SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: BRIDE OF THE WIND

"BRIDE OF THE WIND"
(2001) (Sara Wynter, Vincent Perez) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Moderate	Heavy	Mild	Moderate

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Minor	None	Minor	None	Minor

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Extreme	Mild	Heavy	Moderate	Heavy

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: An early 20th century woman finds herself ahead of her time and into the arms and beds of various famous artists that she inspires with her beauty, intelligence and strong-willed nature.

PLOT:

It's Vienna at the turn of the 20th century and Alma (SARA WYNTER) is a young woman known for freely speaking her mind when most women wouldn't dare do that. Such critical comments draw the attention of composer Gustav Mahler (JONATHAN PRYCE) who's enticed not only by her criticism of his work, but also her beauty. Despite him nearly being twice her age, the two quickly become lovers.

Several years later, they're married with kids, but Alma has grown unhappy with their relationship, mostly because Gustav wants her to serve him, is financially irresponsible and has strongly encouraged her to stop composing her own music. After one of their daughters dies, Alma goes off to a clinic to deal with her depression and meets Walter Gropius (SIMON VERHOEVEN), a renowned architect and kindred spirit.

The two have an affair, but she decides to stay with Gustav until his death several years later. It's then that she meets painter Oskar Kokoschka (VINCENT PEREZ), but WWI calls him away, thus allowing her to eventually meet novelist and poet Franz Werfel (GREGOR SEBERG). As she makes her way through the various men in her life over the years, Alma inspires their artistic endeavors while trying to cope with society and others' reactions to her lifestyle and persona.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Unless they're fans of period costume dramas, someone in the cast or are interested in any of the real life people portrayed here, it's not very likely.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For sexuality and nudity.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: SARA WYNTER plays an opinionated woman and composer who has relationships and affairs with various famous artists, reportedly inspiring some of their best work.
JONATHAN PRYCE plays her first husband, a composer old enough to be her father who ultimately squashes her artistic voice and drives her into the arms of another man.
SIMON VERHOEVEN plays the famous architect who becomes one of her lovers.
VINCENT PEREZ plays an Expressionist painter who also becomes romantically involved with Alma.
GREGOR SEBERG plays a novelist and poet who rekindles Alma's passion for composing.; JONATHAN PRYCE plays her first husband, a composer old enough to be her father who ultimately squashes her artistic voice and drives her into the arms of another man.
SIMON VERHOEVEN plays the famous architect who becomes one of her lovers.
VINCENT PEREZ plays an Expressionist painter who also becomes romantically involved with Alma.
GREGOR SEBERG plays a novelist and poet who rekindles Alma's passion for composing.; SIMON VERHOEVEN plays the famous architect who becomes one of her lovers.
VINCENT PEREZ plays an Expressionist painter who also becomes romantically involved with Alma.
GREGOR SEBERG plays a novelist and poet who rekindles Alma's passion for composing.; VINCENT PEREZ plays an Expressionist painter who also becomes romantically involved with Alma.
GREGOR SEBERG plays a novelist and poet who rekindles Alma's passion for composing.; GREGOR SEBERG plays a novelist and poet who rekindles Alma's passion for composing.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated drama. Various nude women are seen in several scenes, with some showing bare breasts and others brief full frontal nudity. Some such nudity occurs in several sexual encounters that the female protagonist has with different men and those scenes also include movement and related sounds. That woman apparently has an affair while married and then various lovers after that. Other characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes.

Violence consists of some wartime related action where a machine gunner shoots two men and a solider then attempts to finish off the one survivor by driving a bayonet into him. A few instances of non-lethal, non-war related violence also occur. Some of those scenes could be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers, and one includes a shot of various dead people and one wounded man with some blood running from a bullet wound to the head.

Meanwhile some tense family moments are present in the form of unhappy marriages and deaths in a family, while various characters drink and some miscellaneous ones smoke. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed content listings for more specific examples of what's present in the film.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: People drink at a costume ball/party.
A man has a drink.
Mahler and others have drinks.
People have wine or champagne after one of Gustav's performances.
People have drinks at a reception/gathering.
Alma and others have wine with a meal.
Alma and Oskar have wine during a picnic.
Oskar and his mother have shots of liquor.
Some people have drinks, including Alma who holds some champagne or wine.
Other people drink at a dinner party.

BLOOD/GORE: We see various dead bodies lying on a battlefield, but beyond being dead, they're not bloody or gory.
After being shot in the head by machine gun fire, a man falls from his horse and we see a small bullet hole wound and some blood running from it (but it's not overly graphic).

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Alma speaks her mind about Mahler's compositions, criticizing them in front of others.
Gustav asks Alma to give up her music.
Alma cheats (mentally, if not also physically) on Gustav with Walter (we hear a letter written by Walter to Alma that mentions wondering if she misses their "medicine" as much as he does). She eventually tells Gustav, "I hate you and your Jewish music."
Oskar grabs Alma and plants a kiss on her (something she initially doesn't like).
Oskar becomes upset with Alma for wanting to keep a sculpture of Gustav (her late husband) and violently kicks over a table (breaking the items on it) before storming out (he later apologizes for that). Later, he makes a joke in public about Gustav's ghost sharing their bed with them. Even later, Oskar grabs Alma by the wrist (slightly hurting her) while jealous of her (he states that if she doesn't marry him, he'll kill her).
Depending on one's view of abortion, some may not like a scene where Alma announces that she's pregnant and doesn't intend to have the baby (although she ultimately does have the child).

