lazarillo A middle-age man (Marcello Mastroanni) trapped in a loveless marriage with a cold, shrewish wife and pregnant teenage daughter meets a young university student (Natassia Kinski)who reminds him of a lover he had twenty years earlier. Turns out there's a good reason for this--she is the daughter of his now dead lover. The problem is, since her paternity is very uncertain, she might be his own daughter as well! Thus you have the hilarious spectacle of Mastroanni trying to unsuccessfully resist a very ripe and beautiful Kinski.This is the kind of movie that would have been crass and tasteless if made in America, but being set in Europe is merely quaint and corny (mostly due to the English dubbing). It resembles other European films like "Appassionata" and "Beau Pere", but might be a little more palatable since the man is at best only biologically the girl's father and the girl (and more importantly the actress playing her) is at least not an underage Lolita. It also resembles a lighter-toned "Last Tango in Paris" in that it has a lot of strange sex scenes, some of which might be pretty erotic (Mastroanni biting Kinski's beauteous bare rump) while others are pretty silly (Kinski serving Mastroanni a cup of her "pee-pee").Most people then and now will probably see this film for Kinski's copious nude scenes. Keep in mind though they are not very well-paced--she spends the first half of the movie dressed and the second half almost perpetually naked. To tide you over though you also have the beautiful Ana Peironi (the "Mother of Tears" in Dario Argento's "Inferno", who really does make one want to cry) playing Kinski's promiscuous roommate. She has one of the funniest scenes where she strips off all her clothes in front of Mastroanni seconds after meeting him, all the while casually telling him how she doesn't like to sleep at the train station because of all "the horny men". (Well, no wonder!). Not for all tastes perhaps, but definitely recommended to fans of "Eurotica".

harrytrue "Stay As You Are" deals with a man who is attracted to a young girl, who finds out that she is the daughter of a prior lover (now dead), and that he might be her father (we never find out either way). When Francesca finds out she might be her daughter, it doesn't phase her. The man who has raised her, she looks in a father-daughter way. Giulio, she looks as a lover. The fact that he might be her father has no bearing on her.Likewise, although Giulio has sex with Francesca, knowing that she might be his daughter, around the the girl he has raised, he respects the incest taboo. In no way is he sexually interested in his own daughter. Francesca just walks into his life, then he learns that he might be her father."Time" magazine said all love stories have something keeping the lovers apart. Parents, class, money, etc. In this case, I don't think it was the incest taboo. Just that Francesca cannot see herself living with Giulio. I think he she had seen them as living together forever, she would have worked on it, taboo or no taboo.

ethylester I saw this movie a few years ago and have forgotten most of it. However, there was a scene that stuck out and has haunted me ever since. The scene where the girl pees in a cup and makes tricks the man into drinking it. She thinks this is really funny and makes him bite her butt. Yeah, that is one of the oddest sex scenes I have ever seen and it's the only thing I remember about this movie.

Carl S Lau "Stay as You Are" was Nastassja Kinski's fifth film following the 1975 Wim Wenders, "The Wrong Move," a so-so 1976 "To the Devil...a Daughter," and the two forgettable's: 1977 "Only For Your Love" and the 1978 "Boarding School." It is an Italian film of the time with its own mores with respect to extra marital affairs - a repeated undercurrent in many Italian films. "Stay as You Are" follows an older man who is contemplating an affair with a young girl, Nastassja Kinski, who is the same age as his own daughter but with the complication that Nastassja may actually be his real daughter from an affair of twenty years ago. A good European director can finesse this sort of situation. Most American directors would be over their heads and would be fortunate if they could tread water because the subject would be taboo in the American market. The actor is the legendary Marcello Mastroianni who at the time would have been 54. In viewing her early films, it is hard to not conclude that Nastassja has a birth year of 1959 and not the claimed 1961 because of her physical development. Perhaps she was just precocious. That would have placed her at nineteen for this film. The next year would give us Roman Polanski's "Tess" and "Stay as You Are" was a good prelude because it showed that, even at her young age, Nastassja had the screen presence to carry movies on her own opposite one of the European super stars of the time. The VHS tape that I saw was dubbed into English with neither voices matching either Nastassja's or Mastroianni's actual voices. For me, it is better to watch a movie in its native language with English subtitles, unless the principal actors do their own dubbing. An awful example of English dubbing is the French movie "La Femme Nikita." The voice is an integral part of an actor's screen presence, unless playing a mute like Nastassja did in "The Wrong Move." Some actors always sound the same, movie after movie. Nastassja Kinski is able to change her voice, according to the the needs of her role. She is one of very few actresses who is fluent in multiple languages. In "To the Devil...a Daughter" it is English, "The Blonde" it is Italian, "Moon in the Gutter" it is French, "Terminal Velocity" there is a little Russian. The bulk of her movies are in English. "Faraway, So Close" there is both German and English. "Paris, Texas" has Nastassja in a convincing Texan accent in which one would be hard pressed to know from the voice that it is she.Marcello Mastroianni always seems to bring a signature vulnerability whose intensity varies with the role. These characters are usually thoughtful and contemplative with an edge of awkwardness. Another way of putting it, is that these roles usually have depth. In "Stay as You Are" Mastroianni is almost entirely reactive to Nastassja's character. At first, he pursues her, then she pursues him because she likes older man. Then it is back and forth. Nastassja has to carry the movie. Sometimes she is flighty and silly. Other times she is serious. Her physical beauty is easily matched by her acting talent. Her movements are fluid, sometimes discontinuous, and her face ever changing as appropriate to the situation. Nastassja Kinski is a great natural actress who makes everything look easy. Her performances are always intelligent with a screen savviness that can be mesmerizing."Stay as You Are" is a tender romantic jewel that is difficult to find on VHS tape and expensive, if found. Along with "The Wrong Move," it would benefit from a first class transfer onto DVD with commentaries from Wim Wenders and Nastassja Kinski. I would have to include both "The Wrong Move" and "Stay as You Are" in any list of her core set of movies. There is a region 2 DVD widescreen version that is playable on a computer DVD, but it is in Italian with no English subtitles. With its not unexpected symmetry, "Stay as You Are" and Nastassja Kinski is cinema magic.