Stealing Beauty

A nineteen year old American girl goes to spend a summer at an artists' house in Tuscany after her mother's death. She is looking for two things: who her father is, and her first experience. The film frames the summer landscape and the girl with the same gaze, and that became the most argued thing about it over time: the camera watches her much as the adult men in the house do. The narrative does not criticise this. Bernardo Bertolucci directed; it is Liv Tyler's first leading role, with Jeremy Irons in the cast. It was shot at a single house in Tuscany. Before watching: the film tells a young woman's sexual awakening through the attention of older men. If that gaze troubles you, the film does not soften it.