Rather less in this than met the eye. The lengthy establishing of the family/socio-economic background of the two central characters was somewhat tedious – the points made were established quite quickly and did not need to be extended. In terms of the nature of the plot in this film, and the Berger films recently seen, there were similarities in that there was not, ostensibly, great originality in them. But the difference is that Berger managed to tell and explore his relatively ordinary plots with great and effective cinematic style – judiciously chosen music at time, very creative cinematography and techniques making the viewer identify and empathize with the characters whereas with this film there was no such cinematic (visual) creativity. The music was often emphatically obtrusive and almost everything was conveyed directly through dialogue. We were always told directly in this film and not allowed to be fully involved, empathize and explore the situation as happens with Berger
However, the erotic scenes were well done – the first one after 40 minutes being particularly powerful as was the nude dance at 1.10 but the reason and the dramatic effect? Finally, take away the fact that the two central characters were step-brothers and what are we left with?
Disappointing.