X-Ice

The reason I'm rating this French mini-series as high as I do is because of the title. I spent six weeks in France chasing after dolmens, cromlechs, and grandes menhirs brissés (and non-brisés).

The dolmen in the title is the remains of a prehistoric burial chamber that looks like a small stone house or large table. This one comes complete with a six foot tall stone semi-circle with a single symbol on each stone, a passageway to the sea caves below, and a passageway to the castle on the island. With as many corpses as a Norwegian Thriller, I was surprised at first to find each episode was 90 minutes, but it takes six episodes to dispatch so many characters in French.

Dolmen is romantic in both a dreamy way and like a soap-opera; furthermore it has the conventions of a romantic comedy (with lots of extra killing).

I saw this film at the Seattle International Film Festival following a grand Russian WWI film. This delightful little political comedy/drama was just what I needed to change the mood. Ji-Hwan Kang's understated portrayal of the evangelical Christian, Gye-sang was a perfect foil to Jae-rok Kim's cynical and sometimes hysterical Ho-Jun. I loved some of the little details such as the treatments received by George W. Bush's photograph in the newspaper. I was particularly thrilled to see that the film the two men go to see together is Uzak from Turkey. Sometimes a little preachy, and sometimes using symbols I didn't understand (perhaps because I know little of Korean culture), for the most part I found Bangmunja quite enjoyable.

I loved the look of the new 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice: people perspire, have bad haircuts and there is dirt visible in the Bennet house. Sometimes, in the dance scenes, the dance floor seemed actually crowded! Even with several servants, the Bennets' lives looked as imperfect as Mrs. Bennet often describes them.

As a confirmed Janeite, I had trouble at first accepting the modified dialog. I love Austen's prose and each character has his or her own voice; but the new screenplay shortened long exchanges that would have slowed the action. I realize now that the incredible achievement of fitting the plot into two hours would not have been possible if the original wording of my favorite scenes had been preserved. None of the major plot points were cut and only a few brothers-in-law and aunts were left out. This script also makes the story more accessible to a new audience. I know folks already are starting to read the book as a result of having seen the film.

Although satisfied, for the most part, with the casting, I was interested by the ages of the actors and actresses. Susannah Harker played Jane Bennet in 1995; she was born in 1965 -- too old! Rosamund Pike is 26, and those four years make quite a difference in believability. Regardless of her true age, Jena Malone was so bratty, she never seemed a minute over 16. Keira Knightley captured the combination of the vivaciousness of someone barely out of her teens and the wisdom that makes Elizabeth Bennet my favorite fictional character. In 1940, Greer Garson played Elizabeth; she was 36! However, if Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were married young, as Jane Austen said they were, Blethen and Sutherland are too old to have children the age of the Bennet girls. Judi Densch has been playing women younger than herself for quite a while; and who else could possibly have portrayed Lady Catherine as well?

I think the ridiculousness of Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins were toned down a little too much in this screenplay, although Tom Hollander presented a wonderful combination of self-importance and self-deprecation that is the essence of his character. As for Darcy and Bingley, Colin Firth (P&P, 1995) and Naveen Andrews (Bride and Prejudice, 2004) are such favorites of mine, it is difficult to comment, but I particularly appreciated the lack of confidence of both of these characters that the actors allowed us to glimpse in this new version.

Some literary purists may disdain this new, big screen adaptation, but remember, a feature film is not a mini-series any more than it is a book and this production is far more faithful than was the last one (1940). In many ways it is a perfect introduction for the uninitiated. After all, Jane Austen began writing Pride and Prejudice more than 200 years ago!

I was hesitant about this film at first, because I have not liked so many films starring Uma Thurman, but I must say she did an excellent job portraying the "older woman," and Bryan Greenberg was perfect as her hunky younger boyfriend, but Meryl Streep was superlative playing a role that could have become a combination of the stereotypes of therapist and Jewish mother in other hands.

So many scenes were funny and evoked other strong emotions at the same time. The psychiatrist's attempt at calming herself after a session with her client were so realistic they made me more uncomfortable than Thurman's sexual confessions made Streep's character feel. Greenberg's memories of his Bubbie are so tender I couldn't help but be reminded of my own beloved (and bigoted) grandmother. And at the same time they so hilarious, they are some of the most memorable parts of the film.

I have been using the word "Classic" when describing this movie to my friends, and it really seems so. I kept thinking of R. Strauss' opera, "Der Rosenkavalier," and wondering if the endings would be the same. I'll say nothing on that subject, but even though they are presentations made in different media, set in different centuries, they are both classics of the older woman / younger man story.

It is easy to condemn those who have broken one of our society's greatest taboos. Imagining the kind of criminal portrayed by Kevin Bacon as an acquaintance, much less as a family member is something I had never thought about until now. I hope I could be as even handed as Carlos, the Benjamin Bratt character.

The above paragraph represents the thoughts going through my head after the movie. Others who saw it with me deemed it the worst, most immoral movie they had ever seen. Too timid to ask probing questions, I wondered, "How do they think a man like that should be treated?" The stories I've heard about the treatment of pedophiles in jail from a friend who did time for passing bad checks (I'm sure no examples are necessary) illustrated the end result of the attitudes expressed by some of my fellow movie-goers.

**** WARNING: SPOILER **** The change in the attitude of the Sgt. Lucas towards the ex-con seemed unrealistic but was an emotional relief. The scene with the pubescent bird watcher was incredible when Robin (thank you Hannah Pilkes) changed from Walter's "object of desire/victim" to real person. Just as Walter evolved when he changed his view, so perhaps we need evolve and see the "monsters" as real people, too.