This is my review of A Dangerous Method [DVD].

Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" is mainly about the relationship between two early giants of psychoanalysis, Freud and Jung, played by Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbinder . This is captured in some witty, often humorous and well-acted scenes which made me want to find out more about both the men and their theories. Freud hopes that Jung, almost two decades his junior, will carry on the torch of his controversial ideas on the sexual basis of mental disorder, but cannot tolerate Jung's tendency to follow his own independent line, including telepathy and psychic powers, which Freud finds simply potty, not to mention the irritation of having his authority challenged.

A further complication is Jung's treatment with his new "talking cure" of the hysterical young Russian Jewess Sabina Spielrein, who recovers to become a celebrated psychoanalyst in her own right, but not before providing a fatal attraction for Jung.

The photography is beautiful, with many scenes of Swiss lakes or striking statues against a background of Viennese palaces. The large amount of "walking and talking" reflects the fact this film is based on a stage play by the ubiquitous Christopher Hampton. I also liked the attention to the period detail of the early 1900s: Jung's wealthy wife works on her embroidery the day after giving birth to her first child, while a buxom wet nurse suckles the infant. Freud's identification with Spielrein, as a Jew, and growing awareness of Jung as an Aryan, foreshadows the horrors of the Holocaust.

The quality of the acting is mainly excellent, with Fassbinder in particular showing a clear progression from controlled, ambitious up-and-coming physician, to a wreck on the verge of a nervous breakdown himself, troubled by dreams of carnage which we know are remarkably prescient on the verge of World War 1. Keira Knightley's portrayal of madness in the opening scenes seems grotesquely exaggerated, and her recovery remarkably rapid – she is most frightening when "sane" but thwarted in love.

Although neither a great film nor as good as it might have been, overall this is a well-made contribution to a fascinating theme. At 1 hour 40 minutes, it avoids the error of going on too long.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

This is my review of Carnage [DVD].

Most reports of the stage play "God of Carnage" find it hilarious, I enjoyed the playwright Yasmina Reza's comedy, "Art" and admire Polanski's skills as a director. So, why did I approach the film "Carnage" with such reservations? Mainly because the critics have been very cool about it, plus I personally found the script of the play very disjointed, with laboured humour – a bit boring in places, to be honest.

In fact, the film proved better than I expected – but not that great.

This short film is true to the original play "God of Carnage" as regards both the dialogue and the "unities" of time, place and action, enacting the whole drama in a Brooklyn flat, transposed from the original setting in Paris.

One boy has struck another, permanently damaging his teeth. The parents of the victim, Penelope and Michael, invite Alan and Nancy, parents of the aggressor, round to their flat to discuss how to handle the affair. At first on their best behaviour, the foursome gradually lapse into childish squabbling and the boys are almost forgotten as the cracks in their respective marriages become apparent. This is quite a promising basis for a play, and there are some funny lines and amusing incidents, such as the lawyer Alan's preoccupation with his mobile phone, on which he conducts sensitive business conversations to the growing irritation of everyone else.

However, I was never moved, and always aware of watching the actors. It may not have helped that this is very much a filming of a stage play, yet one can rarely see all the characters interacting at the same time as one does on the stage, since the camera inevitably tends to focus on one or two faces at a time.

It also bothered me that Penelope, the highly strung writer of books on Africa who cares so deeply about moral issues, is so ill-matched with the superficially easy-going but essentially coarse Michael, who earns a living flogging saucepans and lavatory flushes.

Strongest reservation of all: the serious point of the play, that even in the most civilised people barbarism is only skin-deep, does not seem very well illustrated by this particular drama.

The point I liked the most – not in the original play – is the glimpse at the very end of the two boys apparently chatting together amicably in the park, unaware of their parents' bickering.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

This is my review of The Help [DVD].

"The Help" on which the film is based is a page-turner with its skilful coverage of human resilience and the sowing of the seeds of rebellion as prejudice begins to crack in 1960s Mississippi, told through the viewpoint of two black maids, Aibileen and Minnie, and Skeeter, an idealistic but naive young white woman with ambitions to become a writer.

In the film, a strong cast of actors bring to life the key characters in the book. Aibileen is the narrator, compassionate and shrewd beneath her subservient air, until writing about her experiences as a general dogsbody and nanny for a succession of white children finally releases her into a sense of freedom. Then there is Minnie, a brilliant cook, but unable to hold down a job because of her feisty talk – yet she allows herself to be beaten by her drunken husband. The villain of the piece is the ghastly, control-freak Hilly, who rules her simpering white "friends" with a rod of iron, with the power to destroy the livelihoods of black servants (not merely her own!) who displease her.

