Damage (1992)

Harrowing movie, Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons have great chemistry. It’s a very ‘arty’ film . But it leaves you feeling queasy when you realize the consequences. Good show!

Jeremy Irons is a happily married (to Miranda Richardson) British government minister who meets his usually quite rakish son's (Rupert Graves) latest girlfriend (Juliette Binoche). The two click immediately - and soon they are doing a lot more than just clicking. That's about it - they carry out their clandestine liaison with all it's concomitant risks and thrills before an ending that I really thought underwhelming. This is one of the frequently wooden Irons' better efforts, Graves still has his "Scudder" hair from "Maurice" (1987) and Binoche works well as the femme fatale, but somehow the story just plods along. It looks good, but the pace is all just to procedural and aside from the pitiable, and under-used, Richardson, the remaining characters engender little that is likeable or personable. Even the (infrequent) sex scenes lack intimacy or intensity; it's all just a little bit A+B=C, for me.