Eros poster & wallpaper

Alan Arkin, Cecilia Luci, Chen Chang

This is a three-part anthology film about love and sexuality: a ménage-a-trois between a couple and a young woman on the coast of Tuscany; an advertising executive under enormous pressure at work, who...( read more  read more... ), 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.

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48% liked it

5,071 ratings

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35% liked it

66 critics

R, 1 hr. 48 min.

Directed by: Kar Wai Wong, Michelangelo Antonioni, Steven Soderbergh

Release Date: December 31, 2004

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DVD Release Date: February 7, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (321)

  • EarthlyAlien
    March 13, 2008
    EarthlyAlien
    NOTE: THIS IS A REVIEW OF WONG KAR-WAI's SEGMENT, "THE HAND" (I HAVEN'T SEEN THE OTHER TWO BY ANTONIONI AND SODERBERGH).

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    This little 40-minute short, The Hand, is a magnificent Wong Kar-wai piece. Wong sets it in the Hong Kong of the 1960s that he mined so well in In the Mood for Love and 2046, with that same romantic sense of a time long gone and the passing of time. The story is the one of a tailor's apprentice named Zhang (a barely recognizable Chen Chang, whose look here echoes Tony Leung's in 2046) assigned to custom-make clothes for renowned Hong Kong courtesan Miss Hua (the diva Gong Li).

    In their first meeting, Miss Hua uses her hand on Zhang, pleasing him sexually and telling him he must know a woman's touch to make truly beautiful women's clothes. She becomes his muse and the great love of his life. Something passes between them every time he measures her for a new outfit. He becomes her protector, be it from eviction or the onslaught of age. Even when they finally kiss, illness prevents it from actually being on the lips - her hand remains the focus of their desire.

    Already working with familiar material (peeling old Hong Kong apartments, buttoned-down dandies, tragic femmes), Wong risks self-parody as Zhang pines stoically and Hua spirals downward in classic Wong fashion, but the time constraint keeps him from the sprawl that diluted 2046. The result, while not as masterful, is something like Wong demi-glace: condensed, rich, sensual, provocative, almost overpowering.

    With the precious help of Christopher Doyle's heavenly cinematography, Wong is able to create an atmosphere of charged eroticism in the seemingly paradoxical and counter-intuitive act of dressing a woman. Separating the essence of the innate intimacy in their unspoken ritual, Wong retains the imbued sensuality of In the Mood for Love and 2046 to create an equally understated and voluptuous tale of transfigured desire. A must-see for any Wong Kar-wai worshipper.
  • susanriley
    October 13, 2007
    susanriley
    Expected something a bit different. The Antonioni film was a bit convoluted, wasn't really sure what he was going for. I really like Soderbergh's film, acting was great, cinemtography, and I didn't mind that the plot wasn't completely clear. Kar-Wai was again very beautiful and h...( read more)aunting, but very much in his usual style - doesn't really move outside the box.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    September 16, 2007
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    The only thing that brings the film down is Antonioni's very weak segment.
  • Drewbacca
    June 21, 2006
    Drewbacca
    Three stories by three visionary directors of different national origin. Wong Kar-Wai gives a heartbreaking story from Asia starring Gong Li. Steven Soderbergh's tale is film noir in almost a comedic style with Robert Downey Jr at the helm. And Maichelangelo Antonioni's story ...( read more)is basically soft core porn shot in beautiful locations. I give the first 3.5 stars, the second 4 stars and the last, 1.5 stars. Hence, I arrive at the final verdict of 3.5 stars total. Enjoy.
  • RashHunt
    June 20, 2006
    RashHunt
    Ambitious and spilling with talent - this is one of those dissapointments you don't actually think you'll run into. Soden Bergh and Kar-Wai are equally game, but Antonioni's depiction of a raunchy romance is so skewed that the others lose ground and stumble just as well.

