Original Sin (2001)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Michael Cristofer

Writers (WGA):

Cornell Woolrich (novel)
Michael Cristofer (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 August 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Obsession. Lies. Desire. Lust...

Plot:

A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Coffee | Mail Order Bride | Photograph | Bank Account

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Antonio Banderas	...	Luis Antonio Vargas
Angelina Jolie	...	Julia Russell / Bonny Castle
Thomas Jane	...	Billy / Walter Downs / Mephisto
Jack Thompson	...	Alan Jordan
Gregory Itzin	...	Colonel Worth
Allison Mackie	...	Augusta Jordan
Joan Pringle	...	Sara
Cordelia Richards	...	Emily Russell
James Haven	...	Faust - Stage
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	Jorge Cortés (as Pedro Armendáriz)
Mario Iván Martínez	...	Cuban Priest
Harry Porter	...	Stage Manager
Fernando Torre Laphame	...	Wedding Priest (as Fernando Torre Lapham)
Shaula Vega	...	Dressmaker Girl
Lisa Owen	...	Margareta - Stage

Also Known As:

Dancing in the Dark (USA) (working title)
Péché originel (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content and some violence.

Runtime:

116 min | USA:118 min (unrated version)

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English | German | Japanese | Latin | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Portugal:M/12 (R rated version) | Australia:M (TV rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Belgium:KNT | Brazil:16 | France:U | Germany:16 (bw) | Hong Kong:III | Hungary:16 | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | Peru:14 | Philippines:R-18 | Poland:18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (No. 37331) (edited version) | USA:Unrated | Malaysia:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The plantation house is a real sugar cane plantation manor, albeit abandoned.

Goofs:

Continuity: Vargas puts the gun on the table before drinking the poisoned coffee, but the gun later reappears on his person when he shoots Billy.

Quotes:

Louis: Laugh when I tell you that I still love you.
Julia: No, not me. You don't love me.
Louis: Oh yes. Oh yes. Yes, you. Not Julia Russel, Not Bonny Castle. You. I love you as I know you. Because I know you. As you are. Good and bad. Better and worse. I told you this already, but you didn't believe me. Tonigh you will. To us. A short life but an exciting life. (TAKES POISON)
Julia: Don't do that.
Louis: No other one. No other love but you. From first to last. Start to finish. Don't change, Julia. Don't ever change.

Movie Connections:

Version of La sirène du Mississipi (1969)

Soundtrack:

Belly Dancing World

il Purgatorio

It is unfortunate that American audiences appear to want three things in a film: action, action and more action. Original Sin is a tale of emotion. With beautiful cinematography, wonderful costumery, the plot is rivalled only by Hitchock's Vertigo.

Set in Cuba in the late 19th Century, the story revolves around a man, named Luis Vargas, played by Antonio Bandaras, and the mail-order bride, with whom he falls in love. Vargas, who at the start of the film is marrying for convenience alone, because of his business, finds himself emotionally capsized by the sumptuous Julia Russell, played to the hilt by the fulsome-lipped Angelina Jolie. But when Vargas's new bride suddenly disappears, the businessman discovers that his life is now totally based in her.

Let us go back to Vertigo, the obvious source of this film. In it, Scotty Ferguson, played by James Stewart, is obsessed with Madeleine Elster, played by Kim Novak. When Scotty witnesses Madeleine plummet to her death, his world takes a dismal tern, until he meets Judy Barton, her physical twin. The thing is that Madeleine and Judy are one and the same. Here was Hitchcock's irony of the illusion of Madeleine falling to her death actually gives rise to the demise of Scotty's soul.

In Original Sin, Angelina Jolie plays Eve to Thomas Jane's serpent. Antonio Bandaras is poor Adam, with only one woman in all of the world for him. There is even Lillith, all too quickly dispatched. But forbidden fruit, once swallowed, the loss of Paradise is soon to appear. From my point of view, this is a must see film with intelligence, symbolism and beauty.