THE SHELTERING SKY (1990) *** "And yet it all seems limitless." There are some novels, great ones usually, that absolutely defy cinematography. This novel struck me as a member of both subgroups. You have to admire the guts of anyone willing to try. Bernardo Bertolucci took to the tall grass (or the dry desert if you prefer), opting to make a movie like the book, rather than a movie about the book. In doing so he remained incredibly faithful to Paul Bowles' work, moving only the concluding narrative (by Bowles, who is seen regarding the characters during the film, with dignity, interest and to great benefit) out of context. How do you make a movie similar to a book, and without digressing from it, in which most of the action took place in the character's heads? Bertolucci does it by emphasizing sex and illness, distracting with desert scenes and eyes, working the rhythms and backbeat into a different kind of musical. At points it must be very unclear to those who haven't read the novel what is going on; and so the film may work best for them. Debra Winger and John Malkovich work seamlessly into Bertolucci's ambitious vision and the desert surroundings, but Jill Bennett is The Sheltering Sky.
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