Bitter Moon by Roman Polanski 1992.
Fiona and Nigel, are on a Mediterranean cruise ship to Istanbul. They encounter another couple on the ship, the seductive French Mimi and her American husband Oscar.
The whole thing starts as Oscar invites Nigel to his cabin, where he recalls, in a series of episodes, how he and the much younger Mimi met on a bus in Paris and fell in love.
During a series of flashbacks, Oscar recounts how his and Mimi's love developed and took a darker turn. They explored bondage, sado-masochism, urolagnia, and voyeurism. Slowly, their self-absorbed relationship dried out, and the bored Oscar tried to break-up with Mimi. She begged him to let her live with him under any conditions, and he took advantage of the opportunity to explore sadistic fantasies at her expense.
Oscar increasingly subjected Mimi to public humiliation, until she became pregnant. Oscar persuaded her that he would be a terrible father and that she should have an abortion. While she was recovering, Oscar visited her and was shocked by her condition. He almost relented in his attempts to drive her away but instead promised her a holiday somewhere exotic. On the plane, Oscar pretended that his luggage wouldn't fit in the overhead bin and went to find help from an attendant. He then abandoned the flight, leaving Mimi on board.
Oscar's tale continues with him immersing himself in a world of parties and one-night stands for the next two years. This hedonistic lifestyle ended when he drunkenly stepped in front of a vehicle. A much more confident Mimi visited him in hospital, where he was recovering from minor injuries and a broken leg. By manipulating Oscar's traction device, the vengeful Mimi crippled Oscar, so that he became a paraplegic.
Mimi then informed Oscar that she would look after him and moved back into the apartment to be his full-time caretaker. She reveled in dominating and humiliating him, to the extent that she seduced friends in front of him. Oscar was filled with self-loathing and, by the time of his meeting with Nigel, seems to believe that he deserves this treatment.
Nigel is both shocked and appalled. However, he is intrigued by Mimi and encouraged by Oscar to have an affair with her but lacks the confidence to approach her directly. His wife, Fiona, repeatedly warns him not to stray too far. Anything he can do, she can do better.
Later, we see Nigel awaken from a drunken stupor and go looking for Fiona. He finds her in Mimi's cabin, where Oscar claims that he has watched the ladies exhaust themselves sexually. In a moment of rage, Nigel grabs Oscar's throat only to have a gun pointed at him. Oscar is clearly highly distressed and shoots the sleeping Mimi several times as Fiona cowers beside her. Oscar then commits suicide by blowing off the back of his head.
I saw this movie almost 15 years ago for the first time and it made such an impact on me…. I thought it was amazing and crazy at the same time. A very passionate relationship that later turned into a very sour one and where the roles had turned from the moment Oscar becomes cripple. I still like this movie a lot! Every time when I look at it it intrigues me again. And I do think that it is a very good/fascinating thing when the director arrives to keep his movie interesting, even when you already seen it a few times. And one thing I do have to say, is that I LOVE Emmanuelle Seigner, I think she is an amazing actress!!!!
