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Created Apr 25, 2010 12:20PM PST • Edited Apr 25, 2010 12:20PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   A long and twisty tale of lust, love, and political conscience – ULB follows the lives of Tamas, his wife Tereza and his lover Sabina. Womanizing, falling in love, dealing with political strife and complex relationships is quite heady stuff and this movie subjects you to 171 minutes of it. Not for the tired or faint of heart! In the end, a decent attempt at an epic movie that falls just slightly short of that mark.

4. Acting

   OK 2.5

   Daniel Day Lewis comes across as a bit cheesy as the womanizing doctor Tamas. He just sort of struts his stuff and smiles a lot – and somehow women fall in to his lap. Hmmm. Juliette Binoche fits the part of the naïve young bride, but her performance dwindles a bit as she is supposed to be growing in maturity and wizening throughout the film. My pick of the film is Lena Olin as Sabina – sultry and smart – she is the one that actually has meaningful dialog and the acting skill to pull it off.

5. Male Stars OK 2.5

6. Female Stars OK 2.5

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Philip Kaufman wraps so much in to this film, it is hard to get your arms around the whole package. I still don’t get the connection between the womanizing and what that is supposed to be revealing about Tamas. He just seems to be unrealistically lucky and a bit of a slime. The takeover of the Czech republic by Russia makes for an interesting story and diversion in the film – but again doesn’t seem to add a lot to the main theme – Tamas and his love life.

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

    Lots of sex and nudity in this film – but mostly tastefully done — well, unless you are offended by the relentless sleeping around by Dr. Tamas!

17. Sex Erotic 3.0

18. Violence Brutal 3.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.3

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.3

23. Biological Surreal 2.3

24. Physical Surreal 2.3