chaos-rampant I like films dreamlike, fluid appearances, floating that wanders outside of the confines of self and story. At the same time I like them to draw fresh water from the well of mysterious non- self that underpins really anything that is exuberantly receptive to the world (passionate sex, dreaming, youth all a part of it), wipes anxiety and restores perception to the far-flung horizons teeming with possibility that youth and early lovers know.Lynch is a natural master of this deep swimming. Ferrara tried briefly at around the same time. Further back it was Rivette, a lot of film noir works in a similar way for me.Here we have all these things; dreamlike in the way that Lynch is, about passion that dives in and perturbs reality, and a cinematic mind-bending swim in the waters. It's nominally a thriller, but written in waters, fluid about anxiety and self.It has the noir engine where someone sets out to investigate and finds himself embroiled in mysterious goings-on. In noir that's usually a PI, but it doesn't have to be. Here it's simply a son whose mother has been hospitalized and he arrives to the small town to care for her.He an architectural writer, she a photographer, both coming to explore an old building that is set to be demolished, but she has a husband. They unearth a story that took place in that building long ago, illicit lovers discovered one night. We have some obvious symbolism in the building as obliquely shared past and as wandering through his own mind that is buffeted by anxieties.And it has the notion of persisting memory where something that happened in the past is rising up again in the present. The noir drive is that the more he succumbs to passion, the more he is pulled as a narrator into a past story about it.So they fall for each other while he's unearthing a narrative of how that shattered lives one day. By investigating further, he comes to understand that he's tied to that story via his parents, his mother has been unwell ever since. There's also another son whose life is intimately woven to events of that night, an eerie figure like out of Lynch who by driving past the building one day causes someone to die.It's all eventually made to align during a hospital visit late at night. Another invalid mother is wheeled out, central in events of that story. A metaphysical wiring between bodies takes place, bodies entered it seems by our knowledge of the story. The fateful coupling that upset reality takes place once more inside the building; once more a vengeful spouse is waiting in the shadows with a gun. But they say that they love each other. He's eavesdropping and stays his hand.This is worthwhile stuff.Noir Meter: 2/4 | Neo-noir or post noir? Post

williwaw Kim Novak returned to films in this Mike Figgis film. During the shooting there was a lot of PR generated by the legendary star's return to films including an interview with Kim Novak by the Sunday New York times Movie Section, great advance PR for the film. The back story of this movie would have been a better film than what appears on screen. Ms. Novak fought bitterly with Mike Figgis who threatened to cut Kim Novak's part to shreds, and Figgis did. What resulted is a muddled film that stars Kevin Anderson a fine actor whose part must also have been edited. Ditto Bill Pullman. Liebestraum - a brilliant title- makes little sense as a film.Liebestraum started out as a Warner Bros film but ended up as a MGM film and that once fabled studio was going thru one of its periodic slumps and financial distresses and gave this film a very very limited opening in only two cities Los Angeles and New York. The New York Times favorably reviewed Ms. Novak in its review which should have given MGM and Figgis to open the picture more widely. The mystery here is not the film's murky subject but the fact that Kim Novak a worldwide star and a very under appreciated actress was given so little to do but moan. Novak is seen basically bed ridden and moaning during the film until a shocking windup. In a purely business observation, Kim Novak was at one time a huge box office draw with films such as Vertigo, Picnic, Bell Book and Candle, Pal Joey, Strangers When We Meet, The Mirror Crack'd et al and MGM and Figgis should have sold this as a Kim Novak return project and they would have made their money back on that. Instead, Kim Novak was ignored by Figgis who in turn ignored this film refusing to do any PR for the project upon its release and sadly this film ended the film career of Kim Novak. Madonna was supposed to do the female lead but told her then beau Warren Beatty she did not understand the script. Beatty wisely told Madonna if she did not understand the project do not do it. Pam Gidley stepped in to replace Madonna. Wise move on Madonna's part.

aout22 This movie was strange yet intriguing. I could not quite figure out who the woman in the wheel chair was. Who was the pregnant woman? Why did the movie continually move back and forth in time? Was the woman in the hospital really his mother? What was the significance of the building and its demolition? I was totally confused by its plot. Just when I thought I had the plot figured out , another twist would take hold. I was not sure why the woman in the wheelchair's eyes appeared as they did and the purpose of the main character's lover assisting her. Was there some relevance to this particular scene. Most confusing was the two shootings. First flashback the perpetrator was a man, the second was a pregnant woman. Who really shot the mother? Confused!

roberthults This is a film that is thought provoking to say the least. It is romantic and also a little tastily sleazy. If you liked dead again, you should like this film. This film, however, is much better. What I don't understand is why this film is so unknown and underrated.Mystery, intrigue, romance, regret, desire, jealousy, greed, it is all here. History unfolds to give the viewer a tapestry of cinematic beauty. Some of the film shots are in the vein of Dario Argento's Suspiria while the story and plot are much more caring and romantic.I would say that this film is a mixture of David Lynch, Roman Polanski and Wim Wenders rolled up into one hidden classic.