Lead us into temptation.
Set in the exotic world of Cuba in the late 1800s, Original sin is a sexy suspenseful thriller about the dangerous and sometimes lethal power of love. Louis Durand (Antonio Banderas) is a wealthy coffee merchant who has decided to take an American wife. When he arrives at the docks to meet Julia Russell (Angelina Jolie), he is surprised to find that she is not the plain woman he was expecting. Happier than he ever imagined, he and his new bride embark on a new life. But the surprise continues until the story takes a fateful turn.
Special Agent Matti
The title of this film is not subtle. Louis is Adam, Julia is Eve and Billy is Satan (in an even less subtle piece of "irony", Billy also plays Mephisto in the play). Discovering the truth is eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil while the descent into a life of crime is the fall from paradise. You know how it ends.
What's good about Original sin is the number of twists (some of which are well signposted) and the extent of Billy's hold over Julia. Watching her fall under his spell time and time again is a deliciously naughty piece of voyeurism. Not that I'm into that.
What's bad about Original sin is that neither Louis nor Julia ever manage to catch your sympathy. Sure, they're the protagonists, but if you met them on the street you'd walk straight past; there's nothing in Antonio's and Angelina's performances that lets you empathise with their characters. If you could, this would be a much more captivating film. But it ain't.
MA 15+ (Medium level sex scene, medium level violence)
113 minutes (1:53 hours)
Film: 6 December 2001
DVD rental: 5 June 2002
VHS rental: 5 June 2002
