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This film has all the Merchant and Ivory positive and negative attributes.
The story is slight: Marya, the wife of a Polish convict (Isabelle Adjani) moves in with the Heidlers, an older English couple consisting of seductive brute H.J (Alan Bates) and his artist wife Lois (Maggie Smith). H.J's affair with Marya is not his first and Lois simply has to put up with it all. It's an adaptation of a Jean Rhys novel, which is partly autobiographical. Because the novel gives an insight into Marya's conflicted feelings about her situation, Adjani can only hope to hint at what lies beneath. Physically she is spot on but Marya is supposed to be an outsider in Paris and the fact that Adjani is French undermines this. There are many conversations in French and at times it appears to be a French film with extracts of English as opposed to the other way around. Adjani is not a bad actress but her accent means that the intonations of some dialogue is a little off.
Alan Bates also is physically spot on- just the sort of man that would crush a 'crushed petal' like Marya. He captures Heidler's brutishness but also his attractiveness. You can understand why women might fall for him.
I associate Maggie Smith with more conservative roles and although she is a good actress, she does not entirely convince as a bohemienne artist. However she pulls off Lois's brave front and housewife delusion beautifully.
The aesthetic of the film really captures the zeitgeist of the period, which Merchant and Ivory almost always manage to do- but the film is killed by very slow pacing. The scenes with Adjani visiting her convinct husband (Anthony Higgins) are dull and the slow pacing kills off the claustrophobic hothouse atmosphere that the film should have.
The film had potential but poor pacing and uncertain direction (the ending just sort of drifts) means that the film is more of a curiosity for those interested in Merchant and Ivory or the actors.
This film has all the Merchant and Ivory positive and negative attributes.
The story is slight: Marya, the wife of a Polish convict (Isabelle Adjani) moves in with the Heidlers, an older English couple consisting of seductive brute H.J (Alan Bates) and his artist wife Lois (Maggie Smith). H.J's affair with Marya is not his first and Lois simply has to put up with it all. It's an adaptation of a Jean Rhys novel, which is partly autobiographical. Because the novel gives an insight into Marya's conflicted feelings about her situation, Adjani can only hope to hint at what lies beneath. Physically she is spot on but Marya is supposed to be an outsider in Paris and the fact that Adjani is French undermines this. There are many conversations in French and at times it appears to be a French film with extracts of English as opposed to the other way around. Adjani is not a bad actress but her accent means that the intonations of some dialogue is a little off.
Alan Bates also is physically spot on- just the sort of man that would crush a 'crushed petal' like Marya. He captures Heidler's brutishness but also his attractiveness. You can understand why women might fall for him.
I associate Maggie Smith with more conservative roles and although she is a good actress, she does not entirely convince as a bohemienne artist. However she pulls off Lois's brave front and housewife delusion beautifully.
The aesthetic of the film really captures the zeitgeist of the period, which Merchant and Ivory almost always manage to do- but the film is killed by very slow pacing. The scenes with Adjani visiting her convinct husband (Anthony Higgins) are dull and the slow pacing kills off the claustrophobic hothouse atmosphere that the film should have.
The film had potential but poor pacing and uncertain direction (the ending just sort of drifts) means that the film is more of a curiosity for those interested in Merchant and Ivory or the actors.