stancym-1 I only give it a 2 instead of a 1 because Julie Christie is always such a joy to watch.The problem is, you can't figure out what is going on much of the time. Plot lines seem to make no sense. Example: at the end, Christie is crying. Has her daughter died or not? That is never made clear. If not, what is she sobbing about? Then there is the scene where Christie tries to seduce husband Nolte. She is attempting to repair their marriage. It is not clear why he rejects her, he seems to love her and it was she who had called off their sex life, not he. There is no discussion of this event afterward to clarify things.Characters throughout behave in ways that seem very unlikely and you can't figure them out. If a movie is going to be this surreal and confusing, it should be funny or suspenseful. This is neither. The Jonny Lee Miller character is peculiar beyond belief and that is never resolved. You can't figure him out at all,even at the end.Enough said, avoid this movie. You can see Christie in Away from Her, a far superior film.

evanston_dad "Afterglow" is one of those rare movies that I enjoyed thinking about afterwards more than I did actually watching it.Julie Christie and Nick Nolte give phenomenal performances as two adults engaged in naughty infidelities that have serious impacts on them and those they love. Director Alan Rudolph, a protégé of Robert Altman back when Altman was alive, gives the film a gauzy, dream-like quality that makes it stick in the mind long after you've watched it. The ending especially I found to be unnerving and haunting.Christie received her third Best Actress Academy Award nomination and her first since "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" 26 years earlier.Grade: B+

marymorrissey elements of it really are cringe worthy, the name lucky Mann and the smarmy way Nick Nolte talks to his ladies above all. johnny lee miller is so hot, so hot/cold, so interesting I'd never seen him in anything before he looks kind of like an actor from the 40s only with real skin and that turns out to be remarkably hot. as Julie Christie says he is "young and beautiful". Julie Christie really is "a revelation" although in a couple of her scenes the choices do seem a bit extreme or the direction but she deserved a nomination or something. I mean the last shot of her is really well cringe worthy but when you think about actually it it makes sense. she feels nick and Lara are making the nursery together with the idea of having this baby together. she thinks this girl has given him what she did not, having duped him instead, so her despair makes sense. still ... the shot is like oh wow what is this in its wailing pouring ashes upon ones' head it seems to come out of nowhere and it lasts forever and it's pretty unpleasant viewing no two ways about it. in answer to the question what is johnny's problem with Lara well it does appear that he's into older women. what's puzzling is the problem he has with Julie Christie when she humiliates this guy he really hates and turns to him like let's do it and he's like no that was a turn off, you were too slutty with him, we are supposed to imagine he has concluded, basically. say what? she was hardly being slutty, her seductiveness was mocking when she says "perhaps another time", emasculating. she even takes the man's phallic symbol champagne bottle from him in case you didn't get it. I felt really cheated that Julie Christie didn't' get laid but I guess the idea is she was already impregnated years before and nick is now making' a baby of his own that she doesn't get to share and thus the rip in their union is healed. as for Lara and johnny, well, they get to be Young and beautiful and perhaps when Lara is older and johnny is a geezer he will want her more! in answer to the question what is this film about what the heck was it all of Alan Rudolph's movies pretty much are about the one and only about "once I'm married my wives own me" as mickey says in choose me "it's other people who pull you apart" he goes to extreme lengths to prove this rather like Stanley Kubrick going overboard to defend freedom of thought in a clockwork orange. anyway this one is a good one not disappointing because it's funny and kinda sweet and kinda sexy and it has that amazing Alan Rudolph style, the slow camera movements through which various objects pass on different paths, these gavotte like "spires of martinville" like polyphonic spacial relationships are explored so seductively. it was a tad too long. and yeah the sets were awesome. the score was really nice too with some particularly gorgeous haunting moments when that female solo voice reiterates the one note... also the girl who has the nonspeaking role of the daughter of nick and Julie is just gorgeous. Good Alan Rudolph movie. not like "mrs parker" which was one of the disappointing ones or "trixie" which was nauseating. . .

barbarella70 There's no doubt Julie Christie was one of the most unique personalities of the late sixties and early seventies. A remote beauty who was sexy and charming in Billy Liar and Darling, haunting and enigmatic in Don't Look Now and McCabe and Mrs. Miller and one of the few things worth remembering about Doctor Zhivago. Her notorious pickiness when it comes to choosing roles has served her well and she is one of the few stars from that time who has moved quite gracefully through a film career. Her resources as an actress allow the character of Phyllis Mann to come alive in a way that few could accomplish and the magic she creates is unforgetable. Laid back hipster Alan Rudolph's sexual roundelay has a lush look on top and a jazzy score below but it's Christie who sears the visuals with sadness, mystery, and wit. Nick Nolte's rugged charm serves him well throughout and when these two are alone together on screen, the art of film acting is proudly displayed. Watch the scene when a drunken Phyllis tries to rekindle their physical relationship and notice the body language. Note to filmmakers: Rudolph's genius is knowing when not to move the camera and in trusting his actors to do the work.The film seems ponderous and flat at first and Johnny Lee Miller and Lara Flynn Boyle are still learning their craft (their scenes do grate), but Afterglow is a cockeyed success for those with patience.