- Actors: John Standing, Matthew Delamere, Vivian Wu, Toni Collette, Amanda Plummer
- Directors: Peter Greenaway
- Writers: Peter Greenaway
- Producers: Bob Hubar, Denis Wigman, Jimmy de Brabant, Kees Kasander, Kosaku Wada
- Language English, Italian, Japanese, Latin
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Pathe
- VHS Release Date: 12 Jun 2000
- Run Time: 118 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004T10D
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 33,945 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bizarre sexual comedy,
By
This review is from: 8 1/2 Women [DVD] [1999] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
There's a kind of French farce/Marquis de Sade/Japanese porn feel to this self-indulgent romp from Brit auteur Peter Greenaway. It's kind of a "God, I'm bored and I've got so much money and what the heck let's turn the Geneva mansion into a bordello, a different woman in every room and Dad and I will have lots of fun and bond" thing. "I mean mom's gone now, Dad, and you never really got out and now it's time to live." So father and son go naked a lot with lots of babes who are also naked a lot.Matthew Delamere (Storey) is the son and John Standing (Philip) is the father. It's a bit creepy seeing them sharing the same bed naked. In fact it's a bit creepy seeing John Standing naked, period. But that's part of the Greenaway intent. Let's shock the bourgeoisie. It's such fun to do stuff that will make them squirm. They hissed at Cannes when this was shown (I understand; I wasn't there). It was first released in the Czech Republic, which says something, but I'm not sure what. It was banned in Malaysia--but that's pretty standard. The women are bizarre but, to be honest, intriguing. The story isn't much of a story. The rationale for suddenly taking on the life of the libertine is slight (Philip's wife dies) and a bit late in the coming. (And no pun intended.) The story starts in Tokyo with Storey helping Simato, a pachinko addict played by Annie Shizuka Inoh, avoid financial trouble in exchange for sexual favors. But never mind. As I said, the story doesn't matter. What matters is the outrageousness of the events (mostly sexual) and the beautiful sets. That's it. Most interesting thing in the film is Polly Walker who has both sex appeal and charisma. Most grotesque is that pig with its pinkish white skin so very human looking--and of course that was a sight joke and a comment upon humanity. But again, never mind. By the way, the 8 1/2 in the title is because Fellini's famous film somehow inspired Storey and Philip toward their debauchery.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters.,
By Chris (London UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 8 1/2 Women [DVD] [1999] (DVD)
Despite being hissed at Cannes this film is still well worth seeing and improves on repeated viewings.Greenaway has his protagonist ask if all directors make films to fulfil their own sexual fantasies, and we must assume (unless he is pulling our collective leg) proceeds to do exactly that, as Emmenthal pere et fils assemble a harem of female stereotypes in their mansion. As well as the obvious Fellini reference, the film harks back to "A Zed and Two Noughts" in a number of respects, in the sort of intertextual game-playing Greenaway fans will know and love. As with all Greenaway's work since The Falls, the photography is ravishing. No-one makes films which look better. It's unfortunate that he's not found a musical collaborator to equal Michael Nyman, but you can't have everything. He may not be sweeping the art-house scene before him these days (in fact there's not much of a UK art-house scene left these days), but in the end, slightly below-par Greenaway is better than 99% of directors can even aspire to.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A big disappointment.,
By
This review is from: 8 1/2 Women [DVD] [1999] (DVD)
I've been a big fan of PG from way back when. But after the Baby of Macon he seemed to lose his way. 8 1/2 Women just left me stone-cold; no real humour, stodgey story-line and absolutely no sleekness of lighting and glorious music that so-much defined the beauty of Peter's work. I'm looking forward to a resurgence soon and hope he makes great films again very soon.
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