Damage (1992) - film review

At a social engagement, a rising member of Parliament, Stephen Fleming, meets a mysterious but stunningly attractive art expert, Anna Barton.  Immediately, Stephen becomes obsessed with an uncontrollable passion for the strange young woman, even after he has learnt that she is the girlfriend of his own son, Martyn.   When Stephen finds out about Anna’s tragic past, he is more determined than ever to be with her.  The two lovers carry on a secret affair, snatching a few hours each week to spend together.  Whilst Anna is content with this arrangement, Stephen is not: he wants to leave his own wife to live with his mistress.  Anna refuses, and a short time later Stephen hears the news that she is going to be married – to Martyn...

The familiar theme of the tragic love triangle, a mainstay of French cinema for many decades, provides the basis for this dark study in desire and obsession.   The film is adapted from a novel by Josephine Hart and features some remarkable performances, notably from Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche and Miranda Richardson (the latter of whom was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role).

Louis Malle, a French film director of considerable repute, could have made this, his penultimate film, in his own language, and the film would probably have ended up looking much like any other French romantic drama.  His decision to make the film in English, with a cast of top-notch British actors (plus Juliette Binoche), gives the film a striking austerity which seems to rob the film of any passion.  Consequently, the physical relationship between the two main characters in the film takes on a bizarre, existentialist form, cold and passionless, in direct contradiction to what the spectator is anticipating.   The explicit love scenes which punctuate the film ought to be erotic – but they are not.  They are portrayed simply as banal and mechanical acts of self-gratification.

As a result, the film is as unsettling as it is compelling, although this clinically cold narrative style robs the film of any humanity and weakens the characterisation.  With a less impressive cast, the film, with its wooden script and overly sign-posted tragic conclusion, would probably appear absurd.  It is thanks largely to the enigmatic and brooding performances of its lead actors that the film manages to hold its audience and transcend its obvious structural and artistic weaknesses.

© James Travers 2000

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