Círculo de Dois Amantes

Circle of Two stars Richard Burton and Tatum O'Neal as a 60-is artist and sixteen year old girl caught in unusual love. There both quite good here, the story is handled very tastefully. I recently re-watched this movie after many years and was pleasantly surprised at how good it really is.

Is it a great, can't miss, movie? No, but its certainly much better than its maligned reputation would have you believe. The love is pure and platonic, though sexual desire is clearly felt by both. Burton is good, often the looks of songful agony on Burton weather lined face hit you straight in the heart, he clearly realizes age is upon him and wonders at his own motives in a romantic friendship with a impressionable girl. Particulay the scene in the park, where St. Clair (Burton) tells the story of William Blake, is excellent and allegorical.

O'Neal was probably at her best here, not too far removed from her Oscar-winning performance in "Paper Moon". She certainly plays another "say-it-straight" Kid here. And she does it well.

The score for the film is quite good and really lasts with you. Sort of like "Endless Love" There is a scene of violence in the film and some tasteful nudity, still I think this is fine for mature teens and adults. If you only know Circle of Two by its unkind reviews, check it out. It's worth your time and effort to see something different.

Although the movie itself could have been a bit better in design the message was so very clear. This was a love story between two people old and young. true love is ageless and timeless if it is true. An old almost waisted painter finds new spirit and life again when he meets a very very young girl who believed in him and he soon begins to paint once more. She brought life and light back into his world in doing so she falls in love with the person who gave her kindness, tenderness and treated her with respect and honor. I am very glad that the director did not allow and physical relationship between the two in the movie although the feelings between them were there.

Granted I am a romantic and i loved this movie from the first time I had seen it.

Nowadays, sixty years old isn't as old as sixty was thirty-five years ago. Sixty in 1981 was what seventy is now. That being explained, I don't really know why Richard Burton's character in Circle of Two was written to be sixty years old, when he has a romance with a fifteen-year-old Tatum O'Neal. If he was supposed to be fifty, the age difference would have been significant enough, and Burton was only fifty-five when he made the movie. They gave him great shocks of white hair to make him look especially old.

If you don't like May-December romances, don't watch this movie. I definitely don't have a problem with them, so I actually liked this movie. It's very tastefully done, and everyone's attitude on the love affair is understandable. In one scene, Tatum's mother says, "He's old enough to be your father!" Tatum replies, "He's old enough to be your father." It's hilarious and troublesome and confusing at the same time. I like movies like this, so if you're like me, go ahead and add Circle of Two, to your weekend watch list.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to adult content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it. Also, there may or may not be a rape scene (but it has nothing to do with Richard Burton).

Tatum O'Neal has been movie selective and has had a checkered past.

I truly enjoy every time I see Circle of Two. When I expect the cliches I see from watching numerous films, I do not get them--even when they approach them.

This is a doomed love, but one that is real. Very few films view this aspect of love without being sappy or swallowing themselves in sexual release.

I am biased toward Tatum O'Neal as an actress, so my comments are bent toward her as such. Yet, there is something in this film that makes me understand emotional truths.

I wish I could explain the importance of this film...

The relationship between a burnt-out painter of 60 and the schoolgirl who inspires him to start working again. She falls for him, he keeps her at arm's length, but the strain of pubescent desire is too much and she starts to crack. Tatum O'Neal is lovely in this film. She's not a lazy actress, she simply doesn't ham it up like today's teen players. The sequence where she hopes to seduce painter Richard Burton by disrobing in his studio is quite sad (she wants to surprise him, he surprises her by getting angry). The scene with Tatum and Richard hanging out with a group of her school-friends is wonderful (none of the girls judge him or second-guess her) and O'Neal is sweet promising to return to Burton as quickly as she can ("I'll break all speed records!" she tells him). There are no "Lolita" overtones here. Tatum plays a fairly normal teenager who develops a crush on a fascinating man who is much older. Her heart is bound to get broken, and Burton tries his best to steer her through this. It's a simple, no-frills Canadian drama that will appeal to romantics and young women who may have experienced a crush like this along the way. **1/2 from ****