User Reviews

It's 1784 France. Aimée Dubucq de Rivéry chafes under the strict nuns. She is too independent and her uncle sends her back to the nuns. Pirates capture her ship and she is kidnapped to Algiers ending up in the Ottoman Sultan's harem. She resists being renamed and the scheming by Sineperver (Maud Adams). Sultan Abdul Hamid (F. Murray Abraham) picks her and she refuses. When he offers to not sleep with her, she relents. She becomes his favorite and gives him another heir. Sineperver's son Mustafa is in line to be the next Sultan and she sends an assassin to kill Aimée's son. The Sultan gives her Mahmud to adopt. The Janissaries are restless for war against the Russians but they are outmatched without modern weapons.

This is a strange movie. It's half exploitative melodramatic romance. It's also a period piece historical drama. It's reminiscent of a pulpy romance novel. Surprisingly, this has a couple of interesting veteran actors. On the other hand, the lead is a young amateur although she's not the problem. Amber O'Shea definitely has model good looks. She has spunk and that is charismatic enough. The production is lower value but the locations are pretty good. This is cheese but I must admit that it's memorable cheese.

This has the scope of a miniature David Lean film. Tons of extras, big scenes, sets, a comfy mideast setting, and filmmaking resourcefulness to create a scope. F. Murray Abraham in the turban elevates the entire production. At least it's a film, you know, real sets, real people, this is a refreshing thing when CGI and digital has destroyed the soul of cinema. It's your responsibility to build your own canon and discover hidden treasures away from the CGI apocalypse we're imprisoned in. I love finding undiscovered films like this.

What I saw was a throwback to cliché-cluster flicks of decades ago, but the soundtrack puts it firmly in the eighties.

It is thumpingly and enormously awful, as wretched and phony a film as could be conceived. Tittering harem ladies a'bathing, stern Turks delivering script bits from the 100 Most Popular Stock Lines for the genre. They might as well have gone beyond the scattered skin peeks to a fuller soft-core intention -- all pillow-plush and pleasures in the sultan's palace, because that's already the quality/ambiance/performance level of much of this thin 'n cheesy production.

The producers may have scored the perfectly suited shooting location, but much else in the movie seems to be reaching for the furthest reaches of inauthenticity.

Admissions: There is amusement, even delight, in encountering something so consummately lame, in wondering who could work on it and think for a moment this embarrassment should be taken seriously. I really did laugh out loud a few times at this painfully acted, double-dreadfully written, obliviously directed caricature. Maybe I WOULD view a portion of it again, preferably with someone else. "Look!...watch this! Watch!"

And..I only made it through the early half. Turned away easily without even the tiniest rhinestone of regret. (A bug buzzing by in the living room could be diversion enough from this bungle.) Could be...could be that when it moved deeper into violence and intrigue, into dramatic seizures(!) of fate and steering of history, it took a turn toward something more engaging and more plausibly presented. Could happen...right?

Fascinating story but except for F.Murray Abraham this movie had some of the worst acting I have ever seen. I have seen children in school plays put on more believable performances than Amber O'Shea and James Michael Gregary. With the lacking script and C movie performance (I thought at first it might be a porno film) it took me 3 days to watch. I was so intrigued with the story line I wanted to see the ending but again because of the scrip and acting I could only watch it in small doses. I'm hoping someone will take this wonderful tale and make a real "movie" about it. Probably watchable if you have allot of paperwork or crafts or something to take your mind off the performers and their flat delivery of poor lines.

I have never seen such pathetic acting. I have never seen such a pathetic script.

I cannot figure out how someone could ever pay to have this movie made.

It was horiffyingly bad in every aspect.

If there has ever been a movie with worse acting, I have not seen it. And I don't think it's possible. The only thing this "film" is good for is if you build some kind of drinking game around it: drunk people might be amused; sober people will be appalled. A high school student with an iPhone and untalented friends could have made a better movie. I watched it because of F. Murray Abraham's name. Which makes me think that F. Murray and I have something in common. We both have experiences in our past which make us cringe, They might, perhaps, have had a good script. It's actually not terrible. In the hands of a qualified director this might -- might -- have been a good film. So I can see how F. Murray or his agent could have read the script and given this a go, without any idea of how bad the other actors might be, or how badly directed the film would be. But I wouldn't have wanted to be that agent when F.Murray saw the finished project!!!

This film has all the trappings of a B movie.

The costuming is remarkably bad (there's tulle and lame everywhere), the acting is hokey, and the writing a little less than mediocre.

But I _love_ this film nonetheless. I own it and watch it every now and again. I enjoy the cheesiness, and it's best enjoyed with a friend or two over drinks and hearty commentary and giggles. It's a wonderful orientalist film with glitter and glam mixed with quite a bit of fantasy.

