Damage (1992) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the film, Damage.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe. New content dropping every week.   For Exclusive Content:  https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation   Rumble:  https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee:  https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e   Daily Motion:  https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation   Help Support Me At:  https://www.PayPal.me/beaucarter91

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00:00hey guys it's review time here on the film scene investigation channel thank you for checking out

00:20this video in today's review i'm going to be taking a look at the 1992 erotic drama

00:29damage this is a movie that i only recently came across through a conversation on x and yeah i

00:40checked out the trailer i saw the ensemble cast read the synopsis and yeah i was pretty intrigued

00:48so i decided to check it out just before we get into the review guys as always if you haven't

00:56already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated

01:03so damage from december 1992 was directed by the french filmmaker louis mal and was based on the

01:15novel by josephine hart now this certainly was a movie that had or commanded a high budget

01:25believe in and around about 30 million dollars it took to produce and while certainly it can't be

01:34denied that this is a very good looking film i still thought that um 30 million for an erotic drama

01:43seemed uh pretty high narrative wise the movie centered on the british member of parliament

01:51dr stephen fleming who was played by actor jeremy irons a man who was celebrated among his peers for his

02:02peacekeeping abilities fleming was well educated and came from a very wealthy background also he shared a

02:12very big house in london with his family and uh yeah overall it seemed like this idyllic life while his

02:21life seemed to be running fairly smoothly one day his son martin appeared with his girlfriend anna who was

02:29played by actress juliette bonos as soon as fleming laid eyes on anna he immediately became attracted to her

02:40i mean it was pretty obvious but he still obviously tried to hide the fact it was um pretty awkward

02:48obviously with anna dating his son so of course you know anna was out of bounds but that seemed to only

03:00entice fleming even more to make things more complicated anna also found fleming very attractive

03:09she saw his high status as a member of parliament and uh yeah you know she was attracted to him

03:17so eventually they ended up meeting in secret very quickly these two ended up starting this

03:26sordid affair behind closed doors with both martin the son and ingrid stephen's wife

03:34none the wiser as the days and weeks passed it was pretty obvious that fleming became infatuated with

03:45anna i mean suddenly he wanted to be with her all the time and uh i don't know i guess you could um

03:52call it uh an obsession of sorts seeing anna infrequently well that was fine to begin with

04:01but as fleming's feelings grew deeper he wanted more and was ready to give up everything for anna

04:10as for her she was a little bit more reluctant i mean she was quite happy to carry on this

04:19sordid affair but was also happy to remain with martin anna was quite happy to you know go between the

04:32son and the father i mean she didn't care she she was happy with this setup and uh wanted no change

04:40while fleming initially agreed with what anna wanted you know to carry on in secret and not make

04:48things public obviously it was very difficult for fleming to cope you know seeing his son with the

04:57woman that he loved as i said it was an obsession he was truly infatuated with her and well his

05:07behavior only got worse once martin and anna announced their engagement suddenly the woman that

05:16he wanted so much was gonna go off you know into the sunset with his son this you know deeply affected

05:24fleming who could just basically stand there and you know pretend to be happy for the couple

05:31so damage was a film that explored many different themes and one that really stuck out to me

05:42was the movie's messaging surrounding a trauma you had the anna character

05:48basically suffering from this mental crisis with you know this inner turmoil all thanks to her

05:57upbringing and having this traumatic moment seeing her brother kill himself that devastation that she

06:05suffered at a young age i mean she never she never really got over that that was pretty clear and that

06:12kind of manifested itself into this adult woman seeking out these dangerous situations even though

06:23she was happy to cheat lie and carry on with this affair ultimately the movie tries to

06:33not necessarily villainize the anna character the trauma that she suffered at a young age

06:41that that shaped her mindset going forward it is true that experiencing mental distress at a young age

06:52can possibly hinder people's emotional development later in life so you know we read about that we know that

07:02and seeing that implemented into the narrative was pretty intriguing and putting that all to one side

07:11the criticism then shifted onto fleming as the film portrayed him as a scummy political figure

07:22the movie did paint a very bleak picture of political figures showing them as liars cheaters

07:33and people that are completely devoid of any moral compass as for me i found the representation to be a pretty

07:45honest one all things considered i mean time and time again we have seen various political figures over the years

07:54entrenched in scandal i mean just you know name and name i mean okay so the uk tony blair um david cameron

08:05you know how many more uh boris johnson you know so many scandals around these people or even

08:13we look at america i mean you could say nancy pelosi or chuck schumer um donald trump or even europe

08:22you know macron you know he's he's hated in france so yeah it's they're all making back-end deals to

08:30service one another you know it's a big group and you and me we're never going to be a part of it

