Set in the 19th Century, the film is about a Cuban Coffee planter, Luis Antonio Vargas played by Antonio Banderas, who advertises for a wife in an American Newspaper. She duly arrives in the form of Angelina Jolie. When she asks him why he wanted an American wife he answers, "Here we are the past and there you are the future".
He marries her, finds that he really loves her, is then deceived and robbed by her, seeks revenge but falls in love with her again only to be enmeshed in her deceitful lifestyle. It was a tall order to make it all work; the film bites off more than it can chew then chews like crazy for the rest of it's running time.
"Original Sin" has enough packed into its 116 minutes to provide the material for a six-hour mini-series. The film is based on "Waltz Into Darkness", a novel by Cornell Woolrich, who must rank just behind William Shakespeare for producing the largest number of works that have been turned into film.
"Original Sin" is fast-paced, beautifully photographed, and features two charismatic stars – it all works perfectly as long as you just go along with it. Where the film runs into trouble is in consistency of tone, especially in the second half. But even if the only consistent tone in "Original Sin" is Angelina Jolie's nail enamel, part of the fascination is seeing how the filmmakers manage to get the story out of the many corners they have painted it into.
One thing is for sure, Angelina Jolie dominates the screen. The filmmakers also showed a fascination with those famous lips; so much so that a couple of sequences start with a close-up of her lips before the camera pulls back to reveal the whole scene. In fact, she is photographed to great advantage in this film, and her Victorian era costumes suit her so well she looks as though she could sit for a portrait by John Singer Sargent the moment the director called cut.
The interaction between Jolie and Banderas is fascinating and actually carries the movie over the rough spots in the plot. Calm and controlled, their performances have considerable depth despite the mounting implausibilities of the story. A couple of the supporting roles are also interesting; Australian Jack Thompson, who did brisk business around this time playing portly Southern gentlemen, plays Vargas' friend who warns him against Jolie's character. The other is Thomas Jane who plays a detective in a somewhat bizarre role.
"Original Sin" is a throwback to an era in Hollywood filmmaking when the audience accepted a fairly far-fetched plot as long as it was wrapped in the gloss of fabulous stars and a lavish production. Anyone looking for reality in film can forget this one, but the two attractive stars light up the screen, and despite everything that has gone before, it has a satisfying ending that brings a smile to the face.
He marries her, finds that he really loves her, is then deceived and robbed by her, seeks revenge but falls in love with her again only to be enmeshed in her deceitful lifestyle. It was a tall order to make it all work; the film bites off more than it can chew then chews like crazy for the rest of it's running time.
"Original Sin" has enough packed into its 116 minutes to provide the material for a six-hour mini-series. The film is based on "Waltz Into Darkness", a novel by Cornell Woolrich, who must rank just behind William Shakespeare for producing the largest number of works that have been turned into film.
"Original Sin" is fast-paced, beautifully photographed, and features two charismatic stars – it all works perfectly as long as you just go along with it. Where the film runs into trouble is in consistency of tone, especially in the second half. But even if the only consistent tone in "Original Sin" is Angelina Jolie's nail enamel, part of the fascination is seeing how the filmmakers manage to get the story out of the many corners they have painted it into.
One thing is for sure, Angelina Jolie dominates the screen. The filmmakers also showed a fascination with those famous lips; so much so that a couple of sequences start with a close-up of her lips before the camera pulls back to reveal the whole scene. In fact, she is photographed to great advantage in this film, and her Victorian era costumes suit her so well she looks as though she could sit for a portrait by John Singer Sargent the moment the director called cut.
The interaction between Jolie and Banderas is fascinating and actually carries the movie over the rough spots in the plot. Calm and controlled, their performances have considerable depth despite the mounting implausibilities of the story. A couple of the supporting roles are also interesting; Australian Jack Thompson, who did brisk business around this time playing portly Southern gentlemen, plays Vargas' friend who warns him against Jolie's character. The other is Thomas Jane who plays a detective in a somewhat bizarre role.
"Original Sin" is a throwback to an era in Hollywood filmmaking when the audience accepted a fairly far-fetched plot as long as it was wrapped in the gloss of fabulous stars and a lavish production. Anyone looking for reality in film can forget this one, but the two attractive stars light up the screen, and despite everything that has gone before, it has a satisfying ending that brings a smile to the face.