Product Description

Best Actor OscarÂ(r) winner* Nicolas Cage and Best Actress nominee* Elisabeth Shue set the screen ablaze in this profoundly moving love story. Nominated* for two additional Academy AwardsÂ(r)Director and Adapted Screenplaythis emotionally charged powerhouse of a film graced over 100 10 Best Lists including Roger Ebert's #1 Movie of the Year. Ben Sanderson (Cage) is a career alcoholic who has hit rock bottom. Trashing all personal and professional ties to his L.A. existence, he sets off for the lights of Vegas on a mission: to drink himself to death. There he meets Sera (Shue), a beautiful, seen-it-all hooker. From the moment Ben and Sera connect, they form a unique bond based upon unconditional acceptance and mutual respect that will change each of themforever. In the words of David Thompson of Los Angeles Magazine, Leaving Las Vegas is a masterpiece. *1995

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8788 in DVD
• Brand: CAGE,NICHOLAS
• Released on: 2000-01-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.com
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 1995, this wrenchingly sad but extraordinarily moving drama provides an authentic, superbly acted portrait of two people whose lives intersect just as they've reached their lowest depths of despair. Ben (Nicolas Cage, in an Oscar-winning performance) is a former movie executive who's lost his wife and family in a sea of alcoholic self-destruction. He's come to Las Vegas literally to drink himself to death, and that's when he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a prostitute who falls in love with him--and he with her--despite their mutual dead-end existence. They accept each other as they are, with no attempts by one to change the other, and this unconditional love turns Leaving Las Vegas into a somber yet quietly beautiful love story. Earning Oscar nominations for Best Director (Mike Figgis), Best Adapted Screenplay (Figgis, from John O'Brien's novel) and Best Actress (Shue), the film may strike some as relentlessly bleak and glacially paced, but attentive viewers will readily discover the richness of these tragic characters and the exceptional performances that bring them to life. (In a sad echo of his own fiction, novelist John O'Brien committed suicide while this film was in production.) The DVD features uncut, unrated footage that was not included in the film's theatrical release. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
In Mike Figgis's startlingly beautiful new movie, Nicolas Cage gives a great performance as a failed writer who is consciously drinking himself to death. Cage captures the character's fearsomely undirected vitality-the muddled will that gives this drunk both the strength to die and the perverse ability to enjoy what's killing him. Figgis tells the story as a series of vivid, intense moments: snapshots of a man for whom neither the past nor the future has any meaning. The sole trace of conventional drama is the hero's affair with a kindhearted young hooker (superbly played by Elisabeth Shue). But the possibility that love will rescue him from his fate vanishes quickly, like a mirage. Although the movie is terribly, crushingly sad, its honesty is invigorating: it names its poison and downs it, neat. Also with Julian Sands. Figgis's screenplay is based on a 1990 novel by John O'Brien, who committed suicide last year at the age of thirty-three. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Leaving Las Vegas
This is a film that is not afraid to deal with despair in the extreme. Nicolas Cage plays Ben, a movie executive who for some reason has lost his family and turns to drink, or, at least that's what he thinks. Early in the film he reveals that he's been drinking so excessively for so long that he can't remember if he drank so much that he lost his family or he lost his family so he started drinking. At the advanced stage of despair Ben is in, it doesn't matter. He is suffering so much he has decided to go to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. He crosses paths with a hooker named Sera, Elisabeth Shue, who instantly feels a bond with him. Why, she can't explain to herself, even though she realizes it IS real. It's important that he simply "crosses paths" with a hooker, because his mind is solely on drinking. It isn't until he literally runs into her that the thought crosses his mind that mindless sex could be an enjoyable idea. But Sera feels such a spark with Ben that she realizes he's not just another `john' but a decent guy who must be in terrible pain. She identifies with him so much because she shares the same type of despair Ben does, and realizes the opportunity to save her own soul by trying to save his, as his "angel," as he constantly refers to her. Trouble is though, that even after he finds his angel, he keeps drinking.

In one of the most revealing scenes, the two of them are poolside at a cheap motel and Ben is, naturally, oblivious to her presence because of his soaked mindset. She really wants him to ravish her, so she takes his bottle of booze and pours it over her breasts until, finally, he does. This scene may sound tawdry or corny, but because the two actors have successfully shown up to this point just how much of a bond their characters have, the fact that booze is used as an aphrodisiac here is a major triumph for both of them. They have reached each other halfway.

It's been a long time since I've seen two actors portray what real love and understanding looks like on screen. There is something so tangible in this film it almost feels voyeuristic. These characters love each other in such a way that since the hooker's job is, obviously, to have sex with other men, the element of "cheating" is moot for her, but when she comes home one night to find that HE has been cheating, suddenly your mind freezes up and you don't know what to think until you remember that outside of quickie oral sex you notice that they've never made love even though they are so obviously and operatically IN love. Wow.

