---
title: "Damage"
year: 1992
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/damage"
fi1m_id: "damage"
imdb_id: "tt0104237"
tmdb_id: 11012
wikidata_id: "Q1542915"
fi1m_score: 57
critics_score: 53
critics_reviews: 6
published: "2026-10-04T23:02:57.536269+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-04T23:03:15.419704+00:00"
region: "RO"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Damage (1992)

Directed by Louis Malle · 1h 51m · Drama, Romance

## Identity

Damage

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/damage
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** damage
- **IMDb ID:** tt0104237
- **TMDB ID:** 11012
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1542915
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104237/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11012, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1542915

**Fi1m score: 57** · Critics 53 from 6 reviews

*In a sentence:* Jeremy Irons loses his mind over Juliette Binoche without once changing his expression

> Louis Malle directs Josephine Hart’s novel as a cold, handsome tragedy, and Irons and Richardson give it two performances worth the ticket. The affair at its centre is another matter: we are told it is a compulsion and shown two people standing still.

## Synopsis

London. Stephen Fleming (Jeremy Irons), a doctor who went into politics and now sits in government, lives in a tall, quiet house with his wife Ingrid (Miranda Richardson), their grown son Martyn (Rupert Graves) and their younger daughter Sally (Gemma Clarke). At a reception he is introduced to Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche), who tells him she is Martyn’s new girlfriend. They exchange a handful of sentences. Soon afterwards she telephones him, he goes to her flat, and an affair begins with almost no conversation. Martyn, meanwhile, brings her home to Sunday lunch, where Ingrid’s father Edward Lloyd (Ian Bannen) looks on, and Stephen must sit across the table from her and say nothing.

## Review

Louis Malle’s film of Josephine Hart’s novel runs 111 minutes and concerns a man who wrecks his family for a woman he hardly speaks to. Stephen Fleming (Jeremy Irons), a doctor turned government minister, has a tall London house, a capable wife and a son he is fond of, and he puts all of it at risk for the son’s girlfriend almost as soon as he meets her. David Hare’s screenplay treats this as fate rather than scandal, and the tagline, which ends on the word “Destiny”, is not joking. It is handsomely made, and we did not believe a minute of the affair.

The surface is the best of it. Peter Biziou shoots London in a cold grey that never warms up, and Brian Morris gives the Flemings a house of pale walls, polished floors and tall windows that looks like somewhere nobody has ever raised their voice. Milena Canonero puts Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche) in black and deep blue and Ingrid Fleming (Miranda Richardson) in cream and camel, so that you can read the two women’s positions at a glance. Zbigniew Preisner’s score is mostly strings, slow and low, and it tells us from the first minute that this will end badly. John Bloom cuts the lovers’ meetings with hardly a line of dialogue between them.

That silence is Malle’s choice, and it is where the film goes wrong. Stephen and Anna meet at a reception, exchange a few sentences, and the next time they are alone they are on the floor. Malle wants the compulsion left unexplained: Stephen does not understand it, so neither should we. But a compulsion still has to be felt, and we sat through the middle hour waiting to feel it and never did. Irons plays Stephen as a man watching himself from a distance, and his face barely moves even when the rest of him is in trouble. Binoche delivers Anna’s lines as flat statements of fact, which is a fair way to play a woman who has decided not to be hurt again, but it leaves two people on screen who refuse to react, and that leaves us nothing to react to. The sex, which earns the 18 certificate, is staged against doorframes and furniture with a seriousness that tips more than once into the absurd.

Richardson is the best thing in it. Her Ingrid runs the house, the diary and the Sunday lunch with a brisk pleasantness, and for most of the film she is the only person who seems to be living in the present. Then, late on, in a scene we will not describe, she behaves as if something has actually happened, and we were shaken by it, more than anything before had prepared us for, because it is the first time in the film that anyone does. Rupert Graves plays Martyn as eager and trusting, which makes every family dinner harder to sit through than any of the bedroom scenes. Ian Bannen is dry and watchful as Ingrid’s father, and Leslie Caron arrives for one scene as Anna’s mother and takes in more in five minutes than Stephen manages in the whole picture.

Malle had filmed desire before. In *Les Amants*, from 1958, he kept the camera on Jeanne Moreau’s face and let the face do the work. Here the faces are locked, and Hare’s dialogue has to carry what they will not. Some of it is good; Anna’s line about damaged people being dangerous because they know they can survive is the one everybody remembers. Much of it is people announcing their states of mind to each other in complete sentences, which is how Hare’s characters talk on a stage and sounds odd in a kitchen.

If you do sit through it, Richardson, the house and Preisner’s strings are what you will remember. At home the silences are longer and the furniture less impressive, and neither helps.

*Fi1m score 57, published 4 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews lean mixed, and most critics agree on where the film works: the acting. Jeremy Irons is singled out for making Stephen’s appalling self-assurance believable, Juliette Binoche for holding the screen, and Miranda Richardson for a late outburst one critic calls the most affecting moment in the film. There is broad agreement too that the film looks handsome and is put together with care, even where the material is judged to be pulp.

The reservations cluster around temperature. Several critics find the film cold and emotionally pinched, its solemn manner at odds with what is at bottom a story of infidelity, and a few think the drama tips into pretension. The spread is wide: the Los Angeles Times finds it engrossing, polished entertainment despite the soap-opera premise, while The New Yorker dismisses it as misjudged and predictable, arguing that the polish dresses up a banal story as tragedy. Two of the six reviews are only partly readable, so the middle of the range is thinner than the count suggests.

## Straight answers

**Is Damage worth watching?**

*Damage* is only half worth watching, and we scored it 57: Louis Malle's film of Josephine Hart's novel is handsomely made and Miranda Richardson is excellent, but the affair at its centre never convinces. Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche play two people who refuse to react, and that leaves us nothing to react to. For admirers of Richardson and of cold, well-dressed tragedy.

