Product Description

A three-part anthology film about love and sexuality by three directors from three distinct cultures. From a relationship unrequited for many years between a high end call girl and her tailor to a menage-a-trois between a husband and wife on the Tuscan seaside, to an exploration of an erotic dream by a psychiatrist and his patient. Prepare to explore the deepest realms of human desire.

DVD Features:
Other:Bonus short film "Eye to Eye" by Michelangelo Antonioni
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46307 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-02-07
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.com
Three world-class directors put their auteurist stamps on this anthology of films dealing with sex, desire, and obsession. First, and best, is "The Hand," Wong Kar-Wai's ravishing drama set in 1960s Hong Kong. Chang Chen stars as an apprentice tailor who becomes enthrall to an imperious, tragically downwardly mobile courtesan (Gong Li). During their first meeting, she takes a hands-on interest in his sexual initiation, explaining that the memory will inspire him to make beautiful clothes for her. Steven Soderbergh lightens the mood with "Equilibrium," starring Robert Downey Jr. as a very anxious 1950s adman relating a curious dream to a very distracted psychiatrist (the always wonderful Alan Arkin). Last, and sadly, least, is Michelangeolo Antonioni's "The Dangerous Thread of Things" about an estranged couple, a tryst, and dancing nude on the beach. A world away from such towering masterworks as L'Aventura, it's elusive and pretentious, almost like an SCTV parody of 1960s foreign films. But here, for the more prurient viewers, is the earthy, gratuitious nudity and frolicking sex for which one might desire in a movie titled Eros. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Three Faces of Eros

"Eros" (2004) is the collection of three short films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (segment "Il filo pericoloso delle cose"), Steven Soderbergh (segment "Equilibrium") , and Kar Wai Wong (segment "The Hand"). Each film explores the always exiting and mysterious subjects of love, sexuality, and desire.

My favorite is "The Hand" - a sensual, emotional, powerful and very sad story about a young tailor who put the years of unrequited love for a beautiful call girl in an exquisite dress he created for her. He knew the exact measurements from touch. This segment is so great that I am ready to buy a DVD just to be able to see it often. It is a brilliant work of art from one of the greatest working directors now.

Steven Soderbergh's "Equilibrium" is a funny duet between two excellent actors, Alan Arkin as a voyeuristic shrink and Robert Downey Jr. as his patient who has a reoccurring dream about a beautiful woman.

Michelangelo Antonioni's segment "Il filo pericoloso delle cose" aka "The Dangerous Thread of Things" has been called the weakest in the trio. Many posters call it garbage, the total waste of time, the soft -porn made by a man who "got old and got horny". I personally did not find it a waste of time and if the man at 92 wants to make a little film that celebrates beauty and femininity - so be it. I feel that Michelangelo's segment is much deeper than it seems - even on the surface it is very attractive to look at.

3.5/5 or 7/10

Antonioni lives to make films
It is painful to read some of the reviews, which look at Antonioni's films as literary texts. There are those who consider "Gone With the Wind," or "Casablanca" to be great movies. Some, more sophisticated, movie fans hold "Citizen Kane" in the highest esteem. But these movies, like most Hollywood products are using cinema as a wheelbarrow to bring vaudeville, circus, theatre, opera, and literature to the masses. Cinema, unlike theatre, which is an illegitimate child of literature and poetry, is an original, unique, and independent form of communication. Actually, cinema is closer to music and painting than to literature and theatre. Antonioni is a master filmmaker and since L'Avventura in 1960 every film he has created has been a true cinematic text (Before L'Avventura, his films constitute his "universities," trying to find and establish his personal style). Antonioni in cinema is like Michelangelo in painting and sculpture; like Tolstoy in literature; and Beethoven in music. His episode in "Eros" is a short film. To appreciate it, one has to think of Chekov, and then see it more like a painting and hear it like a sonata. It is not a literary text that goes from A to Z, it is in total, like a painting, a musical melody, that communicates feelings which affect us in the mood we are as we watch it. Then the experience lingers on and becomes a memory; on subsequent viewings, each time, we react differently. It has layers and layers of meanings, which affect us not only according to our mood at the time we watch it, but also according to our attitude to life and what we think of social issues and human relationships. I just wish the Maestro had made the other episodes as well.

Correct. . .four stars for a bit more than 2/3 excellent
Two well-crafted erotic tales sandwiched around a cartoon intermission directed by Steven Soderbergh.

The first, and best of the short films, "The Hand" is both moving and erotic. The third, "The Dangerous Thread of Things" is muddled. . .but it steams, and thus deserves its place in an collection of erotica. The second, well. . .

(Sssh. I enjoyed it. It made me laugh. It is insightful. It is a sketch of two interesting, memorable characters. But here's my theory: the producers asked each filmmaker to make something erotic. Soderbergh simply misheard and made something neurotic.)

Each film is introduced by captivating, surreal animation--a tie that binds the collection--a joy to watch themselves.