An erotic thriller starring Hugh Grant? Yes, indeed. Bitter Moon, directed by Roman Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist), was laughed at and ridiculed when it was first released to audiences in 1992 - it was famously booed at Cannes, just to make matters worse, and written off as an embarrassment. And whilst there are questionable elements inherent to the flick, it's also well worth a watch (or two, or three...). The story concerns a British couple - played by Hugh Grant and Kristen Scott Thomas - who travel to India on a cruise ship in order to bring some passion back to their ailing marriage, and end up meeting another, more sexually-liberated couple in the form of Peter Coyote and Emmanuelle Seigner (Polanski's wife), who recount stories about their adventures together. The film's tone is undeniably odd, but it works as a sort of twisted version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, sort of goofy and sexy in equal measure - a combination that rarely works.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.