Bernardo Bertolucci may have sealed his reputation as dirty agent provocateur with the infamous butter scene in ‘Last Tango In Paris’, but ‘Stealing Beauty’, his delicate study in teenage desire, manages a more subtle, less male gazey approach, in spite of its overarching themes.
Liv Tyler is luminous and beautiful as Lucy, a gauche American teenager who travels to Tuscany in order to lose her virginity and find herself. Travelling in her late mother’s footsteps, she seeks to understand both her mother and the roped-off adult world ahead of her. It’s a gorgeous film, managing to strike a balance between surging hormones and genuine connection. She’s naive, but nobody’s fool, despite enduring a little mockery from her extended family, a bunch of bohemian, free -spirited artists.
Jeremy Irons is also wonderful as Alex a dying writer who takes a shine to her. There’s a symbiotic relationship between them, realising they’re both wild, lost souls in their own way. It’s rather sweet, mirrored later on in the relationship between Charlotte and Bob in Sofia Coppola’s ‘Lost In Translation ‘, although less sexually- charged.
What sets the film apart from the usual coming-of-age dramas is the rich exploration of female agency. Tyler as Lucy is not your usual Lolita figure, she’s complex, soulful and wise, testing her limitations like the wine and olive leaves of the wonderful scenery. She knows what she wants, even if her steps are tentative.
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