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Starring Thandie Newton, David Thewlis, Claudio Santamaria.
Co-written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.
A young African women Shandurai (Newton) walks through the grasslands to see her husband, an activist and elementary school teacher. Just as she arrives at his schoolhouse, a band of government goons bursts into the school and takes him away. She emigrates to Rome to begin medical studies, and works as a maid in an old, roomy apartment in exchange for a room to stay in. The owner is a Mr. Kinsky (Thewlis), a classical composer, who spends his days writing and playing on the piano, giving the odd piano lesson to local children. Pretty soon, Shandurai starts receiving small gifts from Kinsky, until one day she receives an equisite ring. She marches upstairs to return the gift, but Kinsky announces that he loves her, and asks what it would take to make her love him. She blurts out getting her husband out of jail. He didn't know she was married, and sheepishly says goodbye. They remain friends, and as she continues to clean the roomy apartment, she spots a letter from her African homeland addressed to Kinsky in his garbage bin. She notices that his lovely paintings and tapestries begin to disappear, along with other possessions. She catches him talking to local black clergymen and officials. She wonders what he's up to - is he helping free her husband, or making sure he stays in prison. And she can't help the attraction she begins to feel towards him. Will she ever see her husband again, and will she be able to control the desire for Kinsky growing within her? Filmed as a low-budget Italian TV movie, Besieged mines some of the same territory as did Last Tango In Paris, examining the conflict between obsession and selfessness, and between love and duty. But where Last Tango was intense and explosive, this film is quiet and reflective. Short on dialogue, Bertolucci lets the camera move about the rooms, looking in on the awkward attempts at connection, the actors' faces expressing their conflicted feelings towards one another. Kinsky feels so strong a love towards Shandurai, a woman he has only recently met and barely knows, that he would sell his possessions for her with no promise of love in return. Shandurai, who respects and admires her husband more than she loves him, is torn by her duty to be faithful to her suffering husband, and her increasing interest in the man who selflessly sacrifices so much for her. While the quiet style is entirely appropriate for the film, the lack of dialogue and lingering shots of the characters sizing up one another leads to occasional lulls in the film. Be prepared for a relaxed pace, with little plot development or action. Both actors shine with their performances. Newton, the Beloved in Oprah Winfrey's movie of the same name, is excellent, slowly moving from resistance to Kinsky's uncomfortable advances to acceptance and attraction. Thewlis, brilliant in Mike Leigh's Naked, evolves from the obsessed pursuer to the unselfish friend in a believable and touching way. Besieged will appeal to those willing to view a slow moving but unique story about two very different people meeting and uneasily falling in love.   
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