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Scenes listed under "Violence" may also be tense or unsettling to some viewers.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Rifles and swords: Carried/worn by soldiers on horseback.
Machine gun: Used by the enemy to shoot several soldiers (killing one and severely injuring another).
Bayonet: Used by a man to stab another soldier in the body (we don't see the actual penetration).
An older woman states that she has a pistol in her bag and is going to use it on someone, but that never happens and we never see the gun.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Alma has various lovers over a span of years.

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): A tiny bit of suspenseful music plays in one scene.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: At least 1 use of "My God" as an exclamation.

SEX/NUDITY: Alma attends a costume ball/party where she sees a nude woman lying on a sofa (with her hair covering her breasts and her legs crossed so we don't see anything). Other people make out at this gathering and we see a man caressing a woman's bare inner thigh. We then see a woman standing next to a painting of herself (and both show bare breasts).
A man suddenly grabs Alma and kisses her at the piano. He later tries this again, but she refuses his advances.
We see two nude women posing, reclined, for an artist and thus see their bare breasts and one's pubic hair (the sketch also shows both). We then see a shot from behind the women and see one of their bare butts in the partial shadows.
Alone together, Alma comes on to Gustav, coyly asking if he'd like to seduce her (he says that's not his intention). The two eventually passionately kiss and we then cut to another scene where he appears to roll off her in bed (both have tops on) and he states that she now knows that the rumors of him being a great lover weren't true. She then removes her top (we see her bare breasts) and passionately kisses him (as their waists are under the sheets). Gustav then climbs on top of her (under the sheets) and kisses her breasts. We then hear sexual sounds from her as he puts his hand down to their crotches (not explicitly seen) to enter her and the two then have sex (with more sounds and some movement, all seen from a torso and up shot).
Alma's mother shows some cleavage.
Alma shows some cleavage in a low-cut dress.
After getting out of a hot spring, Alma's long and wet dress clings to her breasts beneath it.
A classic torso sculpture shows bare breasts.
Oskar grabs Alma and kisses her, causing her to violently grab his crotch (she says that she has the tendency to grab "the genitals of uncouth men"). She then leaves in a huff, but reappears moments later and the two passionately kiss. They then start to undress each other (as we hear some aroused, sexual sounds) and we see her bare breasts and brief glimpse of pubic hair as she takes off her undergarments and lies back on a bed. We then see a torso shot of them as he apparently pulls down his pants and is then on top of her (with movement and more views of her bare breasts as the shot zooms in to that of a head and shoulders shot).
After her mother questions her judgment of seeing Oskar, Alma remind her that her father wasn't even in the ground "before you made love to his assistant."
Oskar makes a comment to Alma about making love to her. Later, he makes a joke in public about Gustav's ghost sharing their bed with them.
After being injured, Oskar has two brief visions/flashbacks of him and Alma having sex (him on top in a head and shoulders shot).
We see some unrealistic paintings that Oskar did of Alma that show full frontal nudity.
A miscellaneous woman shows cleavage, as does a professional singer in another scene.
Alma and Franz passionately kiss.

SMOKING: Various miscellaneous people (some of them women) smoke in various scenes.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: Alma tells others that she's not happy in her marriage to Gustav (due to various issues), and he eventually discovers a love letter from Walter to Alma. She then tells Gustav that he drove her to Walter by making her giving up everything and treating her like an assistant, accountant and servant. Despite all of that (and her telling him she hates him), she ultimately sticks with him until his death sometime later (thus adding to more tense family moments as we see him on his deathbed and then see his funeral).
We see Alma tending to one of her sick daughters and then see that the girl has died (Alma pulls the sheet over her head). Accordingly, both Alma and Gustav grieve with the former going off to some clinic to deal with that.
Later, the surviving daughter asks Alma if she (Alma) is going to die as well.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The real-life Alma Mahler and her influence on the various artists shown in the film.
Gustav asks Alma to give up her music and she reluctantly complies.
Gustav, who's Jewish, states that he follows Christianity for his career (meaning he couldn't if he followed Judaism).
Dealing with deaths in the family.
Depending on one's view of abortion, some may not like a scene where Alma announces that she's pregnant and doesn't intend to have the baby (although she ultimately does have the child).
Oskar carries around a life-sized mannequin that looks like and evidently is supposed to represent Alma.

VIOLENCE: Oskar grabs Alma and kisses her, causing her to violently grab at his crotch (she says that she has the tendency to grab "the genitals of uncouth men") and cause him some pain.
Oskar becomes upset with Alma for wanting to keep a sculpture of Gustav (her late husband) and violently kicks over a table (breaking the items on it) before storming out.
We hear that terrorists killed a Duke and his wife.
Oskar grabs Alma by the wrist (slightly hurting her) while jealous of her (he states that if she doesn't marry him, he'll kill her).
We see various dead bodies lying on a battlefield as we hear some gunfire and explosions off in the distance. A soldier then opens fire on several men on horseback with his machine gun, hitting two of them (we see the bullets ripping into the clothing of one and see a small bullet hole wound on another's head along with some blood from it). A man then walks up to the man with the head wound, places his bayonet down to his body and then drives it into him, presumably killing him (we don't see the actual penetration). We later learn, however, that this person didn't die from those wounds.
Some guards/soldiers clash with protestors and there's some pushing.

Reviewed May 30, 2001 / Posted June 15, 2001

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