Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray acting as his manager, the duo quickly finds themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money.
Fading Gigolo is an American film directed, written by and starring John Turturro, co-starring Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, and Liev Schreiber. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
About the Story
Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone), a wealthy dermatologist, mentions to her patient Murray (Woody Allen) that she and a woman friend (Sofía Vergara) wish to experience a ménage à trois and asks if he knows a willing man. Murray, whose used bookstore has failed, convinces his friend and former employee Fioravante (John Turturro) to take the gig, as both are short of money.
Soon they build a thriving gigolo trade with Murray as the pimp. Murray lives with an African-American woman (Tonya Pinkins) and her children, one of whom gets head lice. Murray takes the boy to Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), the attractive widow of a Hassidic rabbi, for treatment.
Murray tells her Fioravante is a massage healer who can help her and takes her to see him. Too observant to even shake hands with him, she nonetheless allows Fioravante to massage her back and that touch, the first since her husband died, brings her to tears.
Meanwhile, Dovi (Liev Schreiber), who works for Shomrim, a Williamsburg, Brooklyn neighborhood patrol, becomes suspicious and follows Murray. Dovi is in love with Avigal, but she does not encourage him. Fioravante and Avigal meet several more times, culminating in a kiss in the park.
Fioravante is summoned to the long planned ménage, but is unable to finish. The two women cheerfully realize the truth—he has fallen in love. Murray is kidnapped by a group of Hassids, taken to a Rabbinic Court, and interrogated. Avigal interrupts the court and confesses to violating the laws of modesty, but nothing more, explaining she was lonely.
Avigal now accepts Dovi, but has him drive her to Fioravante to say good bye. Fioravante tells Murray he is leaving, but reconsiders after an encounter with a beautiful woman (Loan Chabanol).
Sharon Stone Cozies Up With Sofia Vergara
Most actresses who are approaching their 56th birthday would probably shy away from a sexually adventurous role that involved revealing lingerie, hiring a male prostitute, and engaging in a ménage à trois with another woman. But then again, most actresses aren’t Sharon Stone.
In the upcoming film “Fading Gigolo,” Stone plays Dr. Parker, a successful dermatologist who is looking for a different way to encounter some skin. Stone calls her character “a flower which hasn’t bloomed… a bud, a very tightly closed bud.” But when Parker lets her client Murray (Woody Allen) know she’s looking to broaden her horizons, he suggests his pal Fioravante (John Turturro, who also writes and directs) could help her out for the right price.
Stone, of course, is not known for playing sexually repressed characters. She became a household name 22 years ago in the notorious “Basic Instinct,” which lead to a series of uninhibited leading roles. But Stone says she relishes her new role because her character is experiencing new passions for the first time.
Stone says Parker gets introduced to “feelings of attraction, feelings of jealousy, feelings of wonder, feelings of hopefulness, that delicious feeling of ‘ooh I might know how to get to be sexy.’” And, she says, the fact that this new awareness comes later in life makes it all the more appealing. “It’s all delightful because she’s 50, not 20,” says Stone, “and it’s so touching to see that at any age we can discover ourselves anew.”
A major part of Parker’s awakened sense of adventure is the prospect of bringing her friend Selima, played by Sofia Vergara, in on the fun. Vergara describes Selima as “a little cuckoo… she’s not afraid of screaming, crying, saying and doing whatever she wants.”
But there’s another woman in Fioravante’s world who he finds himself drawn to for reasons other than money. Vanessa Paradis plays Avigal, the widow of a Hassidic rabbi who has no experience with real intimacy. Paradis, the French singer-actress who was formerly attached to Johnny Depp, makes her English-language debut here. Turturro says that while her background couldn’t be further from that of her character, Paradis connected with the role in a very personal way: “Sometimes a role just resonates with somebody, because of whatever they’re going through, or their age, or anything at all, and you can’t separate the performance from the reality.”
Fading Gigolo
Directed by: John Turturro
Starring: John Turturro, Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber
Screenplay by: John Turturro
Production Design by: Lester Cohen
Cinematography by: Marco Pontecorvo
Film Editing by: Simona Paggi
Costume Design by: Donna Zakowska
Set Decoration by: Sheila Bock
Music by: Abraham Laboriel, Bill Maxwell
MPAA Rating: R for some sexual content, language and brief nudity.
Studio: Millennium Entertainment
Release Date: April 18, 2014
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