Stealing Heaven

Doomed Passion of Abelard & Heloise

The true story of the 12th-century lovers Abelard and Heloise has everything a grand, passionate film could want - sex, religion, intellect, violence and elaborate costumes. The love affair between the philosopher and teacher Pierre Abelard and his beautiful, gifted student defied not only the convention of chastity for teachers, but also Heloise's powerful uncle's wishes for her prosperous marriage. So after the lovers had a child and secretly married, her uncle took the nastiest possible revenge and had Abelard castrated. Stricken in his conscience as well as his loins, Abelard became a monk; Heloise reluctantly entered a convent.

Capturing all the facets of these exceptional lives requires entering the atmosphere of the medieval world. The wonder is not that ''Stealing Heaven'' ultimately fails, but that this relatively modest production comes so close to succeeding. Directed by Clive Donner with a small budget, an uneven script and a wonderful cast, ''Stealing Heaven'' suggested the stateliness and rigidity of the world that the intellectual and sensual Heloise and Abelard resisted.

Much of the film's success comes from Derek de Lint's thoughtful, complex performance as Abelard. We see his easy love of teaching as well as his struggle to resist his love for Heloise. With an intensity that is not overplayed, Mr. de Lint creates a man who believes in the authority he is defying, who comes to see his castration as God's just punishment for his sins.

Kim Thomson has a less challenging role as Heloise, who questions the authority of religion and of her uncle but never doubts that her love for Abelard is sacred. She is at times too contemporary in her manner and suffers through some of the worst lines. ''You selfish, self-centered swine!'' she tells Abelard when he says he will enter a monastery. ''I am your woman!''

It is possible to charge ''Stealing Heaven'' with a fair amount of prurience. Abelard's students buy him a prostitute; Heloise peels off her dress before burning incense as a charm to bring Abelard to her. But the film also shows them arguing about whether God created evil and about the source of religious authority. Their explicit sex scenes give a sense of the fullness of their attraction to each other.

(Excerpted from New York Times)