Summaries

Three short films, one each from Directors Michelangelo Antonioni, Steven Soderbergh, and Wong Kar Wai, address the themes of love and sex.

Three separate stories of love, desire and/or obsession are presented. "The Hand" tells of the desire that builds in the several years long largely professional relationship (his profession) between Xiao Zhang, the apprentice to tailor Mr. Jin, and Ms. Hua, a prostitute, the two who meet when he is first sent to take her measurements for a new dress. Sexually inexperienced, that meeting awakens Zhang's sexual desires. The story takes place during a phase of Ms. Hua's life when she becomes ill, making her unable to work and thus live to the style to which she is accustomed. In "Equilibrium", Nick Penrose is having his first session with Dr. Pearl, a therapist, Nick's anxiety and thus want to see a therapist probably due to a combination of starting a new project with his colleague Hal in their job as advertising executives, and a recurring dream he is having about a woman who he doesn't know but knows in the dream, that woman who is not his wife, Cecelia. These issues may be at play but not quite in the way he expects as shown after this therapy session. And in "The Dangerous Thread of Things", Christopher and Cloe are probably coming to the end of their relationship. They still seem to love each other but don't seem to be able to be with each other in always arguing. Their relationship is affected by each individually encountering Linda, the girl who lives in the tower across the way from their house.—Huggo

A three-part anthology film about love and sexuality: a menage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who, during visits to his psychiatrist, is pulled to delve into the possible reasons why his stress seems to manifest itself in a recurring erotic dream; and a story of unrequited love about a beautiful, 1960s high-end call girl in an impossible affair with her young tailor.—Sujit R. Varma

Details

Keywords
  • female nudity
  • 1950s
  • female rear nudity
  • female full frontal nudity
  • young man
Genres
  • Drama
  • Romance
Release date Dec 2, 2004
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) R
Countries of origin United States Italy United Kingdom France Luxembourg Hong Kong
Official sites Warner Bros.
Language English Mandarin Italian
Filming locations Capalbio Scalo, Capalbio, Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy
Production companies Block 2 Pictures Jet Tone Production Ipso Facto

Box office

Gross US & Canada $188392
Opening weekend US & Canada $53666
Gross worldwide $1553020

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 44m
Color Color
Sound mix DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

All Filters