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Don Juan De Marco
Director and screenwriter Jeremy Leven scores with Don Juan De Marco, an exuberant and imaginative comic confection from 1994 that seamlessly weaves together two very different stories that wind down to a lovely, if bittersweet, conclusion.
This is the story of Dr. Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando) a psychiatrist who is called to the scene where a young man, claiming to be the great lover Don Juan (Johnny Depp) is threatening to throw himself off a billboard. The young man is brought to the mental institution where Mickler is scheduled to retire in ten days. The head of the hospital (Bob Dishy) reluctantly gives Mickler ten days to get through to the guy or put him on medication, which Jack doesn't want to do. Don Juan also asks Jack for the same ten days to convince him that he is who he says he is.
The story of Don Juan (according to Leven anyway) lovingly unfolds before us, told in lavishly mounted flashback by this enigmatic young man who has concocted this elaborate backstory for himself that the doctor doesn't necessarily believe, but is profoundly affected by it, particularly the young man's passion about love and women, which ignites inside Jack a desire to to restore the passion and excitement to his own marriage, much to the confusion of his quietly devoted wife (Faye Dunaway), who is content with her life and her marriage...or so she thinks.
Leven's clever but manipulative screenplay sucks us in right away...the opening scenes of Don Juan approaching a woman in a restaurant waiting for her date, seducing her by kissing her hand, getting her in bed and back to the restaurant before her date arrives have us immediately on the side of this young man and wanting to believe he is who he says he is. As Don begins to tell the story of his life (with a perfect and very sexy Spanish accent), Leven lavishly recreates the scenes to match every word Don says...there are couple of fantastic moments where Don's narration perfectly mirrors the action. These scene are so lavishly produced that the viewer gets sucked into believing what this young man is perpetrating and so does the doctor and that's where the fun came for me with this film. This movie made me want to believe everything that Don Juan was perpetrating here even though I knew that was impossible.
What Leven has done here is so effective...we are almost halfway through the story before we are forced to accept the possibility that this young man is not who he says is and we still hope that we might be wrong. There are only two moments that I noticed in the film where the Don Juan character reveals, without saying anything, that he is not who he says he is but he commits to the charade as long as he can and we have to wait a lot longer than I originally expected to hear this character speak without the accent.
Leven's lavish story earns a lot of its credibility through the charismatic performances by the three stars...Brando seems completely invested in this slightly sad character whose passion for life is reignited by this patient and Depp, sex on legs as usual, also brings a lovely vulnerability to this character making him part bold sex machine and part frightened child...his final confessional scene is just heartbreaking. Faye Dunaway has rarely been as likable onscreen as she was as Mrs. Mickler, a woman thrown by the change in her husband but willing to go with it. The film also features exquisite cinematography and a lush musical score. All in all, a delicious comic fantasy that will fool you into thinking what it wants you think...for a good chunk of the running time anyway.
Director and screenwriter Jeremy Leven scores with Don Juan De Marco, an exuberant and imaginative comic confection from 1994 that seamlessly weaves together two very different stories that wind down to a lovely, if bittersweet, conclusion.
This is the story of Dr. Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando) a psychiatrist who is called to the scene where a young man, claiming to be the great lover Don Juan (Johnny Depp) is threatening to throw himself off a billboard. The young man is brought to the mental institution where Mickler is scheduled to retire in ten days. The head of the hospital (Bob Dishy) reluctantly gives Mickler ten days to get through to the guy or put him on medication, which Jack doesn't want to do. Don Juan also asks Jack for the same ten days to convince him that he is who he says he is.
The story of Don Juan (according to Leven anyway) lovingly unfolds before us, told in lavishly mounted flashback by this enigmatic young man who has concocted this elaborate backstory for himself that the doctor doesn't necessarily believe, but is profoundly affected by it, particularly the young man's passion about love and women, which ignites inside Jack a desire to to restore the passion and excitement to his own marriage, much to the confusion of his quietly devoted wife (Faye Dunaway), who is content with her life and her marriage...or so she thinks.
Leven's clever but manipulative screenplay sucks us in right away...the opening scenes of Don Juan approaching a woman in a restaurant waiting for her date, seducing her by kissing her hand, getting her in bed and back to the restaurant before her date arrives have us immediately on the side of this young man and wanting to believe he is who he says he is. As Don begins to tell the story of his life (with a perfect and very sexy Spanish accent), Leven lavishly recreates the scenes to match every word Don says...there are couple of fantastic moments where Don's narration perfectly mirrors the action. These scene are so lavishly produced that the viewer gets sucked into believing what this young man is perpetrating and so does the doctor and that's where the fun came for me with this film. This movie made me want to believe everything that Don Juan was perpetrating here even though I knew that was impossible.
What Leven has done here is so effective...we are almost halfway through the story before we are forced to accept the possibility that this young man is not who he says is and we still hope that we might be wrong. There are only two moments that I noticed in the film where the Don Juan character reveals, without saying anything, that he is not who he says he is but he commits to the charade as long as he can and we have to wait a lot longer than I originally expected to hear this character speak without the accent.
Leven's lavish story earns a lot of its credibility through the charismatic performances by the three stars...Brando seems completely invested in this slightly sad character whose passion for life is reignited by this patient and Depp, sex on legs as usual, also brings a lovely vulnerability to this character making him part bold sex machine and part frightened child...his final confessional scene is just heartbreaking. Faye Dunaway has rarely been as likable onscreen as she was as Mrs. Mickler, a woman thrown by the change in her husband but willing to go with it. The film also features exquisite cinematography and a lush musical score. All in all, a delicious comic fantasy that will fool you into thinking what it wants you think...for a good chunk of the running time anyway.