It’s supposed to be heavy drama, but it’s full of cliches. In the first scene a woman raises from a bed and asks a man to leave. She then stands naked at the window as a family walks underneath scandalized. We then learn that she is the hostess at an upscale restaurant but when she asks to go on a cigarette break she cuts herself instead with a sharp rock. Then she appears to contemplate to jump from a cliff to the raging sea underneath. She then has sex with one of the rich patrons of her establishment, after she just cut herself! All the time there is a mysterious man who follows her. In the process we had learned that her sexual partner in the first scene was one of the kitchen staff, whom she ignores when she sees him. All that with Charlize Theron in the first 8 minutes. Regrettably, I will miss the casual sex scenes with Kim Basinger and Jennifer Lawrence.

Charlize, Lawrence and Basinger are in it for the family drama. The problem with this flick is it's all one big conflict...no resolution...just a bunch of adultery.

I love this movie. It's heavy and evocative, but the three main storylines build and coalesce in a rich and unpredictable way, and the acting is excellent. It's a remarkable movie when you see tragedies unfold, but you have empathy for everyone.

Melodramatic but effective.

Il racconto su più linee temporali di un personaggio rotto, a causa di un trauma da lui stesso procurato; riesce in parte a scorrere soprattutto quando arrivano quegli avvenimenti che ne modificano la trama, mentre è molto meno riuscito quando sono i dialoghi a farla da padrona. Si ha la costante sensazione però che tutti i personaggi siano intrappolati in una realtà che non li soddisfa, stretti dall'apatia della quotidianità non riescono a modificare in nessun modo il loro modo di essere. Non noioso ma nemmeno entusiasmante, questo dramma troppo spesso si adagia sull'espressività delle sue protagoniste femminili che ne elevano le interpretazioni ma che abbassano il ritmo oltremodo.

Enjoyed watching these performances in this non-linear character-driven story.

This is a great movie, though it requires a lot of work to figure it out. It concerns a serious mistake made by one of the characters, and because the characters are shown at two or three different ages and played by different actors at the various time periods, It is difficult to know who is who at times. However, the shattered timeline is very effective at displaying the tortured mind and emotions of the protagonist. So here's a big hint --Jennifer Lawrence is the actor who gets to make the mistake. In the end it is clear who is who, if you haven't figured it out already, and it's a very emotional ending. BTW, if you happen to have read Pedro Paramo, you will know the territory you are in.

If edited better. It took me a third of the movie to realize Lawrence was a teenage Theron. Parents have an affair and then the children do. Theron is the town slut for a reason.

Slowest, most boring movie out there🤦🏻‍♀️😵😡🤦🏻‍♀️I love how Netflix and Prime put on every piece of shit out there, that never made a dime😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡You could kill your self🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴

Good cast. Thoughtful movie. The viewer needs to puzzle out the relationships among the story lines. A shocking occurrence ties them all together. Worth watching; I'm glad I saw it.

If you're in the mood for a grim, depressing soap opera, and if you like Hollywood blondes and surprise endings, this one's for you. The aforementioned blondes are Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, and Jennifer Lawrence. All three are distinctly unlikeable. One is shamelessly promiscuous; another is an adulteress with a husband and kids, and the third--Well, no spoilers here. Guillermo Arriaga wrote the screenplay and directed. It's over-the-top morose. Nobody smiles in this film. Nobody. The story, which has what appear to be two unrelated plots, jumps back and forth in time, so we have no idea how it will all come together. When it finally does, I have to admit that I was completely unprepared. Pretty clever. The structure of the film, which implicitly suggests that a surprise is in store, kept me watching. Some savvy movie watchers may figure it out before the final act, but not me. I admit that I'm slow. Worth a watch, but don't expect any smiles.

Before you waste an evening trying to figure out who is who at what age in what location doing what for what reason, skip the pretentiousness and find a movie where you might care about any of the characters, or maybe the plot, or at least something. You've been warned!

Kim Bassinger's character is the mother of four having and affair, in which her oldest daughter catches her, but does not thoroughly confront her about it. Instead, she watches and follows her. They are meeting in a trailer in the middle of nowhere, and when the daughter finds it she unhooks the gas line. This causes, predictably, the trailer to explode, killing her mother and the man she was having the affair with, while the daughter watches. She is upset, and claims it was an accident, but that is not really clearly established. Then, the daughter starts seeing the son of the man her mother was having the affair with when she died. The second tier of the movie is Charlize's character (the daughter later in life) trying to run from her past.

A woman who feels inadequate after cancer surgery, a daughter who in adolescent anger ends her cheating mom's life and then gets pregnant by the cuckold's son ensuring she won't commit to the child because of the remorse of the murder of her mother. Talk about a twisted plot. The film was slow to develop, but after awhile the plot points began to stack up. As per usual, repetitive flashbacks mess with continuity, but overall a well acted and interesting film

When a mysterious Mexican messenger approaches Sylvia (Charlize Theron), an elegant sex-addict working as a wine stewardess at a posh Oregon seaside restaurant, she reluctantly begins to face her past. As a teenager, she is Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) living in small desert town in New Mexico. When she discovers her mother's (Kim Basinger) seamy affair with a Mexican laborer, her attempt to interfere becomes a devastating disaster. Falling in love with the Mexican's son Santiago further complicates the issue, especially since both their families turn against them for consorting with the other side. Add an unwanted pregnancy to trigger her disappearance. The movie cleverly illustrates little-known aspects of life in small Southwest towns, including shaky relations between Mexicans and Americans. Both Theron and Lawrence give outstanding performances that highlight the gut-wrenching effects a mother's infidelity can have on a teenage girl. However, the film is unlikely to ever get serious recognition because Santiago suggests to Mariana that if they move to Mexico, they will find peace.

The film is mixed within the timeline but made sense close to the end at the current timeline. The cast portrayed their characters ell and brought real emotions to the screen of both love and betrayal.

It is definetly true that the way the Burning Plain narrates is quite confusing. However, the movie did manage to present suprises when a series of events start to unravel.

J. Law played the younger Charlize Theron in this totally uninteresting piece.

Hated it. Depressing story about screwed up people ruining their lives. Go see this if you want to get really confused and depressed. The only good part was Jennifer Lawrence.

Sylvia's cool, professional demeanor masks the sexually charged storm within. When a stranger from Mexico confronts her with her mysterious past, she is launched into a journey through space and time that inextricably connects her to disparate characters, all of whom are grappling with their own romantic destinies. In Mexico, a young motherless girl, Maria, lives happily with her father and his best friend until a tragic accident changes it all. In the New Mexico border town of Las Cruces, two teenagers, Mariana and Santiago, find love in the aftermath of their parents' sudden deaths. In an abandoned trailer, a housewife, Gina, embarks on a passionate affair that will put Sylvia and the others on a collision course with the explosive power of forbidden love. Charlize Theron was great, but it was an average movie overall.