We occasionally kissed with something more than friendly affection. We hung out together to the detriment of our individual studies. We exchanged books and thoughts about those books. I watched the moth morph into a beautiful butterfly. A psychologist might make a case that my inability to pick one companion from the available women in my life actually stems from a deep seated belief that eventually Kit would come to her senses, divorce Port, and fling herself into my arms. I guess I might as well confess this now. I was disappointed that his wife Kit was not with him. Shamefully so.ĭespite knowing this about me, Port did stop in one evening to ask me if I wanted to go with them to North Africa. So yes, I was never able to linger while traveling, due to the fact that I always had a pressing need to return to my life, to shore up my business interests, and to keep my social relationships growing. I had three women I was seeing, all interviewing for a more permanent position as my wife. I was still building a living for myself. Whereas a tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another."īefore meeting Port Moresby, I always thought of myself as a traveler, but after one particular late night discussion accompanied by inebriation, interrupted by a frolic in an exotic bordello conveniently located nearby, and then reconvened over tankards of yet more alcoholic concoctions, he managed to convince me that I was merely a tourist. The difference is partly one of time, he would explain. Ultimately the film is worth watching but constantly reminded me of the discrepancy between the two media, which isn't exactly an endearing quality."He did not think of himself as a tourist he was a traveler.
I found Paul Bowles himself to be a captivating screen presence, though he's only on screen briefly as the narrator.
Likewise the casting of the Lyles was excellent, but their role seemed abbreviated. Malkovich and Winger both give credible performances, but they seemed like strangers to me compared to the characters in the novel. The title alone should tell you you're in for rich cinematography and in my opinion this is absolutely necessary to the telling of the story, but the scenery does tend to overwhelm the story at times.
This should probably be accepted as the industry standard for filming the scenery of North Africa. That's not to say Bertolucci and his contributors, especially cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, don't deserve a lot of credit for their work. but can't really convey what it is that makes the novel so exquisite. The Sheltering Sky is frankly a psychological masterpiece and one of the densest books I've ever read, but it has a fairly simple plot.
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