Don't Move

REVIEW
Director Sergio Castellitto gives himself a plumb but risky role as a rather brutal doctor who cheats on his wife with Penelope Cruz. The disturbing tone of this dark romance is established quickly as their first date is a rape, leading to a lot of sex in the picture...and it is all violent. There's an uncomfortably misogynist pall over the entire picture, especially as Cruz finds herself falling for him. Perhaps the novel was able to get at the meat of her character, but nothing on-screen explains her behavior. That's not Cruz's fault though, as her performance is brave and searing; her character has been around the block (and probably run over by a truck), and Cruz uglies her up, right down to the false teeth, though there's no hiding her gorgeous body. The film is beautifully shot, and jumps around in chronology, but that feels more like an attempt at "importance" than out of any necessity — it's easy to see where this movie is going, and quite unpleasant to get there.