As “Kit” (Debra Winger) and her husband “Port” (John Malkovich) come to terms with their relationship losing its spark, they choose a trip into the Moroccan desert hoping to revitalize things. However, his initial experience doesn’t go as planned; he quickly finds himself in an unusual establishment alongside some chickens, encountering the peculiar and somewhat damp "Eric" (Timothy Spall) and his penny-pinching mother (Jill Bennett). They prove useful, though, because his wife and their friend “George” (Campbell Scott) have already ventured further inland, and he intends to join them. It’s during this journey that we learn, through a voiceover, that honesty has always been lacking among these people and any resolution they find will likely be a compromise between what they hoped for or imagined. While Winger and Malkovich are the central figures, and perform adequately, I felt the supporting actors did a better job of showing how damaging this situation was. Spall stood out particularly, as did the local tribespeople who vividly highlight the contrast between their struggles and the societies that exist within the arid, fly-ridden yet beautiful villages of the northern Sahara. The cinematography, which evokes Jack Cardiff’s style, creates a striking blend of calmness, intensity, and tranquility, as the characters seem to fade into an endless landscape—a visual representation, at least for me, of humanity's insignificance and the triviality of our problems, mostly created by ourselves. Regarding how the story ends, I must admit I wasn’t invested in the fate of these privileged and rather self-centered individuals whose personal dramas and shortcomings felt unimportant on a larger scale. That unengaging plot was what held this film back for me, along with Bertolucci's apparent need to include sexual encounters as if trying to make up for a lack of something more substantial to demonstrate any real emotional bond between the characters. It’s visually appealing, certainly, but as a narrative, I found it somewhat superficial.

Source on TMDB