L'Assedio (1998)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 93 minuten
Alternative title: Besieged
Country:
Italy / United Kingdom
Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci
Stars: Thandiwe Newton, David Thewlis and Claudio Santamaria
IMDb score:
6,8 (5.424)
Releasedate: 5 February 1998
L'Assedio plot
"Touched by Genius. Cursed by Madness. Blinded by Love."
Composer Jason Kinsky (Thewlis) lives in Rome in a building he inherited from his aunt. His cleaning lady Shandurai (Newton) lives in the basement and studies medicine. One day Kinsky tells her that he is in love with her and will do anything for her. She then asks him to free her husband, a political prisoner in Africa.
Actors and actresses
Shandurai
Jason Kinsky
Agostino
Singer
Patient
Piano buyer
Child at concert
Reviews & comments
Movsin
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- 8286 messages
- 8442 votes
Playing with notes and images. It takes up three quarters of the film. There is room for tenderness in between, but the effect is somewhat unusual - at least the character portrayed by David Thewlis is - and real feeling only creeps in towards the end, perhaps also due to a lack of depth in the dialogues.
Still worth following. Especially on a cinematic level and the special, original way of presenting the story.
Translated from Dutch · View original
coumi
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- 1462 messages
- 12350 votes
Typically a Bernardo Bertolucci film. The man has become famous for his films about strange, preferably distant (love) relationships. From Stealing Beauty to his masterpiece Ultimo Tango a Parigi... his signature can be recognized everywhere.
This l'assedio is a lot tamer and less controversial than we are used to from him, but at its core a selfless love story (what Thewlis does for Newton is the ultimate sacrifice) as you rarely see them anymore. You just have to see it and appreciate it.
Well, not much has changed. Already at the time of last Tango there were a lot of people who wondered what it was all about, and that will also be the case with this piece. The master has mellowed, but his talent can still be recognized.
Newton presents herself here as a first class actress. Thewlis will never be as godforsaken good as in Naked, but does a decent job here too.
Translated from Dutch · View original
eRCee
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- 13449 messages
- 1981 votes
You all don't get it. 
This is a masterpiece. Definitely the best edited movie I've seen in a long time. L'Assedio succeeds in something few films can do: telling a story with purely cinematic means. The opening is a good example of this. In 10 minutes you have arrived from Africa in Italy, you know the background of the main character and the first dramatic development has already taken place without a single dialogue. The whirling editing and the exuberant use of color, in combination with the intradiegetic music, continue throughout the film. The cinematography itself is also beautiful. The film seemed to me to be partly shot with a hand-held camera and in combination with the jump cuts you get the feeling that Dogme has exerted its influence on this. And that while the framing and colors are more reminiscent of Wong Kar-Wai.
The film is completely original in its narration. Where spoken words erect barriers between the characters, they are broken down with cinematic means. Of course, the film is neither realistic nor subdued, subtle nor layered. But I like that, a director who just pulls out all the stops and doesn't stay safely within the defined lines of good taste.
And then the music scenes, hello. The fusion of images of the characters with the piano music in the house, and what Bertolucci can express with this, is unparalleled. The home concert for the students is particularly brilliant. I also thought the final scene was perfect, here the title of the film comes out in full force. Wonderful Italian cinema this.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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