Un Homme Amoureux (aka A Man In Love) (1987)

A struggling actress (Greta Scacchi) living in France is offered a small but important role in a major film. An almost immediate affair begins with the film's leading man, a famous American actor (Peter Coyote). Co-written and directed by Diane Kurys (ENTRE NOUS) in her English language directorial debut. A potentially interesting film is sabotaged by a major miscasting choice. There's an axiom that it takes a star to play a star and Peter Coyote isn't and never was a star. He's a decent character actor but as a leading man, he's sexless and without presence. The film's numerous love scenes are among the most unerotic I've ever seen. One simply doesn't understand the passion that the two women (Jamie Lee Curtis as his wife is the other one) have for him. He's a zero. Shot in English, French and Italian, this is a French/Italian film with American and British leads. Coyote has a crying scene that's abominably embarrassing yet the director (Jean Pigozzi) raves how brilliant it is! In fact, the movie they're making looks pretty crappy. Coyotoe's isn't the only bad performance in the movie. John Berry (yes, the blacklisted director) as Scacchi's father in pretty horrendous too. None of the characters are likeable and eventually, it's a pointless film. With Claudia Cardinale, Vincent Lindon and Peter Riegert.