Damage [Region 2] | ![Damage [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41lJEjFq5IL._SL500_.jpg) | Director: Louis Malle
Actors: Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Graves, Ian Bannen
Category: DVD
Buy New: $23.99
as of 3/19/2010 01:52 EDT details
New (1) Used (2) from $19.69
Seller: daaveedee
Rating:  82 reviews
Sales Rank: 203884
Format: PAL
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), German (Original Language), Italian (Original Language), English (Unknown), Dutch (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 2
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5017239191237
ASIN: B00005RRH9
Theatrical Release Date: January 22, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Netherlands released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, Trailer(s), Uncut, SYNOPSIS: Adapted from Josephine Hart's spare novel by British screenwriter David Hare and French director Louis Malle, this brooding erotic drama concerns the obsessive sexual relationship between an English politician and his son's lover. Stephen Flemming (Jeremy Irons), an up-and-coming member of Parliament, has a beautiful and loving wife, Ingrid (Miranda Richardson), and two children, including son Martyn (Rupert Graves), a successsful journalist. Sparks fly, however, when Stephen meets beautiful art-world denizen Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche), Martyn's new girlfriend. A measured, seemingly passionless man who believes that life can be controlled, Stephen suddenly finds himself unable to resist brief but intense liaisons with the mysterious, melancholy Anna. Eventually she explains the palpable air of sadness that hangs over her: When she was 15, her beloved older brother committed suicide because he could not possess her. 'Remember,' Anna warns Stephen, 'Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.' Drawn to Anna and the passion she engenders in him, Stephen tries to justify his betrayal by telling himself Martyn isn't serious about Anna; he is stunned, then, when the two announce their engagement. On the advice of Anna's mother (Leslie Caron), who sees right through the charade, Stephen tries to break things off. But soon the affair resumes with full force, eventually destroying several lives. Although Damage's stark, frank sex scenes were trimmed to attain an R rating for theatri
Amazon.com
The fascination of watching Damage is similar to the fascination of watching a car crash in progress--you know something unpleasant is going to happen, but your attention is riveted to the scene of destruction. In the case of this acclaimed drama, adapted by playwright David Hare from the novel by Josephine Hart, the destruction results from a collision of sexual attraction between a British governmental official (Jeremy Irons) and his son's fiancée (Juliette Binoche). Blind to the damage they'll cause to others and themselves, they begin an obsessive affair based purely on impulsive attraction and the hidden emotions that feed into their immediate physical desires. As you could expect, this leads to emotional fallout for everyone concerned, lending multiple interpretations to the film's title and allowing Miranda Richardson (as Irons's wife) to give a brilliant performance drawn from raw anger and betrayal. Under the direction of Louis Malle, this forceful drama never resorts to sordid detail or gratuitous titillation. Rather, Malle and his esteemed cast have explored the ways in which the power of sexuality supercedes the rationality of logic, when mutual attraction is stronger than one's ability to resist temptation. Damage makes it clear that such an indulgence will always come at considerable cost. The DVD of this fine film includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and the original theatrical trailer. --Jeff Shannon
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 82
 a damaged film February 8, 2010
mb washington
I like Jeremy Irons, but I was pretty disappointed in this film.
I think that Binoche comes off as somewhat wooden, and the sex scenes are comedic. They look like a couple of marionette puppets going at it. I don't need to go into detail with the storyline; others have done that.
I give it 3 stars because it's okay, I suppose. This is the sort of film that you may consider renting, or better yet, wait for it to air on TV someplace. I took the chance buying it because it was on a good sale.
A lot of people seem to want to over-analyze and interpret the meta-messages, etc., and tell you what it REALLY means, lol. But at the end of the day, it's not that great of a film overall.
 great psychodrama of forbidden passion and self-destruction February 2, 2010
Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France)
This is a movie for the middle aged: after a successful career and the nurture of a perfect family, a man chucks it all for the wrong woman. He is exhausted from his idyllic life and meaningful career, seeking a way out, and finds it. Everyone loses.
The story unfolds in absolutely horrific fashion, complete with the graphic portrayal of the passion that becomes the only thing at the center of his life. You watch with a mix of titillation and disgust at the downward spiral. For a long time, I could not understand the Binoche character: she seemed like a doll, an empty vessel for pleasure with no sexual boundaries while protecting her inner self. Then I realized that, I believe, she felt so empty and "damaged" that she needed to fill the space through sex; unstable by nature, she would be disastrous as an investment in life, but with the ability to throw herself into sex with total passion. A new kind of femme fatale. Binoche makes her extremely subtle and enigmatic.
As always with Malle, there are many levels on which the film can be viewed, an extraordinarily rich viewing experience that can be viewed many times, that is, if you can tolerate the pain and catastophe. The acting is absolutely first rate and endlessly evocative in the way cinema can offer a window into life is seconds of an expression. It is true art.
Recommended with enthusiasm and an equal measure of revulsion.
 Great? January 29, 2010
C. McGhee (Hutchinson,Ks.)
I had trouble making this into a 2 star movie but the acting forced me to raise my rating. This is suppose to be a great story? Puh-lease! Let's see, a mature but emotionally dead man want's to hump his son's lover from now till the cows come home. I guess some people refer to this as forbidden love which I feel needs animals or dead people to fill the bill. What do I know as I'm easily offended?
Any way this great? story discovers he always wanted to hump anyone but his wife. He don't care if his nubile daughter knows, he don't care what it'll affect in any life he had up 'til now, he don't care are the three words that describe him totally. That includes his absence of feeling about the girl his wee willie winkie must meat again. The 5 star people yell "You got it. His passion overrides every aspect of the situation." No I don't get how anyone could find that to be obsessive in a sensual manner. It is obsessive in a maniacal I get or I kill manner. Just because the story has a little sex in it doesn't mean it's an accurate portrayal of sensual. This was about power as you'll discover while he is repeatedly bouncing her head off the floor as they sensuously? hump. Power is not the most intoxicating aphrodisiac. It's nice it is set in London because this guy is the classical cock-up. It is the story that stinks unbelievably & probably shoudn't get 1 star. Louis Malle gets zero, zip, nada.
There are great tales of human passion & this isn't one. Both RIDICULE & DANGEROUS LIAISON"S show this stinker for what it is. DAMAGE neither has, shows or is a tale of great passion or desire. It is mainly what a teenage boy would dream of with his eyes shut after his first issue of Playboy.
He Reminds Me of the Fonz January 20, 2010
Cary B. Barad (Baltimore, MD)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An endless panalopy of soft-core fornication embodied in a plot that is somewhat muddled. That is, the motivation of the young female protagonist is murky at best. And since the entire story is contingent on really understanding this woman's motivation, the outcome to a viewer is unsatisfying. And why does the male protagonist keep physically reminding me of Henry Winkler (aka "The Fonz")
How to distroy your Life Family & Career in a couple of easy steps January 20, 2010
David D. Lawson (The Peoples Republic of California)
It is real easy for a man to do. Just let your little head instead of your big head do all of your thinking for you! This a fine morality film that just showes in a believable manner how to wreck everything that has taken a life time to build. Kudos to the Actors, Writers, Photography, Directors et al for a job well done!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 82
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