The film version of "The Help" is true to the essentials of the original in that it is a chastening reminder of the casual prejudice of the American South as recently as the 1960s, and is often very moving, yet the poignancy is leavened with a good deal of humour. In view of the complexity of the book's plot, it has been necessary to leave out or compress many details – thankfully not the scene of Minnie trying to hoover the dust off a huge stuffed grizzly bear in an old colonial house. These omissions tend to be disappointing if you have read the book before seeing the film. In particular, I would have liked more of the very moving tales which the maids have to tell.

The film finds time to show not just the main theme of the humiliation and unjust treatment of black Americans but also the discrimination against young white women, who are expected to have no ambition above hooking a man. Skeeter is hired by the local newspaper, but only to write a column on cleaning!

I found some of the black maids' dialogues hard to follow, which is a pity as in the book they are often very funny and full of insight.

Perhaps the film's ending is a touch too sentimental and neatly "sown up", some of the subtle depth of the original has been lost, but overall it is worth seeing.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

This is my review of War Horse [DVD] [2011].

The actress Emily Watson has observed that, in “War Horse”, Spielberg has made an anti-war film for children. To some extent this excuses the undeniably sentimental tone of the film together with some improbable coincidences.

Films of successful books are often failures, but despite some carping from the critics, Spielberg’s version seems to me to work well. Against the striking backdrop of Dartmoor, we see how the young farmer’s son, Albert, breaks in the beautiful thoroughbred Joey, purchased in a rash moment by his drunken farmer. When the horse is purchased by the army on the outbreak of the First World War, we trace Joey’s adventures through some technically brilliant battle scenes. Once Albert is old enough to join up, how will it be possible for the two to meet again? No doubt for practical reasons, Spielberg dispenses with the book’s central device of seeing the world through the eyes of the horse.

Views of life and warfare in the trenches which may be all too familiar are offset by the less well-known focus on the use of horses in this war, mainly to carry soldiers in an antiquated cavalry charge or to haul heavy artillery up steep muddy slopes, with a high death rate due to sheer exhaustion. Impressive skill is used in training the horses to take part in these scenes, or creating convincing images of this, apparently with minimal use of computer graphics.

The film is entertaining with a few low points , such as the scenes between the besotted French grandfather and his pert daughter both speaking English with strong accents because apparently American audiences prefer this to subtitles. Yet there are also some moving incidents, as when an English soldier collaborates with a German in No Man’s Land to save a horse, an act of humanity over a symbol of beauty in the living hell of war. There is plenty of violence, but it is portrayed as folly, or waste, rather than glorified or dwelt on for its own sake. Examples of the class divide in Britain a century ago are also quite telling.

Overall, it may prove a welcome break to leave the normal cynical, corrupt world of “feel bad” adult films to watch this.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

 

This is my review of The Descendants DVD.

I came to this film with no great expectations, having heard it panned by some critics, apart from praise for George Clooney’s strong presence to carry it. In fact, I found an absorbing, often amusing tale, and, if I was not deeply moved as I perhaps should have been, the story has stayed in my mind, and my opinion of the direction has risen on reflection.

What could be a morbid or mawkish tale is saved by humour, often at unlikely points, and by some excellent acting from the whole cast, not just from George Clooney. He plays Matt, a workaholic lawyer who has to cope with his two difficult daughters when his wife is left brain-damaged in a coma following an accident water-skiing. To cap it all, his elder daughter Alex reveals that her mother has been having an affair with an unknown man. Appalled that he had no inkling of this, Clooney is at once consumed with the desire to discover the man’s identity, and confront him.

A further twist is Matt’s role as trustee for a family landholding in one of the few remaining unspoilt stretches of coast in Hawaii. Passed down through the generations from a marriage long ago between a Hawaiian princess and a western missionary, this land is now seen by the descendants, (hence the film’s title) who have mostly blown all their wealth, as an opportunity to sell to developers for a fat profit. What will Matt decide, and why?

The Hawaiian setting, with the need to hop round between islands by plane, Clooney sporting a succession of flowery shirts, adds character to the tale. The lush green hills, vividly blooming shrubs and the beautiful sunlit coastline are offset by the American influence which has spawned ugly concrete urban tower blocks, commercialised the local food and made the traditional music sound like country and western, and by the evidence of a poor underclass such as you would find in other places which make no claim to be paradise.

Perhaps it is a weakness in the plot that the sick wife, indulged in the past by her domineering rough diamond father, evokes so little sympathy, while Clooney always appears decent and principled, although largely clueless when it comes to managing his daughters who run rings round him to get their own way, until the reality of their mother’s illness undermines their self-absorption.

