Strangers

Stars: Linda Fiorentino (After Hours, Vision Quest, Shout), James Remar (Drugstore Cowboy, White Fang, Quiet Cool), Joan Chen (The Last Emperor, Twin Peaks), Lambert Wilson (The Belly of an Architect, Red Kiss), Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, Taps, The Falcon and the Snowman). A good cast and good directors (Daniel Vigne-The Return of Martin Guerre and Wayne Wang-Chan Is Missing) are wasted in this made-for-cable softcore art trilogy set in Paris. In "The Last Game," Helen (Fiorentino) and Bernard (Remar) are a bored couple who seduce young French dudes, and then make love to each other. "Small Sounds and Tilting Shadows" stars Joan Chen as an accident victim who spends her days in an apartment of a friend of a friend who's away. Here, she cuts up pictures and slowly goes crazy. And in "Windows," Tom (Hutton) works on his doctoral dissertation while watching the woman in the apartment across the street get tied up. Bottom line: Strangers offers a lot of flesh but very little meat. Zippola character development, arty dialogue, and soap opera living room sets make this a lot like watching daytime TV-except for the skin and the fact that the stories make are cryptic. Audience: Too arty for the softcore crowd; too exploitative for the arty crowd.