
Three separate stories of love, desire and/or obsession are presented. "The Hand" tells of the desire that builds in the several years long largely professional relationship (his profession) between Xiao Zhang, the apprentice to tailor Mr. Jin, and Ms. Hua, a prostitute, the two who meet when he is first sent to take her measurements for a new dress. Sexually inexperienced, that meeting awakens Zhang's sexual desires. The story takes place during a phase of Ms. Hua's life whe... (Full plot summary below)
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Three separate stories of love, desire and/or obsession are presented. "The Hand" tells of the desire that builds in the several years long largely professional relationship (his profession) between Xiao Zhang, the apprentice to tailor Mr. Jin, and Ms. Hua, a prostitute, the two who meet when he is first sent to take her measurements for a new dress. Sexually inexperienced, that meeting awakens Zhang's sexual desires. The story takes place during a phase of Ms. Hua's life when she becomes ill, making her unable to work and thus live to the style to which she is accustomed. In "Equilibrium", Nick Penrose is having his first session with Dr. Pearl, a therapist, Nick's anxiety and thus want to see a therapist probably due to a combination of starting a new project with his colleague Hal in their job as advertising executives, and a recurring dream he is having about a woman who he doesn't know but knows in the dream, that woman who is not his wife, Cecelia. These issues may be at play but not quite in the way he expects as shown after this therapy session. And in "The Dangerous Thread of Things", Christopher and Cloe are probably coming to the end of their relationship. They still seem to love each other but don't seem to be able to be with each other in always arguing. Their relationship is affected by each individually encountering Linda, the girl who lives in the tower across the way from their house.
Leave your thoughts about Eros.
| New York ObserverRex ReedA triptych only a film festival could love. |
| Newark Star-LedgerStephen WhittyThere's one good movie in here, sure. But unfortunately, it's over after the first 43 minutes. |
| Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionBob LonginoWong and his always moody, intense cinematography deliver in spades. |
| L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorA maddeningly uneven triptych about the vagaries of sexual longing. |
| New York PostLou LumenickA flaccidly pretentious and snooze-inducing trilogy of allegedly racy tales. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertVariable ratings: The Hand (4 stars), Equilibrium (3 stars), The Dangerous Thread of Things (1 star). |
| Flipside Movie EmporiumRob VauxA haunting collection of notes that can't -- and maybe shouldn't -- be tied together. |
| VarietyDavid RooneyWhat might have been a cinephile's wet dream turns out instead to be seductive, stimulating and sodden, in that order, in the three-chapter reflection on love and desire. |
| SPLICEDWireJeffrey M. AndersonAfter all, it was Antonioni who inspired Wong and Soderbergh to make this film in the first place. |
| Arizona Daily StarPhil VillarrealAt least the editor had the good sense to place Antonioni's film at the end, allowing you to walk out without having to see a cinematic great in pathetic decline |