L'Ennui

Reckless lust burns a hole through the life of a high-strung professor of philosophy in this adaptation of Italian novelist Alberto Moravia's withering examination of sexual cruelty sans kinky thrills. Glib intellectual Martin (Charles Berling) is an emotional wreck, recently separated from his wife (Arielle Dombasle) and given to wandering the Parisian streets by night. He impulsively follows a dazed-looking fellow — an unsuccessful painter named Meyers (American director Robert Kramer) — whom he spots arguing with a young girl on the street, and strikes up a conversation. Three days later, having learned that Meyers has died in flagrente,...