New York State Writers Institute - Classic Film Series

Stealing BeautyStealing Beauty
Day, Time & Location
Changes
October 10, 2001 (Wednesday) at 7:00 p.m.
Recital Hall, PAC
(Free and Open to the Public)

(France, Italy, UK, 1996, 118 minutes, color, video)

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring Liv Tyler, Jeremy Irons, Stefania Sandrelli, Sinead Cusack, Donal McCann

Following the suicide of her mother, 19-year-old Lucy Harmon travels to Italy to stay with some old friends of her mothers and to have her portrait painted. She has two motives. The first is to renew her acquaintance with Nicolo Donati, the handsome young boy from a neighboring family with whom she shared her first kiss on a visit four years earlier, the memory of which she cherished long after his letters stopped. And the second is to solve the riddle left in a diary written by her dead mother, Sara. While Lucy pursues Nicolo her presence has a profound effect on the jaded emotions of her hosts and their houseguests. The film represents the first shot by Bertulucci's on his native soil after a 15-year absence.

Susan Minot

The film's screenwriter, Susan Minot, will present film commentary immediately following the screening.

Liv Taylor as Lucy