Stay As You Are

The ever-charming Marcello Mastroianni as a nice, dirty old man and the exquisite Nastassja Kinski star, along with a bevy of other beauties. This was the Europe I remember from forty-odd years ago, even though I didn't live the carefree student life pictured here. I became a huge fan of Ms. Kinski in Roman Polanski's Tess, which came out about 2 years later. This film was also made during an era when it was permissible for adolescents to perform nude scenes (cf. Pretty Baby with Brooke Shields). I read that she wished she hadn't consented to doing those scenes at age 17. Still, I wanted to see this film for reasons other than just her, but she was certainly a selling point. I wanted to mention a scene where Mastroianni's character is carrying around a copy of Homo Faber by Max Frisch. This was adapted as the movie Voyager in 1991 by Völker Schlondorff and starred Sam Sheppard and Julie Delpy. The plot hinges upon a man falling for a much younger woman, only to discover belatedly a tragic connection between them. As the plot of Stay As You Are explores a similar theme (not only is she young enough to be his daughter, might she actually be his daughter?), I just thought I'd mention it. Otherwise, a nice romance film for the pre-Viagra era, when older men liked to think younger women liked them, in spite of diminished virility.

The film is one of those May-September love stories, about an unhappily-married older man (Marcello Mastroianni) smitten with a pre-Cat People Nastassja Kinski, who apparently was still in her teens when this movie was made. Supposedly controversial at the time, although the Clint Eastwood-directed Breezy with William Holden earlier in the decade had an even wider-age gap (and then there was Harold and Maude). Anyways, the Blu ray is terrible; if I had read the Blu-ray.com review before hand, I wouldn't have wasted money on it. This is clearly not transferred from a film element or a master used to make a commercial DVD, but from a VHS master, and not a very good one at that. Poor detail or sharpness, no depth or color. No effort at all to "master" this in any way suitable for Blu-ray--they didn't even try to DNR it to death. Just awful; you can't even "enjoy" the film because you are constantly aware that this is not what you paid for.

"The Cowardice of a Husband in Crisis", his wife painfully reflects. Not all men are dogs jumping at the chance but not all are saints either able to simply walk away. Instead many inhabit this untenably painful nether region, unable to commit in either direction. It is bittersweet to watch and beautifully told: Mastroianni's performance in perfectly understated reflecting his frozen indecision and that makes this film worth watching."What have you got in that little head of yours?" Mastroianni asks son objet d'amour: Kinski may be the one of the most devastatingly beautiful women of the 20th C but I am not a fan of her acting and the ditzy sex kitten cliche is so annoying and a huge turn off. But by far the biggest weakness is the horrendous dubbing, its timed well to match the lip movements but the voices are unrealistic and utterly devoid of nuance.You'll need to find an Italian copy with English subtitles to actually see the real movie.

Nasstasja Kinski, at this point in her life, was one of the most beautiful women in the world. Her beauty and her sensuality made this movie very special. She plays Franscesca, a young college student who falls in love with a middle-aged architect played by Marcello Mastroianni. The story takes place in Rome. Julio (Mastroianni) leads a complicated life. We learn later on that he had dated Francesca's mother twenty years ago. Julio lost contact with her shortly after the break up.If you are a fan of Ms. Kinski, you simply must have this movie. I bought it on Amazon and watch it on my PS4. Highly recommended.

i've only written this review to clarify the quality of the blu ray and the transfer of the film for other buyers. if you're looking for a "reference quality" blu-ray, this is not one. i've purchased this film twice in the early 2000s from folks who transferred it from other sources and sold bootlegs. sometimes it would be terrible, sometimes only bad. sometimes i'd get english soundtrack. sometimes italion. sometimes german. sometimes subtitles, sometimes not. subtitles were always in the transfer, nota seperate option. i ordered the german copy from europe. no english subs. this new blu-ray, is probably the best copy we'll ever get. choice of english and italian language. also seperate option of hearing the soundtrack only. nice quality on that for ennio morricone's music. as for the picture, not high resolution but certainly watchable. it's in a 16x9 format so it totally fills a modern screen... it also makes me suspect that the sides have been cut off slightly to allow for this. i can't swear to it, but in some other versions the image looks longer/ more wide screen [maybe 2.35/1 originally?]. to sum up: if you're a fan of this film, and have been frustrated with bad copies, wrong soundtracks, no subtitles over the years.... this is a great copy that puts it all together. blu ray image is good, not great... but the original elements likely don't exist for a better transfer. blu ray presentation - languages, subtitles, additional trailers, channel options, and optional soundtrack-only - is excellent. i'm very glad to have bought it and have a definitive copy.

Unbelievably bad dubbing job (not that any are good).

A Very Nicely done picture, a Very beautiful, Young Girl so full of life, falls in love with an older man, A Dream Come true, The Gentleman unhappy with his marriage, fall in love with this younger beautiful woman, but to him, she is truly wasting her time, and he tells she so, She young enough to be his daughter, This is an older man dream come true....

It's OK but not OK. The film is excellent but this particular version is in Italian (which I don't speak) and has its subtitles in Korean (which I can't read) and there is no indication by the seller that this is the case. Perhaps I just have a faulty copy. I don't know.

"Stay as You Are"(1978) is a wonderful film directed by Alberto Lattuada with a musical score by Ennio Morricone. This story about a love affair between a young woman (Nastassja Kinski) and an older man (Marcello Mastroianni) is done with a great deal of sensitivity. The movie is slow moving and gradually builds up the relationship. This is not a hollywood film with lots of action and dynamic tension but instead a film that often feels like it was filmed in real time. By the end of this 105 minute film we feel like we've lived a life time with these two characters.The only special feature is the original motion picture soundtrack, and trailers. This is a region one movie so it will play on North American blu-ray players. The image quality is more on the level of a dvd with 480p resolution, and it initially reminded me of an old black and white film with its flicks of dust on the print, though oddly enough this doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the film which also has some images of silent film sequences in a theatre, so it all kind of fits with this film's romantic, nostalgic ambience.

I’m a fan of both the leads, but this was a total waste of time. Dreadful.

well satisfied

Great