The Comfort of Strangers (film)
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- For the Beth Orton album see Comfort of Strangers.
| The Comfort of Strangers | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster |
|
| Directed by | Paul Schrader |
| Produced by | Mario Cotone Angelo Rizzoli Jr. |
| Written by | Harold Pinter |
| Starring | Natasha Richardson Christopher Walken Rupert Everett Helen Mirren |
| Music by | Angelo Badalamenti |
| Cinematography | Dante Spinotti |
| Editing by | Bill Pankow |
| Distributed by | Skouras Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  November 1, 1990 March 15, 1991 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Country | Italy United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Comfort of Strangers is a 1990 film directed by Paul Schrader. The screenplay is by Harold Pinter, adapted from a short novel by Ian McEwan. The film stars Natasha Richardson, Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett and Helen Mirren.
[edit] Plot
Colin (Everett) and Mary (Richardson), a couple unsure of where their relationship is going, are on holiday in Venice where they meet Robert (Walken), a smooth bar owner who tells them stories about his abusive father and the humiliating revenge which Robert's four sisters took on both the father and Robert himself. Although Colin and Mary find Robert and his wife, the stylish and demure Caroline (Mirren) less than agreeable company, they are inexplicably, almost hypnotically drawn to the older couple, who turn out to be even more dangerous than they seem, leading to a violent climax.
[edit] Differences between novel and film
Schrader has said of McEwan's book that it is "terrific, but a little one-sided" and that he was not sure its theme - that "no amount of civilisation can overcome the fundamental hostility between men and women" - was correct. The film therefore uses Pinter's ambiguous dialogue to create a more nuanced set of characters.
Changes were also made to the character of Robert. In the book, Robert is a young thug with a gold chain and a pattern of pistols embroidered into his shirt; Schrader did not think an audience would believe Colin and Mary would go off with such a man, so Walken plays the character as a suave, Armani-suited cosmopolitan.
