Happily, if coolly, married couple Nigel (Hugh Grant) and Fiona (Kristin Scott-Thomas) learn the meaning of the phrase "fate worse than death" when they're trapped on an ocean liner to India in the company of a disagreeable cripple named Oscar (Peter Coyote), who regales them--mostly
Nigel--with the dreadful story of his grand romance. Director Roman Polanski's contention that it's all meant to be howlingly funny is hard to credit; though BITTER MOON is awful in a baroque sort of way, it smacks of sincerity at all the worst moments.
Oscar is an unlikely Scheherezade, and perhaps that makes him all the more compelling--one suspects that the neat, prissy Nigel h...
Released:
1992
Rated:
R
Length:
139 mins