The promise Tatum O'Neal showed as a little girl clearly didn't pan out, as evidenced by this obscure Canadian production about a schoolgirl who has an affair (of the heart) with 60-year old painter Richard Burton. Her delivery is unforgivably flat - she is clearly giving readings, especially in the closing scene - and the production lackluster on every level. Even Burton's performance is much weaker than he is capable of, stiff and stagy, and hardly justifying the attraction this girl a third his age is supposed to feel for him.
The director takes the material seriously and keeps it from degenerating into exploitation (except for momentarily, in a lurid and ridiculous attempted rape sequence)... if only he managed to keep the audience interested. The plot plods and meanders, and the script seems to think it has something to significant to say, but can't decide what. If anyone is for some reason interested in seeing Tatum O'Neal's breasts (curious, considering that she must have been only 16 or 17 when the film was made), this is the place. Otherwise, Circle of Two should be of little interest to anyone.
The director takes the material seriously and keeps it from degenerating into exploitation (except for momentarily, in a lurid and ridiculous attempted rape sequence)... if only he managed to keep the audience interested. The plot plods and meanders, and the script seems to think it has something to significant to say, but can't decide what. If anyone is for some reason interested in seeing Tatum O'Neal's breasts (curious, considering that she must have been only 16 or 17 when the film was made), this is the place. Otherwise, Circle of Two should be of little interest to anyone.