The Comfort
of Strangers, screenplay by Harold Pinter, based on the novel by Ian McEwan
Eight out
of 10
All the premises
are in place for this motion picture to be a brilliant, outstanding work of art…
The ultimate
master, Ian McEwan, wrote the original material and it is a fabulous book - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-comfort-of-strangers-by-ian-mcewan.html
Harold Pinter
is the author of the screenplay that sends the novel to the big screen and he is
the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature…
Need we say
more?
Yes, there
are other arguments in favor of The Comfort of Stranger, one of them referring to
the director of the film, an accomplished writer of scripts for Raging Bull,
Taxi Driver, and Affliction among others.
Last but
not least, the cast has none other than Christopher Walken, Academy Award
Winner Helen Mirren, Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett to take the feature
to divine heights.
Alas, it
does not happen!
First,
Rupert Everett seems to confirm the serious misgivings expressed recently after
watching his performance as an actor and his directorial blunders on the making
of The Happy Prince
It is nevertheless
hard to decide which acting affects more, in a negative way, the end result…
His or that
of his partner, Natasha Richardson
Although a
very beautiful, sensuous, apparently confident – maybe too much so? –probably talented
actress, Ms. Richardson is too artificial, unfeeling, remote and unsuitable for
the role of Mary.
The only
remarkable, outstanding presence remains that of Christopher Walken as Robert.
If we jest,
it could be argued that Christopher Walken does not need to make a special
effort to handle the part of a maniac, abusive, playful, obsessive, stalking
and murderous Robert.
Outré,
bizarre personages are part of the immense panoply of the astounding, fabulous
gigantic legend.
Think Deer
Hunter for which he has won a well-deserved Oscar, Catch Me if You Can –
surprisingly, only his second nomination for the coveted Academy Award Seven Psychopaths
and Pulp Fiction
-
To
name just a few memorable characters
Two lovers
spend a vacation in Venice – a destination that is revealed in the film
adaptation, but not mentioned in the original material – where the malignant
Robert spies upon them.
The latter
pretends that he wants to help Mary and Colin to have a meal late in the night,
after they have lost their way and are invited to a bar where the bizarre
stranger starts a long story.
This would
be told at least in part three times, in the opening scenes, when the apparently
hospitable man is at the table with the couple and then when he is requested to
explain what happens, at the end.
He would
invite the visitors to his house, where they meet the Canadian wife – part of
the explanation for his excellent English – Caroline aka Helen Mirren – not overwhelming,
but decent.
The tales
told by Robert and his wife are more than eccentric, although they appear to
fall somewhat flat in the movie – the book is strongly recommended though – and
contain a story of rating on sisters who then take revenge by placing laxatives
in the drink of the young Robert, then tie him up in the office of the monster
father, where he shits over the carpet, walls and seemingly everything else.
The monstrous
father is probably part of the reason for the viciousness of the don, who has
such violent sex with Caroline that she becomes challenged, almost disabled,
sharing in turn his liking for violence in a Sadistic and Masochistic
relationship and furthermore, a psychopathic, morbid obsession with Robert.
One wall of
the bedroom of the Venetian couple is covered with photographs of Colin, who
should have known better – that goes for Mary too – when he was first invited
at the residence and their clothes disappeared, then the host declared she had
been in their bedroom and watched them sleeping for a long time…
Then there
was the punch in the stomach…what more did they need before running away from
these lunatics?
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