Dear Marcus: I had the misfortune of seeing the world premiere of *Cowgirls* at the Venice Film Festival in September. I even had the greater misfortune of attending the press conference where Van Saint made such lame remarks as "I do not have an opinion about the representation of women in my film, I am gay." This statement alone would be enough evidence to have Van Saint pull *himself* back to the cutting room and cut himself until he disappears from the film industry. However, the film was fairly bad and I was very disappointed becase I love Tom Robbins (thought I haven't read this book) and the subject matter had such potential. So, this is a very emotional and gutsy response from one Italian living in America, whose big dream is to visit Scandinavia. :-) Gloria Monti Yale University [log in to unmask]