Set in the late 1880s in Cuba, Luis (Banderas), a wealthy coffee magnate, places an ad in a Maryland newspaper for a wife, "because America is the future." He tells his close friend, "She is not meant to be beautiful, she's meant to be kind, and true, and young enough to bear children." You see, Luis also thinks, "Love is not for me. Love is for those people who believe in it." He just needed heirs. The boat is due in at 6AM, they can be married at 9AM, and "I can be back to work by 10AM."
The boat comes in, he finds Julia (Jolie), who isn't homely at all, but beautiful. She tells him she sent him a photo of someone else, because she didn't want him to want her just because she was beautiful. To which he replies, "I'm not really a clerk with a coffee company, I own the company. I didn't want you to marry me because I am rich." "The we both cannot be trusted", she says.
some SPOILERS - The movie's title is aptly chosen. "Julia" is really Bonnie, who along with Billy ran away from the orphanage at age 14 and the two of them have lived a life of deceptions ever since. In another version this film could have been called "Billy the pimp and Bonnie the whore." Everything during the first half of this story was their murdering the real Julia on the boat, then assuming her identity so that Bonnie and Billy could steal all Luis' money, which they do after Luis foolishly converts all his accounts to "joint" accounts.
I found the first half of the movie more interesting. Bonnie is narrating from a jail cell, we know she was caught at something, not sure what, and they are preparing to execute her. The second half gets complicated as Billy, posing as a P.I., gets into the mix. The problem Luis has is this, even though he despises what Bonnie has done, he falls inexplicably in love with her, the person he finds in reality, with all her good and bad. She eventually reciprocates, they both end up wanting to get rid of Billy. They do, in an altercation when she shoots him.
Bonnie at the last hour works one more deception, convinces the priest in her cell that she is sorry and seeks forgiveness, and he swaps clothes with her so she escapes right before her execution. In the end we see Bonnie and Luis in Morocco, he is gambling, she is serving, and flashing secret signs for him to win by cheating. He started out as an honest man, she was his Eve, this has become his "original sin."
I can recommend this film, if for no reason than the remarkable job Angelina Jolie does with a script that doesn't deserve it. However, it also tells a good story of how love, in this case Luis', "has power over life." Most of us have done something out of character in the guise of love. The cinematography is lush, and surround sound is used for good effect. Terrence Blanchard (New Orleans trumpeter) adds a very good mood-setting soundtrack, like the wailing and sensuous trumpet tune, accompanied by percussion, during the first love scene.
The boat comes in, he finds Julia (Jolie), who isn't homely at all, but beautiful. She tells him she sent him a photo of someone else, because she didn't want him to want her just because she was beautiful. To which he replies, "I'm not really a clerk with a coffee company, I own the company. I didn't want you to marry me because I am rich." "The we both cannot be trusted", she says.
some SPOILERS - The movie's title is aptly chosen. "Julia" is really Bonnie, who along with Billy ran away from the orphanage at age 14 and the two of them have lived a life of deceptions ever since. In another version this film could have been called "Billy the pimp and Bonnie the whore." Everything during the first half of this story was their murdering the real Julia on the boat, then assuming her identity so that Bonnie and Billy could steal all Luis' money, which they do after Luis foolishly converts all his accounts to "joint" accounts.
I found the first half of the movie more interesting. Bonnie is narrating from a jail cell, we know she was caught at something, not sure what, and they are preparing to execute her. The second half gets complicated as Billy, posing as a P.I., gets into the mix. The problem Luis has is this, even though he despises what Bonnie has done, he falls inexplicably in love with her, the person he finds in reality, with all her good and bad. She eventually reciprocates, they both end up wanting to get rid of Billy. They do, in an altercation when she shoots him.
Bonnie at the last hour works one more deception, convinces the priest in her cell that she is sorry and seeks forgiveness, and he swaps clothes with her so she escapes right before her execution. In the end we see Bonnie and Luis in Morocco, he is gambling, she is serving, and flashing secret signs for him to win by cheating. He started out as an honest man, she was his Eve, this has become his "original sin."
I can recommend this film, if for no reason than the remarkable job Angelina Jolie does with a script that doesn't deserve it. However, it also tells a good story of how love, in this case Luis', "has power over life." Most of us have done something out of character in the guise of love. The cinematography is lush, and surround sound is used for good effect. Terrence Blanchard (New Orleans trumpeter) adds a very good mood-setting soundtrack, like the wailing and sensuous trumpet tune, accompanied by percussion, during the first love scene.