| |
MOST
BIZARRE ...
Written
by Dusan Stojkovic (http://www.the-buzz.com)
Cast:
Demi
Moore (Marty/Marie), Stellan Skarsgård (William), William
Fichtner (Aaron), Sinéad Cusack (Jessie)
|
Premise:
A
psychological romantic thriller where fantasy
and reality become indistinguishable for a woman
leading a double life in her dreams.
Overall
Rating:
|
Rated
PG-13 for sensuality
The
most bizarre film of the year thus far has got to be
Passion of Mind, starring (the aptly named, as it turns
out) Demi Moore. Belgian director Alain Berliner tries
his damnedest to turn this into a deep psychodrama,
but, on the whole, manages to make precious little more
than a cross-cultural mess of a fundamentally European-feeling
and sounding movie portrayed by American actors.
The
cinematography is good, but sweeping vistas of the Provence
can be seen on the Travel Channel in a far more appropriate
context. The soundtrack is musically engaging, but clashes
in its romanticism with the film’s psychological-thriller
elements beyond the artistically warranted measure.
I
am the last person to belabor a film’s plot, but
this one is worthy of serious couch analysis. Moore
plays the dual role of Marie/Marty. Marie is introduced
as a widowed literary critic who lives in the Provence
with her two children. For the past year, we are told,
Marie has dreamt every night of an alternative existence
as Marty, a high-powered stereotype of a publishing
executive, reminiscent of Alexis Colby, but plagued
by a para-psychological affliction. For you see, the
odd thing is, every night she goes to bed in her luxurious
New York loft, Marty dreams that she is Marie, a widowed
literary critic who lives... aha, you get the picture.
And therein lies the Drama with capital D: which, oh
which, of the two existences is "real" and
which fantasy? Half an hour into the film, few viewers
will care.
Apart
from the fact that the only character with any semblance
of depth or realism (until the very end of the film
when he just gets disturbing) is William (a strong performance
by Stellan Skarsgard, best known for playing Jan in
Lars von Trier's masterpiece and one of my favorite
films ever, Breaking the Waves), the audience's interest
in character development has to be put off by the obvious
plot holes. Why can't Marie/Marty just hop on a plane,
go to the place where the alter ego lives and see what's
going on? And how does she explain the whole six-hour
time difference thingy?
Demi
Moore does what she can with the role(s), but just isn't
likable enough to pull off an effective performance
as either Marty or Marie. Her voice has never been singing-quality,
but in this film she particularly bellows in a very
scratchy and hoarse tone, like she's got bronchitis
from too many cigarettes or something. And it doesn't
help when her character living in France says stuff
like "Jean-Pee-yare!" Yuck.
Sinead
Cusack (Jeremy Irons's wife) learned her lines but not
much more as Marie's perfunctory alcoholic confidante,
Sarah. William Fichtner has the most thankless role
as Marty's love interest and destined savior. The acting
itself is not as dire as the atrocious script; Ron Bass
(Black Widow, Rain Man, Sleeping With the Enemy, Waiting
to Exhale, Dangerous Minds, My Best Friend's Wedding,
How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Stepmom and Snow Falling
on Cedars, are among his writing/adaptation credits)
and relative newcomer David Field seem to have written
the screenplay for this film with a European director
and audience in mind (the film was first released last
year in Spain and Italy, for whatever reason) irrespective
of the fact that it would come across as asinine and
unintentionally comical mouthed by a mostly American
cast. The best line, hands-down, comes when Marty says,
"Something happened last night, in France, and
I'm not sure how I feel about it."
And
then there's the twist. Let me just say that the whole
"twist" thing is getting old. Sure, it made
me smirk in The Usual Suspects, feel really smart when
I saw it before being told in The Sixth Sense, slightly
annoyed me in Fight Club but the Nineties are over,
people! Sure, this film was done last year, but "the
twist" here is just bad bordering on sick.
It
would be interesting to read a feminist deconstruction
of Passion of Mind. There's ample fodder, what with
a businesswoman fantasizing she's a stay-at-home mom
and vice versa, obviously you can't have it all and
anyone who tries is mental, the film seems to be saying.
Visit
http://www.the-buzz.com
© 2000 Paramount Classics. All
Rights Reserved.
|
|
