The Loss of Sexual Innocence (1999)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Mike Figgis

Writer:

Mike Figgis (writer)

Release Date:

29 April 1999 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Confused, non-linear film tells the sexual story of a film director from his life at age 5, age 12, age 16...

Plot Keywords:

Tunisia | Murder | 1950s | Boy | Italian

Cast

Julian Sands	...	Adult Nic
Saffron Burrows	...	English / Italian Twin
Stefano Dionisi	...	Luca
Kelly Macdonald	...	Susan
Gina McKee	...	Susan's Mother
Jonathan Rhys Meyers	...	Nic, aged 16
Bernard Hill	...	Susan's Father
Rossy de Palma	...	Blind Woman
John Cowey	...	Nic, aged 5
Nina McKay	...	Mixed Race Girl
Dickson Osa-Omorogbe	...	Wangi
Jock Gibson Cowl	...	Old Colonial Man
Justin Chadwick	...	Flash Man
Femi Ogunbanjo	...	Adam
Hanne Klintoe	...	Eve

Also Known As:

The Death and Loss of Sexual Innocence (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual images, pervasive nudity, violence and language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:18A (Ontario) | Iceland:14 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:III | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/16 | UK:18 | USA:R | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK

Company:

Newmarket Capital Group

Trivia:

The film was made on an extremely low budget and scenes supposedly set amidst the "red soil" of Nigeria were actually filmed in the Northumbrian countryside, near Morpeth (UK)

Soundtrack:

Nocturne in D Flat Major, Opus 27, No.2

The slow dissection of a life's innocence lost.

At what point do we lose our innocence? Is it the one moment of actually having sex, or is it a build up of smaller things through life that slowly take it away? This film has the effect of juxtaposing two views on the question: with Adam & Eve, we have complete innocence up to the moment of having sex ..then they are thrust out into the modern adult world and expected to somehow automatically know how to survive in it. The discovery of Sex does not give you the automatic knowledge of how to deal with all its possible consequences. Interweaved with that, Figgis puts scenes from a man's developing life. Events shown that each eat away a little bit of innocence we may not have even realized we still have. The slow disintegration of Innocence through time. The effect of both instances is numbing. The most amazing scene for me involves two twins, unaware of each other's existence (both played by Saffron Burrows), who one day cross paths with each other in an airport. The set up is stunning. This scene begs the question: if you met up with another version of yourself, a version with a different background & different formative events --would you even be recognizable to yourself? Would you be able to relate to that other you as a person? How much have the events in our lives formed us, and how much really is biological? The only quarrel with this film I have is a series of scenes in which Mr. Figgis employed a slow fade-in/fade-out method. This was very eye-painful to watch, the fade is at such a rate you feel as though you are just slow-blinking before falling asleep. Thankfully, this is only done briefly in the film. Over all, excellent filmmaking!