    Bea...( read more)utiful filming and great casts elevate beyond the dissapointment though and make it earnestly watchable.
  • MisterTuttle
    October 3, 2009
    MisterTuttle
    The first one is called 'The Hand' which is about a tailor who designs clothes for a prostitute played by Li Gong. This segment is the most erotic of the three, particularly when the prostitute gives something to the tailor to remember her by. The second one is called Equilibrium...( read more) and stars Downey Jr. and Alan Arkin. Downey talks to his psychiatrist played by Arkin about a dream he keeps having, but Arkin can't pay attention to Downey's constant description of this dream since he keeps his eye more on the woman in the building across from him. This segment was funny and kind of interesting. It played like dream I might've once had. It was strange, but anyways. The third one is called The Dangerous Thread of Things and it's the most boring segment of the first two. It's about a man who is in a relationship with a woman and ends up seeing a sexy woman and decides to sleep with her. In the end that woman dances nude on the beach and that is that. Very boring segment, just to be warned. It would be best if you watched the boring segment and try to work backwards because you'll have a more satisfying experience after you view this film. Instead of saving the best for last they saved the worst sadly.
  • magnolia12883
    September 19, 2009
    magnolia12883
    Here is an omnibus film from three of our greatest living filmmakers that fails to live up to its full potential. The idea is to explore eroticism in many forms, and what we have here then is one story that is sexy but enigmatic, another story that is humorous and not really erot...( read more)ic at all, and finally, a blatant depiction of the misguided belief that nudity and sex in graphic detail equals a good time. Wong Kar-Wai, from Hong Kong, is known for his hyperkinetic, luridly stylistic portraits of romantic souls, occasionally involved in the criminal underworld ("Chungking Express"), sometimes not ("In the Mood for Love" and its follow-up "2046"). With "The Hand," Wong has created a short story that is as hot as it is perplexing. Miss Hua (Gong Li) is a prostitute who hires Zhang (Chang Chen), a tailor, to design her dresses. She's at the top of her gang, but is fading little by little. When he first meets her, he hears loud, vigorous sex through the wall of her room. He's intrigued, but shy. She engages him in a vigorous encounter he won't soon forget. Steven Soderbergh's "Equilibrium" stars Robert Downey Jr. as Nick Penrose, a neurotic ad man who has come to therapist Dr. Pearl (Alan Arkin) to report of an adulterous fantasy dream he's been having about a mysterious woman in a hotel room. The running gag is that Pearl is distracted the entire time by an unseen figure (we assume, a woman), who he clearly is attracted to and who is enflaming his own imagination. He lets Nick drone on and on about his fantastical dream, all the while trying to prolong the description from his patient so he can get a better look at the girl out the window. Finally, the legendary Michaelangelo Antonioni ("L'Avventurra," "Blow-Up") who, I hear, instigated this project, brings us "The Dangerous Thread of Things" - a title both enigmatic and fortuitous. This is a long, boring slog through a couple's relationship troubles resulting in the female partner encouraging a sexual fling with a girl the guy finds intriguing on a beach. The couple, played by Christopher Buchholz and Regina Nemni, is about as bland as a piece of blank paper against a white wall. The woman (Luisa Ranieri) is a piece of work. The film, based on a novel by Antonioni, is perplexing for one reason - how could this material inspire a short film, let along a novel? So, to sum up: Wong Kar-Wai has created a haunting and effectively erotic film that is also mysterious and beautifully shot by longtime cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Soderbergh, who wrote, directed and (pseudonymously) photographed his tale, pulls the rug out from under his own story at least one two many times. And Antonioni, a once great filmmaker, is reduced to vague recollections of what once was. See the first two stories and then subtly allow yourself to doze off...or turn it off, or walk out or something.
  • rogeriosm
    July 27, 2009
    rogeriosm
    I have only seen "The hand" and my rating goes to this segment only. The hand follows the style of the "Trilogy", much to my personal delight. Great photography and a very interesting and captivating story about love and obsession.
  • Ziroana
    July 22, 2009
    Ziroana
    only saw the soderbergh part, and it was great.
  • ancapuscasu
    May 10, 2009
    ancapuscasu
    Only Wong Kar Wai section

View All Eros Reviews

Critic Reviews

April 8, 2005
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The three films are watchable but resolutely minor works, though each has something to recommend it. full review

April 8, 2005
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

I return to Wong Kar-Wai's 'The Hand.' It stays with me. full review

April 8, 2005
Marcy Dermansky, About.com

This dull and ludicrous vanity project is likely to come and go like the wind; firsthand knowledge of "Eros" won't even be useful at dinner parties. full review

April 7, 2005
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

All in all, Eros is a mixed bag, and a mostly empty one. full review

April 2, 2005
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

An anthological example of attentive students surpassing their teacher. full review

View more Eros reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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