Product Description

Nastassja Kinski is radiant (The New York Times) in this war-torn love story that breaks the eroticism barrier [with] an astonishing directness (L.A. Weekly). Co-starring John Savage, John Goodman, Robert Mitchum and Oscar(r) winner* Keith Carradine, Maria's Loversis a unique, compelling [and] intimate drama (L.A. Weekly). When her teenage sweetheart Ivan (Savage) returns home from WWII, Maria (Kinski) eagerly accepts his marriage proposal, looking forward to a lifetime of happiness. But her joy is short-lived when Ivan's dark past shrouds their wedding night in misery, driving a wedge between them that neither knows how to remove. Confused and depressed, Maria attempts to mend her true love's heart despite the advances of other suitors. But when a traveling musician (Carradine) hits the right note, Maria struggles to justify her unfulfillinglife. Is her passion too powerful to be contained within the sanctity of marriage? *1975: Original Song ( I m Easy ), Nashville

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35999 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-12-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.com
Splicing scenes featuring his protagonist, Ivan (John Savage, The Deer Hunter), among excerpted interviews with real soldiers from John Huston's landmark World War II documentary Let There Be Light, director Andrei Konchalovsky brilliantly sets the stage for a morally ambiguous tale of a war hero's return home to a small town. Disappointingly, the opening of Maria's Lovers promises much more than it ultimately delivers. Ivan has survived the tortures of a Japanese POW camp by continually dreaming of his childhood sweetheart Maria (Nastassja Kinski). When he returns to find her with a boyfriend and a grown-up libido, Ivan can't reconcile his guardian vision with the real Maria. Even as she declares her love for him and they hastily marry, Ivan's nightmares intervene. In short, Ivan can't perform. Minor roles for Robert Mitchum and Keith Carradine (as a ridiculous wandering minstrel who seduces Maria after Ivan flees in shame) seem wasted on a melodramatic script that often sounds as if it was poorly translated into English. The nostalgic scenery of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, (rolling fog, river ferries, careening factories) is compelling, as is Kinski (who is at her most seductive and downright breathtaking), but Konchalovsky's affection for his characters and their landscape cannot surpass his stilted vision of America. --Fionn Meade

Customer Reviews

The Best Love Story Ever
Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky's "Maria's Lovers" is definitly my favorite film. There is nothing too flashy or groundbreaking about this film, in fact it is very subtle. However, it is one of the finest love stories I've ever seen, and John Savage's performance is in my opinion the best I've ever seen. I don't think a film has ever moved me so much. The story is very real and I think the themes and values behind this film are very important and are ones that contemporary Americans often forget about. If you have a taste for European movies and you don't mind a quiet serious drama, this film is really quite exceptional. In my opinion, it's one of the most overlooked and underated films of the 1980's (there aren't many good ones from that decade). I can't believe how low profile it was considering Nasstasia Kinski was the most popular film actress when it was released in 1984. In fact the most attention it has recieved is that is is being released on DVD, which I'm so grateful to MGM for. I hope the DVD market continues releasing unusual and /or conventional films.

the most beautiful actress in film ever
Sometimes you dont feel lust if you love a woman too purely like what happen to Ivan Bibic(John Savage)here, he cannot make love to her wife bec. of his love to Maria(Nastassja kisnki) is so pure.
its the greatest love story ive ever seen. Nastassja kinski and John Savage should have won Oscars or Golden in this one. What makes it so great is that its very unpredictable and diverse compare to most of the love stories in cinema which usually ends with a happy ending, nastassja is very beautiful here .
difinitely a movie with brain. Lots of moral lessons here to learn .
A must see if youre a big fan of nastassja.

Challenges, changes and discoveries occuring before, during and after marriage
MARIA'S LOVERS (1984), was a hit, and frequently shown in the
theatres, back in the day of its release. Comprising famous stars
from that time, Nastassja Kinski, Robert Mitchum and John Savage,
the reputations of all 3 was extremely merited, considering the
outstanding job the actors did in bringing this work to life. Anita
Morris also packs a tremendous presence, as well, to the screen,
with dancing action and intense looks, interacting very well, too,
with the others, alternating between a hysterical, artificial call
girl of sorts, with a more serious, affectionate conduct.

Clearly, not all people in an audience finds a sentimental,
romantic movie appealing, that underlines the ephemeral nature of
various stages in one's life, (death, birth, the crossing from a
youthful maturity into married adulthood, and the need to make the
right choice for the relationship to work.)

The author shows an extreme skill in crafting a story about a
relationship between a man and a woman, before and after the
marriage, the challenges, changes and discoveries occuring
thereafter among the partners. It also tells how old habits
sometimes die hard, such as the urge for spontaneous romantic
relationships between other men and/or women even after the formal
union is made. As before, this show the character oscillating one
and another partner depending on which brings the most excitement
at the time, etc.

We see Kinski plaging a girl who easily infatuates, and captures
the sentimental imaginations of men, who are on the same wave
length as her own, that she projects unknowingly or not. At the
same time, Savage is the husband, who is unable to move beyond or
even cope with, those 2 feelings, both before, during and after
their marriage.

Unable to progress to a deeper, more meaningful emotional and
mental rapport with Kinski, Savage, reaching for immediate answers
and relief (like for an Aspirin), finds the solution in simple
girls of his own socio-economic background with which he was raised
and is comfortable in all aspects.

While all this is happening, isolated between her aging mother, her
career as a maternity ward nurse and as a neglected married woman,
Kinsky turns to casual romantic encounters with a handful of men
who can read her situation instinctively, and can satisfy her
artistic and other impulses.

The cinematography is impeccable, with a sharp, clear transfer to
DVD, even after 20 years, the movie doesn't seem to have aged at
all, on screen, especially from the timeless, idyllic tiny rural US
town depicted. The automobiles, homes, clothes worn, layout of the
town all convincingly shows that these are the 1950's or early
60s.

With Savage playing a veteran of the Second World War, released
from a Japanese POW camp, the movie wisely refrains from touching
upon the military life for more than only a few brief moments, to
avoid opening up a Pandora's box of pre-judgements, experiences,
struggles, hazings, isolation, stress, or memories of overcrowded
conditions of such a canp experience, that otherwise would distract
from the story.

Keith Carradine plays a ambulant musician, bringing some accoustic
guitar numbers, and a bit of humor and outside perspective to the
story, that otherwise would have obviously been more introverted,
intensely personal, occuring between Kinsky and Savage.