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| Will
she know me today? Christie in Away From Her. |
They’ve
Come Undone
By
Shawn Stone
Away
From Her
Directed
by Sarah Polley
One
of the things that has made Julie Christie such a compelling
actress and movie star for, oh, 40-plus years, is the elusiveness
with which she imbues her characters. Not just another pretty
face—although, yes, she’s always been a “pretty face”—Christie
always makes the audience (not to mention the other characters
in each film) work to figure her out. She got an Oscar in
1965 for bringing this quality to the self-absorbed “it girl”
in Darling, and the best directors—Robert Altman with
McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Hal Ashby with Shampoo,
and, most hauntingly, Richard Lester with Petulia—cast
her in roles that let her use this elusiveness to greatest
effect.
Add actress-turned-director Sarah Polley to this list of savvy
filmmakers. This first feature from Canadian indie-flick queen
Polley is a serious, deeply felt and bracingly acerbic look
at aging and loss—loss of love and loss of self. And while
Polley does a fine job until almost the end, it’s Christie
who carries the film over its ultimate shortcomings.
Christie is Fiona, who lives with her retired-professor husband
Grant (Gordon Pinsent) in a large-but-cozy cottage on the
shores of a frozen lake. (We never see the lake in summer,
which is a pointed giveaway.) As infrequent moments of forgetfulness
turn into shocking, and frightening, short-term memory loss,
Fiona realizes she probably has Alzheimer’s. Grant, however,
refuses to accept that his devoted 60-something wife is slipping
away from him.
This changes their relationship in ways that knock Grant off
kilter, and force him to face who he really is. (Hint: When
another character calls him a jerk, the audience is inclined
to agree.)
When Fiona forces Grant to admit her into a very upscale nursing
home, things really go south for their relationship. Fiona
develops a passionate attachment to a mute fellow resident,
Aubrey (a quietly powerful Michael Murphy), and Grant turns
to Aubrey’s wife, Marian (Olympia Dukakis), for help—but it’s
not the kind of help you might expect. And that’s where Away
From Her gets really interesting.
The final twists and turns of both emotion and plot are a
wrenching cross between Atom Egoyan and O. Henry, and Polley
isn’t quite up to the task. The final scene hits hard—Christie,
especially, plays it beautifully—but the action that builds
up to it doesn’t hit hard enough.
It’s worth noting that cosponsors the National Film Board
of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Company got their
money’s worth: Polley lets her Maple Leaf flag fly. There
are references to Canadian pro football and the seemingly
eternal playoff futility of hockey’s Toronto Maple Leafs,
a visit to a Canadian nature preserve, endless snowscapes
and—of course—both Neil Young and k.d. lang (singing a
Neil Young song) on the soundtrack. After a certain point,
you can’t help but think, “OK, we get it. This isn’t Minnesota.”
Away
From Her is affecting, but not devastating. Blame Canada?
Third
Time’s the Charm, Sort Of
Shrek
the Third
Directed
by Chris Miller and Raman Hui
Poor Shrek. Just when he’d figured out marriage and gotten
comfortable with his in-laws, he’s hit with a double whammy.
Wife Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is pregnant, and father-in-law King
Harold (John Cleese), on his deathbed (or water lily, more
accurately), passes on the crown to him. With both these unwanted
events, our green ogre finds himself awash in terror. And
so, he embarks, with trusty sidekicks Donkey (Eddie Murphy)
and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas), to find a different
heir, namely one Arthur Pendragon (Justin Timberlake), in
order that he might return to the peace and quietude of the
swamp. Trouble is, young Artie is a bit of a loser, and none
too pleased about being forcefully removed from a rather unhappy,
but normal, existence at a Hogwarts-type school. Can Shrek
change his young protégé’s mind, and more important, can they
get back to Far Far Away in time to save it from the evil
machinations of an embittered Prince Charming (Rupert Everett)
and his not-so-merry band of fairy-tale witches and cutthroats?
Gone from this installment are the nasty undertones of the
second edition, and while Shrek The Third comes nowhere
near to delivering the surprise and joy of the original, it’s
a decidedly steadier picture. Throughout, there’s a sense
that this is the last installment—which may be a good thing—and
while the many screenwriters involved don’t do nearly enough
with the delicious concept of fairy-tale baddies run amok,
and fairy-tale damsels in distress having to get tough to
survive, there is still a lot to admire. If much of that comes
from the dazzling technical effects, notably a sopping wet
Puss, well, so be it. What made Shrek so delightful
was its refusal to kowtow to the usual “warm fuzzy” that Disney
specializes in; by this juncture, however, the filmmakers
resort to having Shrek channel his inner Ward Cleaver when
advising the importance of remaining true to oneself.
The best bits of Shrek the Third are those that dramatize
the lead character’s baby fears, notably a brilliant nightmare
scene (which riffs off Rosemary’s Baby and It’s
Alive) that culminates in thousands of tiny ogres oozing
out of the woodwork. Great fun is made at Charming’s expense,
of course, including the fact that, at movie’s beginning,
he’s been relegated to dinner theatre where the stand-in for
Shrek still gets the biggest applause. I wish more had been
made of his sinister plan to take over Far Far Away, and of
Fiona’s rounding up the ladies for a little payback. Too few
are the scenes in which Cinderella (Amy Sedaris), Rapunzel
(Maya Rudolph), Snow White (Amy Poehler), and Sleeping Beauty
(Cheri Oteri) snip at each other like extras in a Beverly
Hills 90210 episode, or when the Ugly Stepsisters Doris
(Larry King) and Mabel (Regis Philbin) trade insults. The
jokes come at you, the parent, hard and fast; hopefully, the
tykes will get enough of it to enjoy the show—or (from the
franchise’s point of view) at least demand the latest plush
toy or Happy Meal accessory “inspired” by the movie. As sequels
go, it’s not all that shabby, but it’s far far away from William
Steig.
—Laura
Leon
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