STRAPLESS

Wandering through an Italian church while on vacation, an attractive, middle-aged woman is approached by a man. He invites her to lunch, but she resists his charming persistence. This innocuous meeting gives way to one of the strangest relationships ever captured on film, and sets the stage for a cleverly written, multilayered, thoroughly adult drama. Back in London, Dr. Lillian Hempel is pursued without relief by the enigmatic Raymond Forbes. Though apprehensive, Raymond's charming and spontaneous ways eventually win her over, and she is propelled into a dizzying relationship with a man about whom she knows little. Director David Hare uses this plot of love and eventual betrayal as a means of exploring the complex issues of contemporary, life and lifestyles in Thatcher's England, giving STRAPLESS an intelligence rare in commercial cinema.