Bitter Moon
Encyclopedia
Bitter Moon is a 1992 film starring Hugh Grant
, Kristin Scott Thomas
, Emmanuelle Seigner
and Peter Coyote
and directed by Roman Polanski
. The film is known as (a pun on "Lune de Miel", which is 'Honeymoon
') in France
. The script is inspired by a book with the same name, written by the French author Pascal Bruckner
. The score was composed by Vangelis
.
Stockard Channing
appears briefly in the uncredited role of Beverly, a literary agent who criticizes Oscar's affecting the persona of an American writer in Paris as passé and unmarketable.
The story unfolds as Oscar invites Nigel to his cabin. Nigel accepts the invitation because he is attracted to Mimi. In his cabin, Oscar recalls, in a series of episodes, how he and the much younger Mimi met on a bus in Paris and fell in love; and then how their relationship went horribly wrong.
During a series of flashbacks, Oscar recounts how his and Mimi's love developed and took a darker turn. They explored bondage
, sado-masochism and voyeurism
. Slowly, their self-absorbed relationship decayed, and the bored Oscar tried to break-up with Mimi. She begged him to let her live with him under any conditions, and he took advantage of the opportunity to explore sadistic fantasies at her expense.
Oscar increasingly subjected Mimi to public humiliation, until she became pregnant. Oscar persuaded her that he would be a terrible father and that she should have an abortion. While she was recovering, Oscar visited her and was shocked by her condition. He almost relented in his attempts to drive her away but instead promised her a holiday to the Caribbean. On the plane before departure, Oscar pretended that his luggage wouldn't fit in the overhead bin and went to find help from an attendant. He then abandoned the flight, leaving Mimi on board.
Oscar's tale continues with him immersing himself in a world of parties and one-night stands for the next two years. This hedonistic lifestyle ended when he drunkenly stepped in front of a vehicle. A much more confident Mimi visited him in hospital, where he was recovering from minor injuries and a broken leg. By manipulating Oscar's traction device, the vengeful Mimi crippled Oscar, so that he became a paraplegic.
Mimi then informed Oscar that she would look after him and moved back into the apartment to be his full-time carer. She reveled in dominating and humiliating him, to the extent that she seduced friends in front of him. Oscar was filled with self-loathing and, by the time of his meeting with Nigel, seems to believe that he deserves this treatment.
Nigel is both shocked and appalled. However, he is intrigued by Mimi and encouraged by Oscar to have an affair with her but lacks the confidence or social skills to approach her directly. Fiona subtly and repeatedly warns him not to stray too far, and that anything he can do, she can do better. Nigel attempts to meet every night with Mimi, and lies to Fiona about his intentions in doing so.
Later during a shipboard New Year's Eve
party, Nigel attempts to dance seductively, albeit clumsily, with Mimi, but she seems only partially interested. Oscar tells him to try harder or risk losing her to another. As Nigel attempts again to woo Mimi, she informs him that Fiona has arrived and that she is watching them.
Nigel hurriedly greets Fiona, and learns that Oscar had reminded her to come to the party. Fiona indicates to Nigel that she is not impressed with his behavior, then leaves him to approach Mimi. The two ladies take to the dance floor and, amidst vocal approval from the rest of the party-goers, begin to erotically dance with each other and then passionately embrace. The ladies then depart together, leaving behind a stunned, crestfallen, and heartbroken Nigel. Oscar's attempts to philosophize serve only to needle and enrage him. He goes outside clutching a bottle of liquor and screams his frustration into the wind and waves.
Later, we see Nigel awaken from a drunken stupor and go looking for Fiona. He finds her sleeping with Mimi in Oscar's cabin, where Oscar claims that he has watched the ladies exhaust themselves sexually. Enraged, Nigel grabs Oscar's throat and Oscar warns him off at the point of a gun. Oscar then shoots the sleeping Mimi several times as Fiona awakens and cowers beside her. Oscar then commits suicide by blowing off the back of his head.
At the end, we see the bodies of Oscar and Mimi being stretchered off the ship. Fiona and Nigel are left embracing one another and sobbing as the credits start to roll.
In the midst of the intense, sexual narratives and the interactions aboard the ship, Nigel and Fiona also encounter a distinguished Indian gentleman (Victor Banerjee), who is traveling with his very young daughter and who, with his child, represents stability and normality. As Nigel and Fiona collapse at the film's end, the gentleman encourages his little girl to comfort them.
appeal.
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
, Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
, Emmanuelle Seigner
Emmanuelle Seigner
Emmanuelle Seigner is a French actress, former fashion model, and singer, best known as the wife of Academy Award winning director Roman Polanski, and for her roles in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly , and Frantic...
and Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
and directed by Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
. The film is known as (a pun on "Lune de Miel", which is 'Honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
') in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The script is inspired by a book with the same name, written by the French author Pascal Bruckner
Pascal Bruckner
Pascal Bruckner is a French writer.-Biography:After studies at the university Paris I and Paris VII Diderot, and then at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Bruckner became maître de conférences at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris, and collaborator at the Nouvel Observateur.Bruckner...
. The score was composed by Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
.
Cast
- Peter CoyotePeter CoyotePeter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
... Oscar - Emmanuelle SeignerEmmanuelle SeignerEmmanuelle Seigner is a French actress, former fashion model, and singer, best known as the wife of Academy Award winning director Roman Polanski, and for her roles in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly , and Frantic...
