At first, this completely bizarre Ivan Passer film seems like it's going to be an intriguing if fairly routine drama about insider trading. Omar Sharif plays Andre Ferren, a completely corrupt European businessman who's been cooking the books and gets caught out by an auditor. He's enamored of co-worker Susan Winters (Karen Black, quite charming even when decked out in '70s era non-finery), and convinces her to help him out by wedding a wealthy industrialist (Bernhard Wicki) for his money. Things get progressively stranger as Susan hooks up with an American cowboy (the hopelessly boring Joseph Bottoms) and drags him off to a hillside castle, whilst the eternally priapic Andre has an unfortunate encounter with a masseuse (Elma Karlowa from Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul). This is not a particularly good film, but it isn't boring and it certainly defies expectations.
Review of Crime and Passion
Crime and Passion
(1976)
She'll be wearing silk pajamas when she comes
10 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers