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Stealing Beauty Review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 3.0
    60

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Mixed or average reviews
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 50

    out of 100

    Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

    The movie plays like the kind of line a rich older guy would lay on a teenage model,suppressing his own intelligence and irony in order to spread out before her the wonderful world he would like to give her as a gift.

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  • 60

    out of 100

    Los Angeles Times Jack Mathews

    The script (written by Susan Minot from a story by Bertolucci) suffers from the same tired blood as his characters, and his direction is often ponderously self-conscious.

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  • 63

    out of 100

    ReelViews James Berardinelli

    This film is aesthetically pleasing but not emotionally satisfying. It's occasionally erotic but rarely dynamic.

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  • 70

    out of 100

    The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

    This film maker's supremely tactile, sensual style and his taste for exoticism are captivatingly on display in Stealing Beauty, even if the film's philosophizing sometimes lacks the intellectual heft of a cotton puff.

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  • 75

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly

    Can Tyler act? Impossible to say. Bertolucci's neatest trick is to have constructed the movie around Tyler's gawky unself-consciousness.

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  • 80

    out of 100

    Variety David Rooney

    A model of poise and restraint, the film flows in a way that is deliberately undramatic, but made no less involving by the dreamy gentleness of its approach.

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  • 88

    out of 100

    USA Today Mike Clark

    Filmmakers of Bernardo Bertolucci's magnitude don't often take on sexual coming-of-age movies, but judging from the pleasures of Stealing Beauty, maybe more of them should. [14 Jun 1996 Pg.04.D]

  • See all Stealing Beauty reviews at Metacritic.com

For Families provided by Common Sense Media

OK for kids 16+

Meditation on sex, life, death; older teens only.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that on the most superficial level, the movie's plot revolves a girl losing her virginity. Lots of sex is shown on screen (without nudity), and there's a skinny dipping scene. Characters drink and smoke marijuana and cigarettes. For families who are comfortable discussing sex and relationships, this moving can be a good one to watch with teen girls who are on the cusp of sexual freedom, since it begs the question of what attracts people to each other.

  • Families can talk about the way that some people use sex to gain affection or power. Families can also talk about the importance that has traditionally been attached to virginity, and about how losing that virginity changes a person's life. Why is Lucy so adament about losing her virginity? A discussion of sexual morality might definitely be in order, as might one about the ways that drugs and alcohol can lower inhibitions and make a person behave badly whilst under the influence. How is this reflected in the film?

The good stuff
  • message true0

    Messages: Some characters are callous, others, clueless. Honest look at human foibles.

What to watch for
  • violence false0

    Violence: Not an issue

  • sex false5

    Sex: Losing virginity is the theme of the movie, explicit sex shown

  • language false3

    Language: Some cursing.

  • consumerism false0

    Consumerism: Not an issue

  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3

    Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drinking, smoking marijuana on several occasions. Characters also constantly smoke cigarettes.

Fan Reviews provided by

4

by SaraMac123

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