I was not bored by the slow pace but felt that some of the final scenes could have been cut.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars

 

This is my review of The Artist [DVD].

Entirely in black and white, and largely without speech, this modern film made in the style of a silent movie is a clever and entertaining take on the effect of the arrival of the "talkies" on "George Valentin", the over-confident established star of Hollywood silent films of the 1920s. Just as these did, it relies heavily on appropriate musical scores – at one point we see an orchestra playing just below the screen, as a rapt audience watches the wordless drama.

It made me realise how much can be conveyed simply by facial expressions and body language, although all movements need to be slightly larger than life.

As we watch George disintegrating, forced to observe the mercurial rise of the vivacious, yet kindhearted Peppy Miller, and to realise too late that he has made a fatal mistake in laughing at talking films, we expect a happy ending, at least of a sort. However, there are also many humorous touches, striking visual effects, such as when George watches himself on film from behind the screen, or is sucked down very symbolically into filmic quicksand, and there are even some genuinely moving moments on the way, assisted by the best actor of them all, George's performing dog. As someone quips, if only he could talk!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars

This is my review of The Iron Lady [DVD].

Meryl Streep lives up to expectations with her strikingly accurate recreation of Margaret Thatcher, at least as she has appeared in the media. It is interesting to be reminded of the violence of the 1980s – the Poll Tax riots, the IRA hunger strikers and bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, the bitter Miners' Strike, the tensions and mishaps of the Falklands War offset by the exaggerated euphoria over the eventual victory. However, all this is covered so quickly that I am not sure what those too young to remember will make of it.

The best yet most controversial aspect of this film is the portrayal of the former Prime Minister as an old lady suffering from dementia, often imagining that her husband Denis is still alive, a dramatic ploy for remembering her past life and revealing her personality through imaginary exchanges with him, ably although perhaps too sympathetically portrayed by Jim Broadbent.

These scenes of dementia about a person still living left me feeling a little uneasy. Perhaps they are based on a recent book by Carol Thatcher, but I understand the family has not given their approval for the film. Maybe the "Anyone for Denis?" stage show paved the way for this kind of intrusion into their lives. I noticed that Mark Thatcher has a remarkably low profile in the story, possibly with avoidance of lawsuits in mind.

There is perhaps too much focus on Thatcher as an elderly lady, giving too little time to develop past events. The process by which she becomes Prime Minister is rushed through, perhaps so as not to bore the audience. Some important aspects of her premiership are neglected. I would have liked more about her famous lack of humour, more on her relationship with Ronald Reagan and her dealings with EU partners – "We want our money back" – possibly a bit, not too much, about monetary policy. Her cabinet ministers come across mainly as grey ciphers, and perhaps more of them could have been clearly differentiated for the benefit of those who remember them.

Thatcher is shown as descending into megalomania, largely responsible for her downfall. Yet, the film does succeed in arousing some sympathy for a woman who had to overcome the snobbish prejudice of the old style Tory party to become the first female British head of government.

⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars

This is my review of The Well-Digger’s Daughter [DVD].

Set in the sundrenched Provence countryside near the town of Salon at the outbreak of World War 2, this soft-centred but often surprisingly moving tale follows the well-worn trail of the innocent young girl who falls for a wealthy cad. In this case, Patricia, daughter of a simple but fiercely proud well-digger finds herself pregnant after Jacques, spoiled son of the owner of the local hardware store, has been sent off to fight at the front. How will her father react when he learns that his "angelic princess" is no better than other girls? Will Jacques's doting mother feel her son should "do the decent thing" and marry the girl? As the well-digger observes, "You can't trust people who sell tools but don't use them."

Patricia is more than just a pretty face. In addition to receiving a period of education in Paris with a wealthy benefactor, she has a strong sense of honesty and integrity which may pierce Jacques's worldly cynicism, although you wonder whether he would be capable of being faithful to her in the long run.

There are some entertaining further plot twists in the dogged devotion to Patricia of Félipe,assistant to the well-digger Pascal. In turn, Félipe is loved in longsuffering silence by Patricia's younger sister Amanda. Then there is Pascal's blend of shrewdness and stubborn stupidity, his rueful shouldering of the burden of six daughters after his wife's death.

We see an exploration of some of the dilemmas of French rural society. It is shameful for a daughter to have a bastard child, yet a man's dearest wish is to have a boy child to bear his surname, even if at one remove as a grandson….

The film is well-directed by the respected French actor Daniel Auteuil who also plays the role of the well-digger, apparently drawing on his native southern accent. Although his acting may seem a little over the top at times, I have met Frenchmen prone to the vivid expression of such deep and rapid shifts of emotion.

Recommended as a watchable and entertaining if lightweight drama.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars