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I love the writings of Milan Kundera. I think the way he explores his characters and the way he approaches narrative is thrilling, different, exciting. And I've always thought it would be kind of hard to transplant his particularly literary style into cinema without making vast changes. Philip Kaufman, however, gave it a red hot go with his adaptation of Kundera's classic The Unbearable Lightness Of Being.
Tomas (Daniel Day Lewis) is a Czechoslovakian brain surgeon, living in Prague, carrying on a physical and intellectual relationship with artist Sabina (Lena Olin), whilst successfully romancing and seducing any other woman he may wish to. Attractive, successful and intelligent, he is sent out of Prague to perform an operation and meets Tereza (Juliette Binoche), a young country girl who seems to fall for him almost instantly. Returning to Prague he doesn't give her another thought, continuing to screw Sabina whilst refusing to turn it into a true and traditional relationship, when Tereza turns up at his doorstep and he takes her in, for the first time allowing a woman to sleep in his bed.
The arrival of Tereza doesn't stop Tomas from seeing Sabina, or indeed chasing anyone else he may want, and the three eventually end up in a ménage à trois of sorts, each knowing about the other, swapping around, doing whatever it is they have to do. This is all happening in the lead up to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and Tomas writes an article denouncing the Soviets, comparing them to Oedipus, in that he plucked out his eyes in recognition of their crimes, but the Soviets are yet to repent in such a way. The tanks roll in to Prague, photographed beautifully by Tereza, and the three flee to Switzerland, first Sabina, and then Tomas and Tereza together. Sabina begins a relationship with a married professor, but when he announces that he has left his wife to be with her she runs away, unable to be tied down to any form of normality. Meanwhile, Tomas has maintained his womanising while Tereza has struggled to fit in with Swiss society, and, angered, she flees back to Soviet Czechoslovakia. Distraught, Tomas follows her, despite the fact that his passport is confiscated and he is left trapped in the country.
Tereza is elated by his return, but Tomas finds himself unable to return to his job as a doctor as he refuses to sign a document retracting his previous article. He is deemed too politically dangerous to be in such a lofty position, and is left washing windows, still seducing women as he goes. Tereza convinces Tomas to leave Prague for a simpler country life, and the two bunk up with an old patient of Tomas', living off the land and enjoying the simple things until an horrific accident leaves Sabina shocked in her new American home.
You see? It's quite complex. There's a lot going on in the story, necessitating its not insubstantial running time. But Kaufman (and co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière) do an admirable job of keeping the story moving over this period, really only using three main characters, even managing to retain some of Kundera's styles, making them work in a visual manner. Kaufman keeps the film moving despite some very enclosed, repeated set pieces as well - it's quite a feat to keep one entertained in the same place time and time again.
Day Lewis is great as Tomas, though I didn't really feel that his character had that much to do over the course of the film. I've seen much stronger performances from him, which isn't to say that there was anything wrong with this one. However, the film seems much more to be about the women, particularly Tereza, and what she goes through and how she responds. Binoche pulls of her young naivety and growth into a stronger and purposeful woman with gusto, shining through dour moments with clarity and beauty. Olin supports and enlivens her, giving Tereza a launching pad to discover herself and grow, to deal with Tomas, accept him, and then change him to suit her needs.
Editing and sound legend Walter Murch (he didn't handle the sound on this film) cuts it all together sublimely, and Sven Nykvist shoots the film in a neo-realist, almost dirty fashion, allowing Prague to look rundown but real while Switzerland seems pretty but sterile, nicely balanced by Tomas and Tereza's time in the country. All in all, a brave attempt, reasonably successfully completed. 3.5 stars.
That's right, another Daniel Day Lewis film. Looking him up, I remembered that I've always wanted to see My Beautiful Laundrette, and never had.
