie!

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

kenjha What a dreary and depressing movie! The script is ridiculously inadequate to begin with and takes a laughable turn towards ludicrous. The romance between Irons and Binoche comes out of nowhere and is not believable for a moment. Their love scenes are obviously meant to be passionate but they are so poorly executed that they come across as rather comical. It is hard to believe that someone like Irons would risk everything for someone as incredibly bland as Binoche is portrayed to be here. Irons does his usual pompous blow-hard routine. The only notable performance is given by Richardson as Irons's suffering wife. This is undoubtedly the worst film of Malle's career.

MarieGabrielle Jeremy Irons is wonderful as Dr. Stephen Fleming, a politician aspiring to the cabinet, a man who is good at "little things" (as his wife notes), like environmental issues, political talks in Brussels, and public relations. He also has a seemingly "perfect" family life. Miranda Richardson is very good here in an understated performance, as his wife. Also, Rupert Graves as son Martyn.Martyn meets Anna (Juliette Binoche), who dresses in black leather (rater trite, typecasting costume at first), and who immediately is attracted to Dr. Fleming although she is dating his son.There is an excellent cameo with the always lovely Leslie Caron as Binoche's infamous mother ( a fun woman married four, almost five times) who makes the mistake of mentioning that Ana has usually been attracted to "the wrong type of man" until now.She is insightful and asks Dr. Fleming to step away from her daughter so as her daughter may have a future, and happy marriage.Of course, as affairs go, the story makes sense, since it cannot be controlled, Dr. Fleming cannot stop his compulsion to be with Anna. The sex scenes are effective and not crudely done, although in the first scene as they make love, Binoche seems rather stiff as she submits to Stephen, after inviting him over to her apartment.I appreciated the realistic and sometimes sardonic nature of this film. An affair always has far reaching effects. The end is a bit of a shock but fits with the motif of this story. I had seen this film many years ago and while Juliette Binoche is lovely I sometimes had the casting idea that a different actress may have fit the wanton role more aptly, not sure who though.At any rate this is an excellent film with many gray areas, anyone who has been married and been through infidelity will appreciate the nuances of this film. 10/10.

Rockwell_Cronenberg In Damage, Louis Malle takes the standard tale of infidelity and plays it in a more unique way than we've seen before. That is to say, he keeps all of the emotions bottled up and close to the chest. Adapted by David Hare, from a novel by Josephine Hart, it tells the story of a Parliament member (Jeremy Irons) who falls deeply in love with his son's fiancée (Juliette Binoche) and carries on an affair with her. The set up is standard, but the approach is what sets this apart. A few years earlier, Adrian Lyne brought us the intense and high-drama extreme of infidelity Fatal Attraction, and here Malle brings us the opposition. It's all stolen glances, closeted emotions and passion that comes out only in the bedroom.For the longest time it seemed like it wasn't doing much new, but the rigidness of it all is such a great contrast to the passion in the sexual scenes. Those scenes felt dangerous, erotic and exciting, while the rest of it was appropriately closeted as a result. Irons slipped into the skin of his character so well, making you see him as this guy who had been so passionless his whole life but finally found something worth feeling for. It's a hauntingly apt portrayal of sexual obsession. The first meeting between Irons and Binoche is brilliantly executed; in the first touch between them you can see in him that this is something that has changed his life completely. It's all very close to the chest and the way Malle constructs it is so brilliantly understated, which I felt added even more emotional pull to it.A lot of people could complain about the characters being thin, but I felt that they couldn't have been any more detailed; it's all there if you're looking closely. In their conversations, their looks, they reveal all of the things that don't come out on the surface. This is the kind of film that doesn't waste a word. Juliette Binoche was incredible, playing something quite unique than what I've come to expect from her, almost an antagonist in a lot of ways. Binoche has made a career out of portraying more on the inside than she displays on the outside, and this is taking that skill of her's to an extreme. Her character is haunted by her past, motivated by so much but revealing so little. It's that mystery that makes her so compelling, so frightening yet simultaneously alluring.The final act raises things to an even more impressive, disturbing level. Miranda Richardson has a big scene near the end that is sure to resonate with any viewer. It's hard to think of many scenes that were as hard to watch as that one. There's so much hate, anguish and devastation in her. She took that character to such an emotional extreme, yet somehow was able to keep it from feeling even slightly melodramatic. It all boils down to a conclusion that is devastating, powerful and absolutely haunting, aided by an operatic score.

jonathanruano Director Louis Malle's "Damage" is one of those rare films that has a story hidden within another story. The first plot is straightforward enough. Jeremy Irons plays an English politician Stephen Fleming who is miserable living a life where he conforms to the expectations of his lofty social status. He, therefore, sees his love affair with the mysterious Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche) as a liberating experience, where all his passions enjoy their fullest expression. At the same time, Fleming is still the product of his upbringing and tries unsuccessfully to revert back to the same social structures which he knew all his life. An added complication is that Anna eventually becomes engaged to Fleming's son for reasons that are not immediately apparent. As a result, Fleming gradually falls to pieces as tries to balance his ingrained aristocratic identity and keeping his family together with having a love affair.Yet within that plot is a more subtle story centred around Anna Barton. Malle's camera lingers upon Anna's face for long stretches of the movie, thereby making her enigmatic and enchanting at the same time. Who is this woman? Why is she having a love affair with her would-be father-in-law? What are the demons that lie within Anna Barton's soul? This film gradually answers these questions, but not in the straightforward manner which we expect. Anna tells Stephen about some of her troubling past, but she does not tell him everything. Later on there is a fascinating scene where Anna becomes distressed when her mother (played by Elizabeth Prideaux) compares her fiancée to her deceased brother. What was the cause of Anna's distress? I will not reveal the answers to these questions, except to say that I have developed my own theory on why Anna Barton behaves in the way that she does based on the events of the film.The great thing about Louis Malle's "Damage" are not only the great performances (ranging from Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche to Elizabeth Prideaux and Peter Stomare playing smaller roles), intelligent dialogue, and the genuine eroticism of the obsessive love scenes, but also the fact that its material challenges the intellect. This is not a movie which will be forgotten about by the next day. This film can inspire deep conversations about the characters, individual scenes, and the plot and lend itself to multiple interpretations. That's what makes "Damage" such a special film.