What Would You Do If Your Spouse Disappeared? A Film Review

What would you do if your corrupt government arrested your innocent spouse, and you weren't certain you would ever see him or her again?

The question is answered in Bernardo Bertolucci's smart, adult (here meaning "mature," not "pornographic," and isn't it sad that I have to note the distinction? But anyway) 1998 film Beseiged. 

Beseiged stars Thandie Newton (of Beloved and 2004's Crash) as Shandurai.  She's a nurse in an unnamed African country, where her husband is a kind-hearted schoolteacher.  One day as Shandurai pedals her bicycle home from the hospital where she works with children, she is passed on the road by two military trucks.  In minutes, she will discover that these trucks are taking her husband away, perhaps for good.  She screams and crumples to the ground in shock and outrage.

In the next scene, Shandurai wakes from a nightmare.  She is in a different place.  A sound has woken her- the sound, we learn, of a dumbwaiter being lowered into position.  Bertolucci makes a point of showing, not telling, in this film, and the viewer must piece the story together like a puzzle.  The dumbwaiter connects Shandurai to her upstairs neighbor, Mr. Kinsky (David Thewlis, who played a small role in the Coen Bros. classic The Big Lebowski, but is best known as Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films). 

We learn little about Mr. Kinsky, but we do know this:  he lives in a grand old house in Rome, a house left to him by his departed (and presumably quite wealthy) aunt.  He seems to do little all day except play the piano, occassionally giving lessons. 

Shandurai lives in the basement, and sometimes ventures into the upper part of the house to volunteer her housecleaning services.  As she cleans his part of the house, Mr. Kinsky is at first a floating presence, glimpsed out of the corner of her eye.  Then, one night as Shandurai sleeps, she is again awakened by the sound of the dumbwaiter.  Mr. Kinsky has sent her a single bright pink tropical bloom.  She throws the flower in the trash bin, but later rescues it and puts it in water.

Shandurai has many things on her mind.  She has come to Rome as a medical student, apparently on a student visa.  Her application for residence is denied.  She knows her husband is imprisoned back in Africa, but is powerless to help him.  And now, she must deal with the affections of Mr. Kinsky.  On another night, he sends her a gaudy old-fashioned gold and diamond ring.

The next morning, Shandurai confronts Mr. Kinsky.  What does he want? she demands to know.  Surely he knows that she cannot keep the ring.  He answers that he loves her.  He pursues her almost violently, catching her and repeating over and over, "Marry me." 

"You're crazy," she responds.

He asks her what she wants, essentially promising her anything.  "Get my husband out of jail," she shouts back.  Mr. Kinsky is crushed.  Yet he sets about doing just exactly that, selling off his aunt's artworks and antiques to try to buy Shandurai's husband's freedom.  Shandurai finds the evidence of this- letters addressed to Mr. Kinsky, bearing the stamp of her native country's dictator- as she cleans. 

Now Shandurai is torn.  She longs to see her husband again, but it won't be possible without Mr. Kinsky.  She feels gratitude toward Mr. Kinsky.  Will she give in to his relentless pursuit of her?  Will she honor her marriage vows, or allow herself to be beseiged by this stranger?  The answer the film provides is provocative.