In Leaving Las Vegas two of the most down and out characters forge the unlikeliest of bonds and for a fleeting moment experience true love in spite of the money changing hands, money which magically becomes superfluous as their guards are let down to reveal an empathetic passion so real it keeps ascending and swelling, going for a gigantic crescendo. You'll notice that at the beginning of this film you hear blues which slides easily into jazz, and by the end of the film it has transformed into opera. So the range of emotions director Mike Figgis is dealing with on his palette go from despair to sentimentality to operatic overdrive. Opera goes for big emotions and follows them straight through the end. So does this film. It doesn't compromise. It must have been hard to get a film like this made without somebody trying to soften the story or, God forbid, add a different ending. You can imagine some Hollywood producer saying that at the end they should traipse off arm in arm to the Betty Ford Clinic so everything will be all right. But because the budget of the film was what it was, not too many people had the right to dabble with the script.

This script is so good, based on the novel by John O'Brien (who committed suicide just before production on the film began) that at various times on the soundtrack when it fades out for effect you don't need to hear the words that are being said to know what's going on. I would say the only real flaw this film has is that Sera's pimp gets squeezed out of the picture in a pretty clunky way, and when he does you realize that outside of the obligatory battering about he gives her, the two characters have nothing in common. In fact even though Sera is, underneath it all, a vulnerable character, the amount of strength she has would really warrant her being a call girl rather than a hooker. But I'm nit-picking. For all you aspiring filmmakers out there, take a look at this film as a demonstration of how you can make a masterpiece with not much more than two incredible actors. Shot in Super 16mm (one quarter the cost of a 35mm film), the graininess of the image is able to evoke the bittersweet seediness of the situation and the locale, so when you do see the love that these characters share it is that much more tangible and real.

A Tragic Masterpiece from Start to Finish
"Leaving Las Vegas" is a dark and tragic film that shows you how low you can fall and just how bad things can get. It portrays a dead-on picture of alcoholism and what exactly one goes through when they've hit rock bottom. As tragic as it is, this is a very beautiful and well-done film that keeps your attention to the bitter end.

Ben Sanderson (Nicholas Cage) is an alcoholic who has nothing left to live for but the very booze that seems to be the only happiness he can find. His friends want nothing to do with him and women are disgusted by him. After being let go from his job, Ben burns all of his possessions and moves to Las Vegas, where his only plan is to drink himself to death. In a short amount of time he meets Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a lonely hooker who has been through it all. An unexpected bond is formed between the two and love falls upon them that can only end in tragedy.

Boy, was this a hard movie to watch, but it was so well-done and executed. You are able to sympathize with both Ben and Sera, despite the paths they have chosen. Nicholas Cage was amazing and brilliant. No wonder why he won an Academy Award for his performance. You really buy into the fact that he is this sad character who wants nothing more but to destroy himself by the only thing that can bring him some sense of false happiness. Shue is also terrific in her role and should be applauded as well. The two are explosive as a team and can really bring the house down.

The DVD is fair; nothing too special. You can have your choice of either watching the movie in widescreen or full screen. The picture for the most part looks good; not the best, but good. The main special feature this DVD offers is a trailer for the film and a bonus secret page. It would be nice if they decided to re-release this in a more superior version.

"Leaving Las Vegas" is drama at its best. It's heartbreaking, but at the same time is satisfying. It's emotionally charged from start to finish. The writing is poetic, the acting is electric, and the directing is fantastic. Be warned, this is not a "feel-good" movie. It's a portrait of harsh reality and it doesn't go easy on you for a second. If you want a powerhouse drama that will keep you emotionally involved, this is the one for you. A terrific and amazing film on every front.

A Lump of Gloom
Watching `Leaving Las Vegas' can be an experience that takes a gloomy sadness to the interiors of your existence and keeps you immersed in it. As human beings, we consistently put the highest premium on our being alive. Experiencing the intensity of a despondent Nicolas Cage committed to taking his life by drinking himself to death, can trigger off a question as to what can prepare someone for such an act of self-destruction. Intriguingly enough we get no clear answers though there is a clear hint as to it might have been a profound sense of loss or failure.

Singular focus on the moribund obsessions of Cage would be gross injustice to the incredibly touching love and empathy that he shares with the lead female protagonist - Elisabeth Shue - who plays a hooker's role with levels of dexterity rarely attained. There is a very deep understanding and mutual acceptance between the two lead characters that is in many ways the true highlight of this movie. Interestingly, we see no reasons for this to exist but such is the articulacy of characterization that not even for a second does one find this profound relationship unrealistic.

'Leaving Las Vegas' is an iconoclastic love story whose control over the audience is fascinating. Such is the brilliance of the performances that you feel a lump in your heart by the end of the movie - and this lump transcends into the depths of your being - to stay there and to remind you that unconditional love exists and so does the capability to invite your own death to walk up to you - gradually and consistently. 'Leaving Las Vegas' is a movie that would haunt you for its portrayal of love intertwined with morbid realities of life.