The Sheltering Sky

(Bernardo Bertolucci, UK/Italy 1990, 138 min., 35mm)

Vittorio Storaro. Well-heeled American travelers Kit and Port (Debra Winger and John Malkovich) indulge a winsome third wheel (Campbell Scott) through North Africa. They flee erotic attachment, pushing deeper into the desert, where there are no hotels and dollars are worthless. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro captures the sumptuous Saharan dunescapes, shaded Algerian alleyways and teeming markets of Niger. Ryuichi Sakamoto’s sweeping score abuts hypnotic musical performances. Bertolucci cast the novel’s author, Paul Bowles, in a cameo as the narrator of his own tale of desperation.