08:38and that was very interesting you know the film didn't shy away from showing that and with fleming

08:45being a member of parliament being this politician we then saw some interesting power dynamics come into play

08:55with this secret love affair on the outside fleming was a man to be respected you know he

09:05was a very commanding man you know a man of high status but when it came to the relationship with

09:14anna she was very much the dominant one with fleming he was so infatuated i mean he really

09:23wanted to be with anna at all times he emotionally surrendered to her and that that was what was

09:31interesting because obviously he was this man to be respected and seen as a strong man when ultimately

09:41behind closed doors he was weak to temptation as for the technical side of things the cinematography

09:50and set design was fantastic there could be no denying that this was a very good looking film

09:57with all the classy decor and aesthetic from fleming's house to the country manor

10:05it was a whole world of wealth and excess and clearly the filmmakers had put a lot of effort

10:14into you know creating that and putting that on screen there was also some really lovely establishing

10:21shots of the central london streets perfectly lit and um yeah it just kind of reminded me of

10:30the old london that i used to know yes the buildings are still there but a lot has changed in the 30 plus

10:41years that this movie was made and um i mean yeah london isn't the same anymore the demographic has changed

10:50it's become worse and like you know i'm saying this from experience back then london looked a lot more

10:58sophisticated it had a lot more character than it has now you know it's a lot more tacky and you know

11:07vape shops and just you know uber bicycles and whatever it's just um a real shame to you know see how

11:17it's turned out when it comes to the acting jeremy irons was brilliant playing dr stephen fleming the

11:25british politician who tried to you know convey that he was this ideal family man while starting this

11:34secret love affair with a younger woman i thought that jeremy irons was quite captivating to watch on

11:41screen as his character tried to juggle his you know work his personal issues his family and also

11:50his secret love affair irons was perfectly cast in this role and i think not just from how he looked

12:00because he certainly looked the part with his sleek designer suits but i think it was also that he

12:06carried this kind of um pompous superiority when he was hanging out with his friends in westminster

12:15you know i've always been a fan of jeremy irons ever since i saw him in die hard with a vengeance

12:23classic film and uh yeah so you know going into this i expected to see some high quality acting you

12:33know great performance and jeremy irons certainly lived up to my expectations the talented juliette bonos

12:42portrayed anna the seductive femme fatale who entered fleming's life and completely tore it apart

12:53knowing that she was emotionally unstable it was interesting to see anna blend her genuine affection

13:01for fleming with this subconscious self-destruction with anna witnessing her younger brother you know

13:11take his own life obviously that was a traumatic event but giving that backstory to the audience

13:20it gave us a better understanding of who this person actually was while the character retained her mystique

13:28adding this backstory definitely added some weight to the relationship between fleming and anna

13:38i also thought that the chemistry between both irons and bonos was really really strong and it certainly

13:48elevated the overall story some of the more nuanced subtleties were conveyed by these two

13:58higher quality actors and um yeah i think it might not have necessarily worked if you know you would cast

14:08maybe some lesser talented actors i've said this before but when it comes to dramas especially kind of

14:18love romance erotic films like that it's um it's imperative that the casting agents

14:27cast cast the right actors that can pull off you know that can maintain and carry a movie when all the

14:37focus is on them and uh well the casting agents certainly did it with this movie damage i also want to bring up

14:46miranda richardson the actress who played ingrid fleming steven's wife who was none the wiser had no idea

14:55about this secret love affair that her husband was having seeing what her character had to endure

15:03yeah it was um it was hard not to feel sympathy for her i mean did she deserve that no and um

15:14yeah i mean i think especially if you're watching this film and you've kind of gone for you you've been

15:21cheated on you know kind of thing um it's it's easy to relate to her pain the actress would go on to

15:31receive an oscar nomination for this role and certainly from you know what i saw it definitely

15:39was an award-worthy performance i think especially towards the end of the film when everything had

15:48finally come out everything had been revealed yeah just the um agony and pain that ingrid was suffering

15:57you know you really felt that you really did and um just overall a very powerful performance from

16:06richardson just before we get to dislikes i also want to quickly mention the score that was composed

16:12by zignef preisner this was a very orchestral type score that suited the high class world that was created

16:24by the filmmakers there was lots of classical instrumentation lots of pianos and violins

16:34yeah it really suited the visuals that we saw on screen it blended very well the only thing i would say is

16:42um by itself as a standalone it wouldn't be a score that uh i would sit down and listen to

16:51and so dislikes for damage from december 1992 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be

17:02the sex scenes and their overall length as for me they just seemed way too long now i will say

17:11that the various sex scenes that we saw throughout the film they were executed very well you know they

