I'd have to wonder how much hotter the book that Bitter Moon is based on is. I'm not sure if I would ever read it, but it definitely wouldn't be boring. Neither is the movie; if anything, Polanski goes to such dark depths here that it's almost neglectful not to say that there's something old-fashioned stirring in the narrative. A British couple on their way via cruise to India run into a wheelchair bound would-be writer and his wife, who is a knock-out, and the husband hears from the now crippled man the story of his relationship. There's something wholesome that is ripped apart in the story here, and it's at its core a tale of passionate love and desire that becomes like a mind-game.<br /><br />Polanski's flashback narrative works well, and despite some corny bits early on in Oscar's (Peter Cotoye) tale of Mimi (Emmanuele Signer), this is contrasted with scenes that sizzle with great sexuality, the likes of which only so-much seen in 90s cinema. Then it transitions into the 'naughtier' chapter, then going into the section that's most captivating: the 'can't-live-with-em-can't-live-without-em' logic of their relationship, and how it then relates to Hugh Grant's Nigel and his flawed marriage to Fiona (Thomas). Will he sleep with Mimi? This question would be the shallow one; Polanski's achievement here is expressing a savage bond that is like a slow-working poison, ready to affect anyone that grows closer to their very human tragedy. Sometimes seeing their past is disturbing, other times even darkly funny. But it's pure, unadulterated Polanski through and through.<br /><br />And special note should be given to Coyote: here's a character actor everybody sees from time to time, be it ET or Sphere or Femme Fatale, and this time he's put to a test that any actor would love. He goes through every emotion, sometimes put on and sometimes very raw and wretched bit from his soul, and it's an imperfect but powerful tour-de-force. Everyone else, Grant, Seigner, Thomas, are put in roles that their fit well into (Grant especially as an up-tight yuppie sexually awakened/confused), but Polanski still uses them wisely from scene to scene. His wife, Seigner, is also sometimes a revelation in a role that should- and is- a possible one-note trap. There's complexity that she finds in her needy-cum-sociopathic mindset, and is sexy as all hell. It's overall and underrated work of minor genius, and may please those looking for a crazy tale of love and revenge.