Eye of the Beholder

This is a good but rather odd fim. Doesn't quite fit into the usual categories. There is a femme fatale/ black widow on the run aspect of it but it's more psychological than that usual type story. Ian's character turns into an obsessed stalker and that is what gives it the odd aspect to it - is he looking for her to fill the void in his life? It's a rather sad study of 2 messed up individuals. Filmatically beautiful and I liked how the director/editor kept melding images together. If you are looking for a darkish moody psychological drama - this will do the trick.

The Eye (Ewan McGregor) is a techno security nebbish for the British government assigned to watch after the wayward son of a high government official. What he observes is the murder of the son by a beautiful woman for whom his shock quickly descends into an erratic obsessive love beyond the call of duty. The murderess, Johanna Eris (Ashley Judd) kills every man who yearns to get close having been deserted as a child by her father. Problematic to the story is the audience's realization that years before The Eye crossed the threshold from reality to fantasy loosing his daughter with whom he continues to converse, a ghostly reminder of his lonely existance. Director Stephen Elliot (Pricilla, Queen of the Desert) earnestly tries to pull off this muddled murder-thriller. Elliot wants to overwhelm his audience with the idea of love out of control and the haunted emotions of longing and loneliness, but he is unable to rise beyond the problematic script. Judd is distant, an iceberg far from sexy, her acting is anything but compelling in the role of an older woman. Ewan McGregor, cast against type succeeds in bringing sympathetic pathos to his hunt with desperation and the need to find the daughter he's lost. The surprising small cameos of Jason Priestley as a evil drug-head, and Genevieve Boujould are high points in the film. Nevertheless, the film is long on concept and short on follow through. Critics and audiences hated this film, but it is not altogether bad nor an incomprehensible film. The DVD version includes commentary by director Elliot, deleted scenes, and an alternative ending that should have been left in the film. It's a good rental film and worth a look if you enjoy films that are off-center.

***MILD SPOILERS, BUT NOT THE UPSHOT OR ENDING*** [Note: regarding the trailer, I thought it pretty poor- made the film look corny and dreary- glad I watched in spite of it.]I knew nothing about this film, stumbled across the trailer on IMBD, watched the movie and was riveted from beginning to end. I'm a fan of both Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd, thought both were very good, the other actors too. K. D. Lang was a bright spark. The film was beautiful and well-filmed, the settings extremely varied with attention to details, a feast for the eyes, for the right hemisphere. Unpredictable, suspenseful, noir-ish, wildly over the top (suspension of belief-wise), loads of action and atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife- what's not to like? HIGHLY original, and quite brilliant, subtly so. The film is a Canadian-British collaboration.Considering the music that weaves through it (lovely, haunting, punctuating the pathos, e.g., by Chrissie Hynde and Carolyn Lavelle), McGregor's relations with others (real and imagined), facial expressions, and myriad other plot points and elements, if I had to pick one word to describe this movie's core theme, for me it would be "empathy" (vs lack thereof), between characters, as well as in viewers. After watching it and reading reviews here and on IMBD I thought ruefully of the millions who fought back tears of empathy for Joaquin Phoenix's Joker (a comic book character). Far fewer reviewers evince such reactions here- the theme was subtle perhaps, but I found it most evocative.I admit, I could watch Ewan McGregor read the phone book, and as usual he did not disappoint. He plays an introverted computer surveillance analyst and undercover investigator, a somewhat tortured soul who finds himself growing ever more obsessed with a very disturbed woman, out of his element, and rising to the challenge. He gains...guts...and emotional integrity. Fabulous! Call me sentimental, but in spite of all the mayhem I hoped, watched, on the edge of my seat, for a happy ending. Maybe it's a female thing, but I loved this film. There was a LOT to unpack in it- I'll definitely be watching it again.

was a fail for me. Hill is in the CIA, isnt the first murder related to that, the reason he takes the case? But Judd just seems to be a female serial killer & not a case that wld merit the CIA. Was hoping there wld be kd lang music but sadly not, tho she can act as well as any of the others in the film. Hill basically commits murder while trying to prevent one, goes so off track emotionally & mentally. Recommend.

This is not a particular good or memorable serial killer/stalker flick from the 1990s. They made quite a few of them back then, and they all seem to have Ashley Judd in them. Okay, that latter is an exaggeration. But she is in this one. And she is very glamourous too. So nothing wrong with it. It's also got Ewan McGregor in it and he looks like a schoolboy, way too young to have a daughter, real or imaginary, of the girl Lucy's age. But never mind all that. Both leads are actors I always enjoy seeing on the screen, so it's all good. Also, I did love seeing k.d. lang as McGregor's handler.I knew it wasn't a great film, but I hoped it would while away another boring night of lockdown life and that it did. It's fun to see all those cumbersome early mobile phones and laptops, then cutting edge technology. And that bizarre post 80s fashion. Doing surveillance in a red jacket? Yep, loads of (probably unintended) fun here. I enjoyed watching the film, it really did bring back memories of that time. So if you're in the mood for a bit of 90s nostalgia that is not a fluffy romcom and you don't expect too much, this may work just fine. The DVD I bought is fine. Picture and sound are good. No subtitles. No extra features.

The most unusual and corageous experiment from the director of Priscilla and Easy Virtue) because this time Elliot tries to a visionary, intimate, dramatic and unusual love story into a very rigid and codified genre like crime/thriller.It does not seem to far from some De Palma experiments, but less morbid and more sentimental. So sentimental that the whole film, both in its plot and the way scenes and direction itself are conceived, seem almost to adopt the genre to use if for purposes that differ from what you expect from it: in fact, this film is a melò and a love story disguised as a thriller, where voyeurism, investigation, the use itself of spying equipment and technologies are a way to connect to someone, establish a relation, and liberate desire. You might not like it, be disappointed, unless you lower your prejudice and open up to the infinite possibilities of cinema and emotion. Ewan Mcgregor and Ashely Judd are one of the best unresolved couples in romantic cinema, while Stephen Elliot puts all his visionary and inventive style to make us see and feel the immaterial side of human being: his heart and his soul. Too bad this is not a blu ray

A rare kind of film: original (to me, anyway - I hadn't seen much or anything like it before), unexpected, unconventional and unapologetic. Nothing is clear-cut and you're never quite sure who is 'good' or 'bad'.Great performances and drags you into its world fast, keeping you there.

I bought this thinking it was a film I've been looking for, for years but alas I was wrong. Strange plot and doesn't really explain the guys obsession with the woman or what her problem is. it was ok I suppose.

I really like Ashley Judd but l didn't really like this film. It's a bit dark....and boring.