17:19were shot very stylishly and yeah i i can't fault the filmmakers for that but the actual length

17:27it just dragged on and uh i felt it was kind of unnecessary now obviously this was all down to

17:38heighten the titillation for the audience and uh yeah i mean especially some of the wider shots

17:44that we saw of both jeremy irons and juliet bonos rolling around on the floor i just think

17:53you know 20 seconds of that is more than acceptable rather than something that's a minute and a half

18:02two minutes long it's like yes we get it these guys are in love you know it's like um yeah it just

18:11didn't need to be but you know what i'm gonna say this i think my dislike also is reflective of me

18:20at my age i don't know you know for me i don't really see much benefit in watching two actors simulate sex

18:32for several minutes you know if i wanted to see that then i can see the real thing very quickly you

18:40know just a few clicks on my laptop you know so and i think i'm bringing that up because i think

18:48obviously taking into account that the internet was in its infancy back in the early 90s there was no

18:57social media and to be you know very uh you know frank here porn was not readily available to an

19:08audience a general audience so seeing a movie like damage and seeing all of the you know lingering sex

19:16scenes and all the nudity obviously a wider audience would be you know i guess into that

19:23because they don't really get to see that unlike now where sex is just everywhere if you want to

19:31you know go and search for that stuff in the early 90s audiences were you know clamoring for erotic

19:39thrillers and that's obviously why we saw such a boom you know boom period during that time

19:43but obviously things change technology advances and looking back things like these you know sex scenes

19:53just um yeah just seem a little bit uh unnecessary another dislike i wanted to mention was the

20:03random censorship that i saw on my version of this film so to give you the context towards the end of the

20:13the movie steven fleming and anna they were caught having sex by martin and then he randomly fell

20:22backwards uh down a staircase and was dead it was such a kind of crazy dramatic moment certainly i didn't

20:31expect uh to see martin fall down like he did and of course as soon as that happened you had fleming

20:38run out of the room completely naked to see you know what happened now when it comes to the censorship

20:45there were two wide shots of jeremy irons completely naked and both these shots were partially blurred

20:53as you can see on the screen that isn't something that i have blurred that's the screen capture

20:58from the version of the film i was watching now i should point out that the version that i was watching

21:04was completely uncut it was a restored hd version and there was swearing there was nudity

21:14so yeah there was nothing else that was censored besides these two wide shots of jeremy irons

21:21i'm not one to be clamoring to see jeremy irons's penis

21:28no um but i have to say that it was the execution of the censorship you know just the random blurring

21:37um specifically on his genitalia that completely took me out of the moment

21:44you know i was distracted and where i should be focusing on the dramatic moments of martin's death

21:52i was like hang on a second who edited this you know what it was obviously something that i wasn't

22:01expecting you know um considering that i'd been watching juliet bonos you know naked for the past

22:10hour and a half it just didn't make sense to me and then of course as the character you know

22:18fleming is running down the stairs to check on his son i in my head i'm just like who did this

22:24editing who made this decision like why who what what's going on here and yeah so that whole moment

22:32was uh was kind of ruined for me now i don't know what the big deal was i mean yeah i'm assuming back

22:40in the day when this movie was released in 1992 um and then to a wider audience in 1993 i'm sure that

22:49moment remained uncut there was no blurring there so i don't know what happened since then if jeremy

22:56irons has you know demanded that nobody see his penis anymore okay but um yeah i just didn't like

23:04the execution of the censorship yeah i don't understand why if it was such a big issue for

23:12this you know restored hd digital release um why was it just not removed and so ratings for damage

23:24from 1992 i'm going to be rating this movie a strong 6.5 out of 10 damage from 1992

23:34wasn't just this compelling erotic thriller but it was more so this character driven drama that

23:43explored human obsession and sexually repressed desires one of the movie's key highlights are the

23:53strong performances from the ensemble cast i thought miranda richardson she was pretty mesmerizing

24:00as so was the chemistry between jeremy irons and juliet the nurse as for the director lewis mal i um

24:11wasn't too aware of him really to be honest with you up until watching this film i've since gone on to

24:17his filmography and uh yeah he's done some interesting work in his career so i'll definitely

24:24be uh checking out more of his material going forward if you've seen damage then please let me know

24:32your thoughts and memories in the comment section below for all those out there who have not seen this

24:39one yet it is a strong recommendation from me especially if you are into 90s erotic drama thriller

24:48type movies damage is one of the more better made erotic thruers from the 90s period and well

24:59that is all from me today guys i do hope you've enjoyed this review of damage from 1992 i will be back

25:07of course next week with yet another cult movie review don't forget guys if you haven't ready please do

25:15consider subscribing it does mean a lot and of course take care

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