''Stealing Beauty'' (french: Beauté volée; it, Io ballo da sola) is a 1996

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

and starring Liv Tyler,

Joseph Fiennes Joseph Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (), known as Joseph Fiennes, is an English actor of film, stage, and television. Journalist Zoe Williams observed that "he seemed to be the go-to actor for English cultural history". Fiennes is particul ...

, Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, and Rachel Weisz. Written by Bertolucci and

Susan Minot Susan Minot (born December 7, 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter and painter. Early life Minot was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Her father, ...

, the film is about a nineteen-year-old American woman who travels to a lush Tuscan

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became ...

near

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

to stay with family friends of her poet mother, who recently died. The film was an international co-production between France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and was Tyler's first leading film role. ''Stealing Beauty'' premiered in Italy in March 1996, and was officially selected for the

1996 Cannes Film Festival The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996. The Palme d'Or went to '' Secrets & Lies'' by Mike Leigh. The festival opened with '' Ridicule'', directed by Patrice Leconte and closed with '' Flirting with Disaster'', directed by ...

in France in May. It was released in the United States on June 14, 1996. The film was made entirely in the

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

region of Italy during the summer of 1995. The main location for filming was the estate of

Castello di Brolio The Castello di Brolio is a rural castle, palace and gardens located in San Regolo, in the municipality of Gaiole in Chianti, about 20 km NE of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. The palace has belonged to the Ricasoli family for nearly 800 ...

, and a small villa on the property.

Plot

American Lucy ( Liv Tyler), 19, daughter of the (now deceased) poet and model, Sara Harmon, arrives at the Tuscan villa of her mom's friends Ian and Diana Grayson (

Donal McCann Donal McCann (7 May 1943 – 17 July 1999) was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, '' The Dead''. In 2020, he was listed as number 4 ...

and Sinéad Cusack). Other guests are: a NYC art gallery owner, an Italian advice columnist and dying English writer, Alex Parrish ( Jeremy Irons). Going for a swim, Lucy finds Diana's daughter Miranda Fox ( Rachel Weisz) with her boyfriend, entertainment lawyer Richard Reed ( D. W. Moffett). Her brother, Christopher (

), has yet to arrive, on a road trip with Niccolò Donati (

Roberto Zibetti The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

) from a nearby villa. Lucy hoped to see Niccolò, as she had met him four years ago and was her first kiss. They had briefly written; one letter in particular she had memorised. Lucy's father sent her so Ian could sculpt her, but it's an excuse for him to send her to Italy. Smoking marijuana with Parrish, Lucy reveals she is a virgin, which he shares with the rest of the villa the next day. Furious, she decides to end her visit. However, before she can book the flight, Christopher and Niccolò appear, and Lucy is happy, but disappointed Niccolò did not recognise her. That evening, Niccolò and his brother, Osvaldo (Ignazio Oliva) come to the Graysons'. After dinner, the youth separate from the adults to smoke. Lucy is now over Parrish's betrayal, and they take turns recounting how they each lost their virginity. When it's Osvaldo's turn, he demurs, saying, "I don't know which is more ridiculous, this conversation or the silly political one going on over there t the adults' table" Lucy fawns over Niccolò but gets sick on him. The next day Lucy cycles to the Donati's, seeking Niccolò. She's told he's in the garden, where Lucy finds him with another. Upset, she hastily cycles away from the compound. When she passes Osvaldo, he cries out, "Ciao, Lucy!", she doesn't hear, then crashes. Ignoring his offer to help, she rides on. Lucy, posing outdoors for Ian's sketch, exposes one of her breasts. When Niccolò and Osvaldo arrive by car, Niccolò ogles Lucy, but Osvaldo looks away. Lucy wanders off into an adjacent olive grove, followed by Niccolò. They begin to kiss, but Lucy soon pushes him away. Retreating to the guest house, Lucy shares her notebook with Parrish. It is one of her mother's last notebooks, containing a poem Lucy thinks holds clues to the identity of her real father. Throughout the film, she has been asking probing questions about her mother. Did Parrish ever know Sara to wear green sandals? Had Ian ever eaten olive leaves? Had Carlo Lisca ( Carlo Cecchi), a war correspondent friend of the Graysons whom Sara had known, ever killed a viper? These images are all found in the poem, which Lucy now reads to Parrish. He agrees it must refer to her dad. That evening, Lucy wears her mother's dress to the Donati's annual party. Soon after arriving, she sees Niccolò with another girl and they do not speak. then she sees Osvaldo playing clarinet in the band. Later seeing him dancing with a girl, they exchange earnest glances. Lucy picks up a young Englishman to take back to the Grayson's villa. On the way out, Osvaldo chases Lucy down, saying he's interested in visiting America and would like advice. They agree to meet the next day. The Englishman spends the night with her at the villa, but without sex. The next day, Parrish is hospitalized. Lucy skulks around his quarters in the guest house afterwards. Looking out a window, seeing Ian's sculpture of a mother and child, she has an epiphany. Lucy asks Ian where he was in August 1975, when she was conceived. He says he was here, fixing up the villa, possibly when he was doing Lucy's mother's portrait. He says they could ask Diana, but then remembers she was in London, finalizing her divorce. Without explicitly saying so, they realize Ian is Lucy's biological father, and she promises to keep the secret. Meanwhile, Osvaldo arrives. Lucy gets stung by bees as she exits Ian's studio so he helps, putting clay on the welts. Walking through the countryside, Osvaldo confesses he wrote to her once. This was the letter Lucy loved above all, the one she knew by heart. Osvaldo then takes her to the tree from the letter. Lucy and Osvaldo spend the night under the tree. As they part the next morning, Osvaldo reveals that it was his first time, too.

