A woman's dangerous and erotic journey...
An American couple drift toward emptiness in postwar North Africa.
- Bleak ending
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Character
Prestige, contemplative, earnest and grave.
- unpretentiousprestige
- contemplativerelentless
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- character-ledplot-driven
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“Is Debra Winger the best thing in The Sheltering Sky?”
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“Is the slow pace a feature rather than a flaw?”
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“Is this Bernardo Bertolucci's best work?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Feb 20256/10
When “Kit” (Debra Winger) and her husband “Port” (John Malkovich) realise that their relationship is running out of steam, they decide to head into the Moroccan desert and rejuvenate their lives. Things don’t quite get off to the start he’d want though as he quickly finds himself in an erotic knocking shop complete with noisy chickens whilst befriended by the rather sexually ambiguous and sweaty “Eric” (Timothy Spall) and his frugal mother (Jill Bennett). They have their uses, though, as his wife and their friend “George” (Campbell Scott) have headed into the interior and he wants to pursue. It’s upon this journey that we realise, through some narration, that nobody here has ever been especially honest with the other and that any solution that may emerge here will be, at best, an hybrid of what they wanted/expected or even dreamt. Though both Winger and Malkovich take the lead here, and deliver competently, I found it was actually the supporting cast that worked better at illustrating the toxicity of this scenario. Spall, especially, but also the native tribespeople who take part and who viscerally illustrate the contrast between our two amidst marital turbulence and societies that
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Cast
- Debra WingerKit
- John MalkovichPort
- Campbell ScottTunner
- Jill BennettMrs. Lyle
- Timothy SpallEric Lyle
- Eric Vu-AnBelqassim
- Amina AnnabiMahrnia
- Philippe Morier-GenoudCaptain Broussard
- Sotigui KouyatéAbdelkader
- Tom NovembreFrench Immigration Officer
Crew
- Bernardo BertolucciDirector
- Bernardo BertolucciScreenplay
- Mark PeploeScreenplay
- Paul BowlesNovel
- Vittorio StoraroDirector of Photography
- Ryuichi SakamotoOriginal Music Composer
- Gabriella CristianiEditor
- Jeremy ThomasProducer
Where to watch
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Tastebuds Other media included when they land close.
Zama 201784% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative, grave.
Ida 201383% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative, grave.
Under the Volcano 198481% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative, grave.
Passing 202181% alikeBoth prestige, grave, contemplative.
Red Desert 196480% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative, grave.
Black Narcissus 194780% alikeBoth prestige, contemplative, grave.
The Piano 199379% alikeBoth prestige, grave, contemplative.
The Master 201279% alikeBoth contemplative, prestige, grave.
Never Let Me Go 200574% alikeBook · Both contemplative, prestige, grave.
Aoi Bungaku Series 200974% alikeTelevision · Both prestige, contemplative, grave.
Often watched with
Recommendations from TMDB. Opening one adds it to Tastebuds
