The Innocent (1993)

The fact that a brand-name sexy thriller played briefly in only a handful of cities raises questions when the video is released — like, Is it any good? The production of The Innocent is unassailably professional, from its cast to its director (Midnight Cowboy's Oscar-winning John Schlesinger) to its smart screenplay (by novelist Ian McEwan), which is set in postwar Berlin and entails a spy-counterspy-countercounterspy plot. Rossellini plays both yummy prize and wrench in the works for American operative Hopkins and his British colleague (Campbell Scott). While the Byzantine story will keep you from getting up midway through, The Innocent's human element — perhaps buried under all the professionalism — may leave you feeling sadly reflective and curiously hollow.