It is based on a true story, and I am surprised every time to see it was actually filmed at Topkapi palace.

Years ago I saw this as a late night movie, and have remembered it since. It is a haunting story. It begins with a flash-forward, an abduction of a priest. The rest of the move is a flash-back, explaining why he is abducted. A British woman is on a ship which is attacked by Muslims and taken captive, then sold to be in the harem of the king. The plot includes palace intrigue, loss of innocence and freedom, rules and resistance, jealousy and hate, war and death, survival and double cross, an unlikely romance, the bonds of love and devotion. I seem to remember that the story has some basis in historical fact, and would like to know more about that. Even having seen the movie only the one time, it was so unique and compelling that I recall the story and details to this day. Adult themes: Not a movie for children, but they are being exposed to worse. (I'm pleased to have found this movie on your list, since it is not well known.)

The acting is not so good. There is little action, but the it is a fantastic, yet true, story and Amber O'Shea is a knock out in this film. There is brief nudity. Amber's costumes reveal her chest in see through fabric and one of the slave girls is topless.

Story takes place at the end of the 19th century. A French girl is kidnapped and sold into slavery. There is lots of dressing and partial undressing of Amber and plenty of romance and love - Stockholm Syndrome style. It's one of those B movies that would probably be unimpressive if not for a couple of impressive elements that are perhaps only special to the viewer. Poor acting. Poor directing. Poor action. Not even any sex... Yet it is a touching little movie.

I have to disagree with the former review. While it has been a long time since I have seen this particular movie. I can think of far worse ways to spend an hour and 45 minutes!

It is however, a movie that has a hard time fitting into a category. As an historical movie, it is highly fictionalized (although it is based on a real person who did in fact bring Christianity to the royal family of, I believe, Turkey.) It has too much gore to really be a romance.

As for the acting, I really liked F. Murray Abraham's performance. Amber O'Shea could be seen as rather Lackluster, but I generally prefer an understated performance. Ron Dortch, as Tulip, was really good.

One final word of warning. While I saw nothing in this movie that was not included to further the storyline, I did recommend this to a friend who was highly offended by the sexual nature of a few scenes. But hey, the movie was about a young European girl who finds herself married to a Turkish Aga, and conceives his heir. What can you expect!

Although I can see where the dissers are coming from, I found this film charming. Yeah, the script and acting could have been better, but man, what a story! Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, cousin of the French Empress Josephine, captured by pirates and sold into the Turkish ruler's harem, in later life ends up transforming Turkey into the modern age through her son. She was known as the Sultan Valideh, the Veiled Power, and she made herself and her son a bridge to the West.

She must have been something and a half, and Amber O'Shea, with a pretty crappy script, somehow manages to sell it. And of course any harem run by F. Murray Abraham is my kind of harem.

All in all, a pleasant couple of hours. I await the REAL movie of Naksh, the Sultan Valideh.

A captivating, straight-from-the-heart historical drama,

based on a true story. Features a beautiful film score (by

William Goldstein II) and authentic scenery (the movie was shot

on location in Istanbul). The characters are well crafted and

sensitively portrayed. Foremost among the acting performances, which are all

outstanding and convincing, is that of F. Murray Abraham

(perhaps best known for his role as Salieri in Amadeus). He

portrays the old sultan Abdu'l-Hamid, who buys a French

schoolgirl for his harem and renames her 'Nakhshadil', unaware

of the profound effect she will later have on his country. The French schoolgirl, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, is played by

actress Amber O'Shea in a down-to-earth manner that some viewers

may not appreciate; nevertheless, her portrayal of Aimee is

endearing and plausible. The character of Aimee was not meant to

be portrayed as a larger-than-life heroine, but rather as a

culturally-displaced spoiled brat who was forced to grow up and

take charge of her life in order to survive in the more

primitive, oppressive Ottoman society. Maud Adams skillfully portrays Abdu'l-Hamid's jealous wife,

Sineperver. James Michael Gregary stars as the handsome but

naive successor to the throne, Selim, who becomes romantically

involved with Aimee yet fails to heed her warnings about the

need for political reforms and the elimination of the troublesome elite guard known as the Janissaries. Ron Dortch

brings to life the complex character of Tulip, a eunuch who is

the second most powerful official in the Ottoman Empire (after

the Sultan). The interactions of these individuals take place

amidst Ottoman royal court intrigues as Western European

influences begin to have a major impact.

As Tulip dies, notice how carefully he handles the vase in his hands. This is, undoubtedly, due to the fact that the props were returned to Pier 1 the day after the shooting finished.

Intimate Power has yet to meet its full destiny on Mystery Science Theater 3000.