Illustration by: Angel D'Amico
New Year’s evolution
Issue #26
Our film editor reports back from the Toronto Film Festival on what — and what not — to watch in 2006
By Rebecca Flint-Marx
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 12:00am
If the Toronto International Film Festival is an indicator of what we can look forward to — or dread — on screens for the rest of 2005 and the year to come, then steel yourself for both welcome surprises and unexpected disappointments. A murderous schoolmarm, an enigmatic pin-up queen, and a raucous chorus of female prisoners were some of the more memorable characters to emerge during the 10-day celluloid marathon. And while the number of female filmmakers paled — to nobody’s surprise — in comparison to that of their male counterparts, the festival’s more than 400 selections offered one thought-provoking portrayal of women’s lives after another. So although women are still not adequately represented behind the camera, it was hard to leave Toronto without the conviction that certain directors are at least doing women justice in front of it. What follows is a forecast of what you might be watching — or avoiding — in 2006.
THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE
First, the bad news. One of the most anticipated films of the festival and 2006 was Mary Harron’sThe Notorious Bettie Page, starring Gretchen Mol in the title role. Harron’s first film since American Psycho in 2000, Bettie had courted interest from Harron and Page fans eager for a trenchant, rip-roaring journey through the life of history’s most popular pin-up.
Unfortunately, anyone expecting the film to provide insight, or even a compelling narrative, is going to be sorely disappointed. Aside from a few early scenes set during Page’s adolescence — including one depicting her gang rape — the film plays as a series of photo shoots each one illustrating Page’s essential naiveté, kindness, and cheerful willingness to take off her clothes. Through it all, Mol does her damnedest to make her character resonate as an actual human being — and, despite the film’s other flaws, actually succeeds. Set for release in spring 2006, The Notorious Bettie Page represents a sorely missed opportunity. Although Harron reportedly avoided shedding greater light on Page’s life by design, her choice has resulted in a reductive portrait of Page as little more than Forrest Gump in a bra. The bangs, the bustline, and the infamous B&D shots are all there, but who’s the girl holding the whip?
THE QUIET
Similarly disappointing — though wildly, guiltily entertaining for its first hour or so — was Jamie Babbit’s The Quiet. Like Harron, Babbit earned an abundance of good will for her last film, 1999’s But I’m a Cheerleader. And like Harron, she’s managed to squander most of it. Set in reliably bland suburbia, The Quiet is about Dot (Camilla Belle), a deaf-mute orphan taken in after her father’s death by her godparents (Martin Donovan and Edie Falco) and their alpha-bitch cheerleader daughter (Elisha Cuthbert). This being suburbia, things are not what they seem: Mom is quickly revealed to be a pill-popping space cadet, while Dad spends his evenings boffing his daughter. It’s all very would-be American Beauty gothic, played out in a half-empty house where no one thinks to turn on the lights at night, content to let the Levolors cast menacing shadows instead.
But what begins as a promising setup quickly dissolves into a shoddy mess bogged down by an uneven tone, yawning plot holes, and a completely implausible ending. Although Falco’s talents are wasted, Cuthbert does a valiant job, managing to maintain her dignity even in one memorable scene that calls for her to attack a teddy bear with a hot iron. Her performance is one of the few saving graces in a film where lines like “I can smell your hair. It smells like cucumbers. I got really, really hard last night” are supposed to be swallowed without so much as a giggle.
MRS. HARRIS
And now, some good news. Annette Bening rocks. She always has, but with the exception of last year’s Being Julia, she’s never had so great an opportunity as Mrs. Harris to show just how much and how hard.
Directed by playwright and stage director Phyllis Nagy, the film recounts the strange, sad story of the real-life Jean Harris. In 1980, Harris, a school mistress, earned headlines and a 12-year prison sentence for killing her lover, Herman Tarnower (played by Ben Kingsley), a prominent cardiologist, the author of The Scarsdale Diet, and, apparently, a total bastard. This is Nagy’s first film as a director, a fact betrayed by Mrs. Harris’s occasionally wavering tone, which veers uncertainly between arch camp and psychological melodrama.
However, nothing can detract from Bening’s work. She portrays Harris as a smart, ruthlessly witty woman undone by a tragic lack of self-esteem that Tarnower all too willingly exploited. Bening’s wit and anger are reminiscent of her role in American Beauty, but unlike that film, which reduced her rage to the squawks of a shrill harpy, Mrs. Harris gives Bening a wide, respectful berth to channel her character’s emotions into something sublimely devastating. Bening would certainly be an Oscar contender if Mrs. Harris were in line for a theatrical release, but since it’s set to appear on HBO in the spring, she’ll have to make do with a seemingly inevitable Emmy nod.
GENTILLE
Giving an equally compelling and surpassingly odd performance was Emmanuelle Devos in Gentille (Good Girl), director Sophie Fillière’s tale of a woman negotiating her own uncertainties and formidable quirks. Not a lot happens in Gentille — the plot revolves around its protagonist’s relationship with her boyfriend, who wants to propose marriage, and with a patient in the mental hospital where she works. While some viewers may be put off by the film’s lack of momentum and tendency to confuse bizarre behavior with depth, Gentille is worth seeing, if for no other reason than Devos. One of the best and least predictable actors working in France today, she’s marvelously at ease with both her body and strong, almost rubbery features. Devos’ huge, expressive mouth makes Angelina Jolie’s look like Kenneth Branagh’s, and the words that come out of it in Gentille inspire befuddlement, sympathy, and the suspicion that we may be watching the 21st century’s answer to Jeanne Moreau.
SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE
Men were behind several films that gave excellent roles to women: among them were Chan-wook Park with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and Richard E. Grant with Wah-Wah,. Only Sympathy has a release date as of yet, for February, which means that audiences will have one hell of a great way to start the year. The third installment of Park’s vengeance trilogy (after Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Old Boy), it stars Yeong-ae Lee as Guem-ja, a deceptively angelic woman who has just finished a 13-year prison sentence for the kidnapping and murder of a little boy. Innocent of the crime, Guem-ja sets about getting revenge on the man who set her up, getting help along the way from her fellow former inmates. Meticulously stylized and laced with sublimely mordant humor, Sympathy offers a portrait of an anti-heroine whose quest is less about revenge than atonement. Guem-ja’s ruthless resolve is tempered by anguish and regret, qualities that make her one of the most unforgettable avenging angels in recent memory.
WAH-WAH
Finally, Wah-Wah, if it gets a 2006 release, will be remembered as the year’s best showcase for Emily Watson’s talents. Richard E. Grant’s rich, semi-autobiographical story of a boy’s coming-of-age in late-1960s Swaziland features Watson as the boy’s stepmother. Playing Ruby, a free-spirited, opinionated ex-flight attendant, Watson electrifies all of her scenes with a vivacity that’s matched by her generosity as a performer. Rather than inhaling scenery left and right, as would be the temptation with such a take-no-prisoners character, Watson leaves plenty of room for excellent work by such co-stars as Miranda Richardson, Fenella Woolgar, and Julie Walters. There’s plenty more reasons to recommend Wah-Wah, but if Watson’s work is what gets the film into theaters, then that is endorsement enough.
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