Day Lewis plays a supporting role as Johnny in this 1985 feature from Stephen Frears (who did The Queen), playing below Gordon Warnecke as Omar. (I love watching older films, when you see otherwise huge above the line names in today's world credited somewhere in the middle of the pack. I love remembering that they weren't always stars.) Omar is of Pakistani heritage and soon set to start studying, at the behest of his father Ali (Roshan Seth.) In the meantime he is simply spending time around the house, looking after his alcoholic ex-journalist father. Ali sets Omar up with a job with family, working for Nasser (Saeed Jaffrey) who runs an auto-repair workshop. Omar is soon promoted to managing a laundrette that Nasser also owns, though he negotiates a deal whereby he runs the shop, pays Nasser a fixed rent, and banks the profits.
Meanwhile he has run into an old school-friend and gang member Johnny, and the two have struck up a friendship that quickly develops into something more. Omar is hiding this from his family, so the opportunity for Johnny to leave his gang and help Omar develop the laundrette into something spectacular (as far as laundrettes go) is too perfect for them to give up - they get to spend enormous amounts of time together, alone, with cause.
The business goes well and Omar becomes quite cut-throat. Johnny is effectively destitute without Omar to support him, and Omar takes on a massive power ego, controlling Johnny as well. However, after Johnny is set upon by his ex-gang, the two reconcile. The ending is left beautifully open - they are obviously together, however the may appear to be mismatched, but the question of how long they will stay happy together remains.
All of the performances here are fantastic. Day Lewis, as always, exceptional, but the supports from a primarily subcontinental cast back him up strongly, while Warnecke carries the film very well. The grittiness of the world both of them inhabit (different kinds of underworld, but the underworld nonetheless) is very well portrayed, shot by Oliver Stapleton. It was also nice to see queer cinema told well, not preaching, not trying to make any sort of political point, and not steeped in historicism. (Well, watching it now it's historical, but at the time it was current.) Refreshingly, the Omar/Johnny relationship is not in any way a driving point of the film, really, nor does it cause any great turmoil. Despite the fact that it's closeted, it just is. And that doesn't happen all that often.
3.5 stars again.
I have seen three of Jim Sheridan's seven features. I loved In The Name Of The Father, and watched it a number of times during the 90s, though I was younger then and my opinion may have changed, but my memories of it are very strong. I wasn't overly enamoured with In America - there were some good elements, but overall it didn't do it for me, though I thought Djimon Hounsou was fantastic (as I have thought he was in everything I have seen him in.) His first film, My Left Foot, falls somewhere in between.
Daniel Day Lewis, as expected, is terrific. He won his first Oscar for this role, very deservedly. (In fact, he also very deservedly won his second for There Will Be Blood, which I loved. Both his Oscars have been deserved. I like it when I can say that with true conviction.) He plays Christy Brown through Christy's older years, a man afflicted with cerebral palsy. The film is his true story (it is based on the autobiography of the same name), through his time as a child, learning to write using the only limb he can control, his left foot. It continues into him receiving speech therapy from Dr Eileen Cole (Fiona Shaw) and discovering his talent for painting, once he got his foot under total control. It ends with him gaining decent celebrity as a painter and writer.
Growing up in fair poverty, with a family that just seems to keep expanding as more children are popped out, he is doted on by his mother (Brenda Fricker, who also picked up an Oscar here) and in turns loved and hated by his father (Ray McNally) who often views him hostilely as an embarrassment. Christy falls in love with Eileen and is devastated with her announcement of her betrothal, and his 'special' status both as handicapped and then as a genius artist lends him an arrogance manifested in his anger, particularly here.
Day Lewis plays Christy not always sympathetically - there are many, many points where Christy is a downright asshole, and Day Lewis never shies away from letting that come through. Yes, he is a tragic character in many ways, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he is often a knob.
The performances are uniformly terrific, but the film as a whole felt a little empty. I can't explain precisely where this feeling comes from - it just did. The technical elements were all fine, it looked true to what I imagine that period in Ireland looked like. Sheridan and co-writer Shane Connaughton adapted very well, the script is pretty perfect. The direction was fine also. I think there wasn't enough of a character arc for the supports to truly make this sing - Fricker and McNally's characters both seem to remain static, despite the ups and downs. Not enough is made of his relationship with his siblings to be able to get you emotionally involved with his broader family life, though his relationship with Eileen does give us a nice subplot, ably executed.
It's a 3.5 star film, for me.