... Mimi - Hugh GrantHugh GrantHugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
... Nigel - Kristin Scott ThomasKristin Scott ThomasKristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
... Fiona - Luca Vellani... Dado
- Boris Bergman... Oscar's Friend
- Victor BanerjeeVictor BanerjeeVictor Banerjee is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi, Bengali and English language films. He has also appeared on a number of TV series on Indian television...
... Mr. Singh
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
appears briefly in the uncredited role of Beverly, a literary agent who criticizes Oscar's affecting the persona of an American writer in Paris as passé and unmarketable.
Plot
A prim and proper British couple, Fiona (Thomas) and Nigel (Grant), are on a Mediterranean cruise ship to Istanbul, en route to India. They encounter another couple on the ship, the seductive French woman Mimi (Seigner) and her paraplegic American husband Oscar (Coyote), a failed, jaded, cynical, acerbic, self-centered writer.The story unfolds as Oscar invites Nigel to his cabin. Nigel accepts the invitation because he is attracted to Mimi. In his cabin, Oscar recalls, in a series of episodes, how he and the much younger Mimi met on a bus in Paris and fell in love; and then how their relationship went horribly wrong.
During a series of flashbacks, Oscar recounts how his and Mimi's love developed and took a darker turn. They explored bondage
Bondage (BDSM)
Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
, sado-masochism and voyeurism
Voyeurism
In clinical psychology, voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature....
. Slowly, their self-absorbed relationship decayed, and the bored Oscar tried to break-up with Mimi. She begged him to let her live with him under any conditions, and he took advantage of the opportunity to explore sadistic fantasies at her expense.
Oscar increasingly subjected Mimi to public humiliation, until she became pregnant. Oscar persuaded her that he would be a terrible father and that she should have an abortion. While she was recovering, Oscar visited her and was shocked by her condition. He almost relented in his attempts to drive her away but instead promised her a holiday to the Caribbean. On the plane before departure, Oscar pretended that his luggage wouldn't fit in the overhead bin and went to find help from an attendant. He then abandoned the flight, leaving Mimi on board.
Oscar's tale continues with him immersing himself in a world of parties and one-night stands for the next two years. This hedonistic lifestyle ended when he drunkenly stepped in front of a vehicle. A much more confident Mimi visited him in hospital, where he was recovering from minor injuries and a broken leg. By manipulating Oscar's traction device, the vengeful Mimi crippled Oscar, so that he became a paraplegic.
Mimi then informed Oscar that she would look after him and moved back into the apartment to be his full-time carer. She reveled in dominating and humiliating him, to the extent that she seduced friends in front of him. Oscar was filled with self-loathing and, by the time of his meeting with Nigel, seems to believe that he deserves this treatment.
Nigel is both shocked and appalled. However, he is intrigued by Mimi and encouraged by Oscar to have an affair with her but lacks the confidence or social skills to approach her directly. Fiona subtly and repeatedly warns him not to stray too far, and that anything he can do, she can do better. Nigel attempts to meet every night with Mimi, and lies to Fiona about his intentions in doing so.
Later during a shipboard New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
party, Nigel attempts to dance seductively, albeit clumsily, with Mimi, but she seems only partially interested. Oscar tells him to try harder or risk losing her to another. As Nigel attempts again to woo Mimi, she informs him that Fiona has arrived and that she is watching them.
Nigel hurriedly greets Fiona, and learns that Oscar had reminded her to come to the party. Fiona indicates to Nigel that she is not impressed with his behavior, then leaves him to approach Mimi. The two ladies take to the dance floor and, amidst vocal approval from the rest of the party-goers, begin to erotically dance with each other and then passionately embrace. The ladies then depart together, leaving behind a stunned, crestfallen, and heartbroken Nigel. Oscar's attempts to philosophize serve only to needle and enrage him. He goes outside clutching a bottle of liquor and screams his frustration into the wind and waves.
Later, we see Nigel awaken from a drunken stupor and go looking for Fiona. He finds her sleeping with Mimi in Oscar's cabin, where Oscar claims that he has watched the ladies exhaust themselves sexually. Enraged, Nigel grabs Oscar's throat and Oscar warns him off at the point of a gun. Oscar then shoots the sleeping Mimi several times as Fiona awakens and cowers beside her. Oscar then commits suicide by blowing off the back of his head.
At the end, we see the bodies of Oscar and Mimi being stretchered off the ship. Fiona and Nigel are left embracing one another and sobbing as the credits start to roll.
In the midst of the intense, sexual narratives and the interactions aboard the ship, Nigel and Fiona also encounter a distinguished Indian gentleman (Victor Banerjee), who is traveling with his very young daughter and who, with his child, represents stability and normality. As Nigel and Fiona collapse at the film's end, the gentleman encourages his little girl to comfort them.
Reviews
Upon its release in Europe (in 1992) and North America (in 1994), Bitter Moon was not a commercial success and received mixed reviews from critics. Although some have noted the film's campCamp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
appeal.
"Polanski directs it without compromise or apology, and it's a funny thing how critics may condescend to it, but while they're watching it you could hear a pin drop." Chicago Sun Times