Cast

* Liv Tyler as Lucy Harmon *

as Christopher Fox * Jeremy Irons as Alex Parrish * Sinéad Cusack as Diana Grayson *

as Ian Grayson * Rebecca Valpy as Daisy Grayson *

Jean Marais Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 f ...

(in his last film role) as M. Guillaume * Rachel Weisz as Miranda Fox * D. W. Moffett as Richard Reed * Carlo Cecchi as Carlo Lisca * Jason Flemyng as Gregory *

Anna Maria Gherardi Anna Maria Gherardi (15 October 1939 – 5 October 2014) was an Italian actress and voice actress.Betts, To"RIP Anna Maria Gherardi" westernboothill.blogspot.com, 6 October 2014; retrieved 6 October 2014. Born in Bologna, Gherardi formed at th ...

as Chiarella Donati * Ignazio Oliva as Osvaldo Donati * Stefania Sandrelli as Noemi * Francesco Siciliano as Michele Lisca * Mary Jo Sorgani as Maria * Leonardo Treviglio as Lieutenant * Alessandra Vanzi as Marta * Roberto Zibetti as Niccolò Donati

Production

Liv Tyler admitted she bitterly fought against appearing topless in this movie. "Of course the thought of showing your body parts is a terrifying thought - I find it terrifying. Let alone the whole world. And I fought it until the very end."

Soundtrack

# " 2 Wicky" (

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...

) by Hooverphonic # " Glory Box" by Portishead # "

If 6 Was 9 "If 6 Was 9" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was released on their second album '' Axis: Bold as Love'' (1967). It appeared on the soundtrack for the 1969 film ''Easy Rider'' and the soundtrack for ...

" (

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

) by Axiom Funk # "Annie Mae" by

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often in ...

# "Rocket Boy" by Liz Phair # "

Superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs ...

" by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

# " My Baby Just Cares For Me" ( Walter Donaldson) by Nina Simone # " I'll Be Seeing You" (

Sammy Fain Sammy Fain (born Samuel E. Feinberg; June 17, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatre ...

) by

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

# " Rhymes Of An Hour" ( Hope Sandoval) by Mazzy Star # "

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

" by

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instr ...

# "You Won't Fall" by Lori Carson # "I Need Love" by Sam Phillips # "Say It Ain't So" by

Roland Gift Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

# " Horn concerto in D K412, 2nd movement" by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

# " Clarinet concerto in A K622, 2nd movement" by

;Additional songs * "Rock Star" by Hole was also used in the film. Tyler is shown dancing and singing wildly along to the track, listening with her headphones and walkman. *

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

's song " Bachelorette" of her 1997 album '' Homogenic'' was originally written to be part of the soundtrack and its first working title was "Bertolucci". Björk later faxed Bertolucci to inform him the song would be used on her upcoming album instead.

Reception

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'', gave it 2 out of 4, and wrote: "The movie plays like the kind of line a rich older guy would lay on a teenage model, suppressing his own intelligence and irony in order to spread out before her the wonderful world he would like to give her as a gift....The problem here is that many 19-year-old women, especially the beautiful international model types, would rather stain their teeth with cigarettes and go to discos with cretins on motorcycles than have all Tuscany as their sandbox." Critics such as

Desson Thomson Desson Patrick Thomson is a former speechwriter for the Obama administration and former film critic for ''The Washington Post''. He was known as Desson Howe until 2003 when he changed his name after reuniting with his birth father. Biography ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', Mick LaSalle of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'', and James Berardinelli of

ReelViews James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

gave negative reviews, with Berardinelli in particular, calling the movie 'an atmosphere study, lacking characters', and Thompson calling it 'inscrutable'. Others, such as Jonathan Rosenbaum of ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'', Peter Travers of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'',

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and Jack Mathews of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' were more positive, with Rosenbaum in particular praising the movie's 'mellowness' and 'charm'. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a score of 60% based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.

Box office

The film had admissions in France of 184,721.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1990s coming-of-age drama films 1996 romantic drama films 1990s teen drama films 1990s teen romance films 1996 films British coming-of-age drama films British romantic drama films British teen drama films British teen romance films Coming-of-age romance films 1990s English-language films English-language French films English-language Italian films Films about virginity Films directed by Bernardo Bertolucci Films produced by Jeremy Thomas Films set in Tuscany Films shot in Tuscany Fox Searchlight Pictures films French coming-of-age drama films French romantic drama films French teen films 1990s French-language films 1990s German-language films Italian coming-of-age drama films Italian romantic drama films 1990s Italian-language films 1990s Spanish-language films 1996 multilingual films British multilingual films French multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1990s British films 1990s French films