**How long is Damage, and what is it rated?**

*Damage* runs 1h 51m. It is a drama and romance film.

**Where can I watch Damage in Romania?**

*Damage* is not on any streaming or rental service in Romania at the moment. It is available in 29 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Damage, and is it suitable for children?**

*Damage* is certified 18 in the UK and R in the US, and it is not for children. There is no violence or horror to speak of; the certificate is earned by the sex scenes, which are frequent, explicit and staged with a seriousness that sometimes tips into the absurd. The subject, a government minister sleeping with his son's girlfriend, is adult throughout.

**How does Damage compare to The Piano Teacher?**

*Damage* and [*The Piano Teacher*](https://film.one/film/the-piano-teacher) are both cold films about compulsion, and Michael Haneke's is the better one. Malle leaves Stephen's obsession unexplained and unfelt, so the middle hour is two people standing still; Haneke keeps the camera on Isabelle Huppert and lets her fiercely controlled performance carry the discomfort. *Damage* is the gentler watch, *The Piano Teacher* the more rewarding.

**Is Damage based on a true story or a book?**

*Damage* is based on Josephine Hart's novel of the same name, adapted for the screen by David Hare; it is not a true story. Hare's script treats the affair as fate rather than scandal, and some of his dialogue sounds more like a stage than a kitchen. You need not have read the book to follow it, and knowing the source will not make the central affair any more convincing.

**What should I watch after Damage?**

After *Damage*, try [*The Piano Teacher*](https://film.one/film/the-piano-teacher) (2001, Fi1m 82): Isabelle Huppert and a compulsion filmed with the coldness Malle was reaching for. Then [*Brief Encounter*](https://film.one/film/brief-encounter) (1945, Fi1m 90): The English affair conducted entirely in restraint, and it aches where this one freezes; and [*In the Realm of the Senses*](https://film.one/film/in-the-realm-of-the-senses) (1976, Fi1m 74): Oshima’s lovers shut the door on the world; the obsession here is total and believed.

### Reviews we read (6)

- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (75/100, inferred): Turan finds the film engrossing, polished entertainment despite its pulpy, soap-opera premise. He singles out the conviction and skill of the lead performances, especially the work of Irons, Binoche and Richardson. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-23-ca-2110-story.html)
- **Time Out**, WH (67/100, inferred): The available description presents the film as a good-looking adaptation and a cautionary tale of obsessive love and power. The review’s fuller verdict and any specific praise or complaint are unavailable in the page text. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/damage)
- **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (64/100, inferred): The page is blocked, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. The review’s specific praise or complaint is also unavailable. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/23/movies/review-film-sexual-obsession-edited-for-an-r.html)
- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (58/100, inferred): McCarthy finds the film compelling but emotionally pinched, with a cold, brittle tone that may frustrate viewers expecting romance. He praises Jeremy Irons’s expertly calibrated performance, which makes Stephen’s appalling self-confidence believable. [Read](https://variety.com/1992/film/reviews/damage-2-1200431072/)
- **Empire**, Matt Mueller (45/100, inferred): Mueller finds the film visually ravishing but emotionally remote, with its drama often veering into pretension. He praises Juliette Binoche’s mesmerizing performance and singles out Miranda Richardson’s climactic outburst as the film’s most affecting moment. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/damage-review/)
- **The New Yorker**, Terrence Rafferty (10/100, inferred): Rafferty finds Damage disastrously misjudged and lethally predictable. He faults its solemn, polished style for dressing up a banal infidelity story as tragic inevitability. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/01/25/baser-instincts)

## Details

- **Director:** Louis Malle
- **Director:** Louis Malle
- **Screenplay:** David Hare
- **Novel:** Josephine Hart
- **Cinematography:** Peter Biziou
- **Editor:** John Bloom
- **Music:** Zbigniew Preisner
- **Production design:** Brian Morris
- **Costume design:** Milena Canonero
- **Producer:** Louis Malle
- **Cast:** Jeremy Irons as Dr. Stephen Fleming; Juliette Binoche as Anna Barton; Miranda Richardson as Ingrid Fleming; Rupert Graves as Martyn Fleming; Peter Stormare as Peter Wetzler; Gemma Clarke as Sally Fleming; Ian Bannen as Edward Lloyd; Julian Fellowes as Donald Lyndsay, MP
- **Runtime:** 1h 51m
- **First release (Denmark):** 2 December 1992
- **Genres:** Drama, Romance
- **Budget:** $11 million
- **Box office:** $31 million

## Where to watch in Romania

Not streaming, renting or buying in Romania at the last check.

Also available in: AE, AT, AU, BE, BR, CH, CL, CO, DE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, KR, MX, MY, NL, NZ, PH, SE, SG, TH. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 1993: Best Supporting Actress (nominated)
- César Award for Best Actress 1993: César Award for Best Actress (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Mother* (2003): Anne Reid and a daughter’s boyfriend; the same transgression, this time with the warmth left in.
- *The Piano Teacher* (2001), Fi1m 82: Isabelle Huppert and a compulsion filmed with the coldness Malle was reaching for. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-piano-teacher.md)
- *Les Amants* (1958): Malle, thirty-four years earlier, letting Jeanne Moreau’s face say what Irons’s will not.
- *Brief Encounter* (1945), Fi1m 90: The English affair conducted entirely in restraint, and it aches where this one freezes. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/brief-encounter.md)
- *In the Realm of the Senses* (1976), Fi1m 74: Oshima’s lovers shut the door on the world; the obsession here is total and believed. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-realm-of-the-senses.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/damage