Quite the obscure film this Circle of Two but just because it's obscure doesn't deem it unworthy of a serious look. Definitely not the case here. The film is based on the long out of print novel, A Lesson in Love by Marie-Therese Baird. An amazing story! Find it and read it.

In one of the last few roles before his passing in 1984, Richard Burton is cast perfect as Ashley Sinclair, a sixty year-old once famous artist who for ten years has been idle with no creative spark. By chance he meets sitxeen year-old aspiring writer, Sarah Norton who is played by a young and impressive Tatum O'Neal who put her child-actor image in the past at this pivotal time in her career.

Their first meeting happens at a soft-core porn theater where she goes on a dare by school friend. (It should be noted, there are no pornographic images but only a soundtrack to indicate what is happening) and when exiting the theater, Sarah accidentally bumps Ashley, who has fallen asleep, in the head with her shoulder bag. They exchange a few words and she turns and walks away quickly as if embarrassed and then days later at a café they meet again after she has publicly dumped her boyfriend, Paul. (Played by Michael Wincott).

Future meetings take place and soon these two form an emotional bond. Note: Emotional bond. The late, great film director, Jules Dassin expertly handled the sensitive subject matter to avoid the obvious dangers and pitfalls. So, if you're thinking Lolita or some soft-core smut fest, this film is neither and prouder for it.

For Ashley, Sarah inspires him and reconnects him to life and a feeling of worth. He's alive again because of her. For Sarah, she experiences love for the first time in her life with this older and refined gentleman. The time they share together opens a whole new world for them both. The film does a fine job of showing an affinity between these two people.

Inevitably, their relationship is discovered not only by Ashley's on-again-off-again girlfriend, Claudia (played by Nuala Fitzgerald) who senses something when she comes for a visit but also due to an incident involving the authorities brought on by Sarah's jealous ex-boyfriend while he spies on her being at Ashley's home one afternoon.

Shortly afterwards, Ashley's and Sarah's relationship is clearly on track to its demise once her parents interfere with strict grounding and no less a house visit by a psychiatrist (played by the late, Kate Reid) who sympathizes with Sarah and sees her for what she really is, a maturing young woman very much in love.

There's a touching final scene where Sarah has finally tracked down Ashley and confronts him about why he left town on her birthday and gave no information on his whereabouts. The gentle girl with the broken heart forces him to explain himself.

Not a great film but a damn good one with its unique portrayal of both innocence and wisdom providing of course you can view it with an open mind and think above and beyond conventional relationships. The beauty of this story is there was never a physical relationship between the two but more importantly shows how pure and blind love can be. In this day movies like this can no longer be made and it's refreshing to find a rare gem like this. You'll be thinking about it for awhile.