Eye of the Beholder Reviews

Directed by Stephen Elliott, Destination Films, 1999, Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, Patrick Bergin, k.d. Lang and Genevieve Bujold.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller.

Question: Can a man fall in love with a woman that he's never met, spoken to or doesn't even know her real name? Well, in the Eye of the Beholder, they try and answer that question.

A friend who knows I adore Ewan McGregor told me about this movie. I hadn't heard of it before and was curious to see it. Alright, I see everything he is in, you all know that by now, right? Anyway, I put it on my Netflix queue a few weeks ago and it arrived on Tuesday. I didn't get a chance to see it that night - although I really, really wanted to. So today before I had to pick up the kids from camp I popped it in.

This is a story about redemption, a thriller, and a love story but not necessarily in that order. Yes, I know what it says above but this is what I saw in this film (Eye of the Beholder, people). I saw a man and a woman who are both so alone, scared and with thoughts of such tremendous loss that they might be a little insane. Okay, one might be more insane than the other. But as the story unfolds I don't think either are really crazy - just lonely and trying to gain some stability in their lives.

When people see themselves in someone else who has experienced similar tragedies/heartaches/loss it can be a very powerful attraction. Is that love? Perhaps. Or is it something else completely? And can it have a happy ending? Well, I am not going to answer that - you'll just have to see for yourself.

I really don't want to give anything away about this movie because it was lovely to see a film that I knew nothing about. But I have to entice you guys, right? Ewan looks cute, of course, and Ashley Judd is quite attractive but what impressed me the most were their performances. How does one portray such sadness, desperation to find something secure or recapture what they lost especially when there isn't a tremendous amount of dialogue? Well, both of the actors did - and did it quite well.

Another reason to see this film is that it is untainted with a typical Hollywood ending. That alone would make me see any movie.

Lastly, to me, Eye of the Beholder said something about real life - not so much what the characters said but they way they behaved. Behavior is thought to be a reaction of or to something. In acting reaction is the essence of the medium but can be written totally out of whack of real life. They say: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And for the two characters, played by Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd, the force between them, even though they hardly shared many moments together, evoked that law of physics stunningly.

There was one song that played when they first met, so to speak, that gave me goosebumps - It is sung by Chrissie Hynde. "I Wish You Love" - and that pretty much sums it all up for me. Here is the song and a really, really good way to do a trailer!




Favorite thing: Don't be shocked by this - Ashley Judd. Yes, I still thought he was good!

My least favorite thing: In some scenes the costumes for the extras looked like it was supposed to be 1972 not present day.

Rating: R
Length: 109 minutes

Review: 8 out of 10

Curious tale, a cross-country Rear Window if you can imagine that, about a surveillance agent who obsesses about a woman he's tailing. It's s weird but also somehow mesmerizing.

Superb... dark and disturbing... beautiful and entertaining... chilling, emotional and thrill-packed between Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd on their journeys around USA. Stephen Elliott's considerable skills as a filmmaker ensuring that this very classy thriller is not only exciting visually but also bold and original.

Boring. The only thing that redeeming about it was some of the clever camera work otherwise I would have given it a zero. I think it was trying to be too many things at once. It was horribly slow and I had to start doing something else just to stay awake. It was made in 2000 but it plays like some trashy 90s film, it looks a lot older than it is.

Did anyone like this movie? I doubt it, was recommended to me by a friend who must have been dropped on his head as a child.

Interestingly great.

Tries hard but it's going nowhere. The Lives Of Others did it so much better.

There is much more than meets the eye with this one, I suspect. A complex psychological thriller as sheltered surveillance agent McGregor grows obsessed with troubled serial killer Judd - about the one thing I can safely say is that this is not a story you've already seen a dozen times before! I can feel myself wanting to like this because the pieces are there - mystery, suspense, voyeurism, intriguing performances, inventive editing & camerawork. However it's just so damn perplexing, I've seen this three times and I still don't understand what it's all about! Apparently the studio execs had a hand in butchering the director's vision which exists somewhere on DVD. I have to give this a passing grade of three stars simply because of the amount of time it has played with my brain instead of being instantly forgettable, such a rare level of engrossment has to be worth something.

A shitty movie with no imagination and nothing interesting to offer.

Fine material gone bad.Look at Hollywood's shadow.The guy who gave us the parade of Priscilla is drenched on another subject,clever as a thought concerning the sympathy of a "watcher" to his victim,yet attention to detail is such a minor element,so what do we get?Mediocre film with some well-orchestrated cine-tricks.

Really slow-moving and not very many exciting parts. I didn't even think the acting was good.

A stylish and under rated film.

I had much higher hopes for this film; the previews looked very intriguing and Ewan McGregor and Judd in the cast only made it more enticing. The professional spy falling in love with a serial killing woman had potential, but unfortunately had a bad execution. I felt that the main characterâ(TM)s obsessive guardian motives were not well formed, in the least. The delusions of his child speaking to him did not work. The serial killer and her psyche is oversimplified and felt contrived. The ending was actually pretty good but does not make up for the rest of the movie. Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd are not responsible for the blame. They had bad characters, the pace was too slow, and the story was too sloppy.

Probably one of the strangest movies to debut at the top of the box office- the movie is almost too bizarre to not maintain your interest. Judd and McGregor are game, but it's really up to the viewer to decide if they are up for something that doesn't really lead anywhere. Worth a watch if you're up for experimental, if not always successful movie making.

This was a really boring movie. I'm an Ashley Judd fan and I hate to say that this movie had no sort of excitement whatsoever. Very boring film.

Read the "plot" by putting your cursor over the "poster" picture. It helps understand what's going on. One star for Ewan McGregor British Intelligence Agent- excellent; one star for Ashley Judd black widow murderess- also amazing. If you miss the line when the daughter tells McGregor to pity Judd, you'll be lost for the rest of the movie.

Worst movie I have ever seen. Every single time i see a dvd of this I have strong urges to shit on it and put it back on the shelf for the unsuspecting idiot-tard that picks it up to buy it next. I dont care if they were just looking at the box or trying to look at Ashley Judd's ass or whatever. For simply picking this DVD up off the shelf, you deserve to get my feces on your hands. And whoever's quote that is on the front of the DVD that says "Stunning...Ashley Judd is mesmerizing", should be given enemas until they shit out their most important internal organs. Fuck that person and fuck this movie. FUCK

PS
The flixster plot synopsis for this movie is especially retarded as well. I guess it fits that a sickeningly horrible movie as an equally as bad plot synopsis.

Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd do a remarkable job. That's about the only good thing I can say about this movie. No surprises, awful ending, and below average plot.

Strange. A person that gets paid to follow people soon becomes infactuated with his target. He has already lost it seeing his daughter in places where she isn't. This is a very quiet movie and it was very hard to hear in places. You know one of those movies when the music is loud but the talking is quiet. Movie ends without any closure!! Ending was not to my liking AT ALL!

Very interesting movie. It's different than any other movie I've ever seen about serial killings. It has a twist to it. It's good in spite of itself.