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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 2002)
june 7.2002 FILM ............ '▼ ............. O 2001 PIP Printing A Wilde mistake Stay away from the sanitized costume drama and head to Clinton Street instead hearing the bland score swell up at the right moments like it’s some ordinary costume drama with characters we’re supposed to care about in the ordinary way, is like going to the Mad H at ter’s tea party and finding Martha Stewart humorlessly micromanaging the whole affair. I had newsletters due. I called PIP. Iliad too few sales sheets. PRINTING I had insomnia. 'Ib e Right Printer. The Right People! www.pip.com 237 NE Broadway • Portland. OR 97232 503.281.8666 • Fax 503.249.1440 sales@pippdx.com • www.pippdx.com — Christopher M cQuain P r in c e s a Clinton Street Theater, June 7 to 13 Rupert Everett wooing Reese Witherspoon is not the only implausibility of The Importance of Being Earnest T h e I m p o r t a n c e o f B e in g E a r n e s t Fox Tower Cinemas hen 1 read that The Importance o f Being Earnest, a screen adaptation of Oscar W ilde’s play, was being done by director/screenwriter Oliver Parker, my heart sank. W ho decided that Wilde’s witty, timelessly amoral Victorian satires— which anticipated 20th century Pop Art’s insouciant irreverence and irony— should be entrusted to someone this literal-minded, sentimental and “respectful”? Parker made a timid movie of An Ideal Husband a couple of years ago (he got extra demerits from me for putting the usually phenomenal Julianne Moore on that leaden, sinking ship), and Earnest pulls the same useless stunt. Wilde’s glimmering artificiality (call it “gay sensibility” if you want; imprisoned for homosex uality in the 19th century, he is probably the world’s most widely admired gay literary icon) has been turned into something criminally dull. T h e play is ostensibly about two young men— carefree bachelor Algernon (Rupert Everett) and throat-clearing, stuffed shirt Jack (C olin Firth)— and their attempts to woo brides-to-be Gwendolen (Frances O ’Connor) and Cecily (Reese Witherspoon). T he men’s romantic goals are comically thwarted by their own complicated untruths and embellishments. Jack especially has it tough; he was an orphan but must prove to Gwendolen’s dowager mother (Judi Dench, having a wickedly good time) that he’s fashionable, aristocratic and wealthy enough for her daughter. T he delightful misunderstandings multiply exponentially, but the lovers are ultimately happily united, every loose end neatly tied up. Parker clearly thinks it’s just that simple, but his conception of Wilde’s intent is all wet; the author’s characters are such satirically conceived creatures, it’s impossible to believe they were ever intended to be played as straight forward as Parker presents them. Wilde’s exquisite dialogue— so hilariously formal that not even the most “real" Victorian charac ter would utter it— can’t be ruined, but its presence only reminds us that he intended every line to subvert the seem ingly traditional, ingratiating boys-get-girls “story” Parker offers so unimaginatively. W ilde’s point of view is that of A lice through the looking glass, experiencing with disre spectful innocence the ridicu lous randomness of prevailing social custom. W atching The Importance of Being Earnest, W P rincesa opens with a little girl in a train furtively watching an exotically glamorous young woman who occasionally looks back at her with a knowing smile. The little girl is chas tised by her parent, but she’s right to be curious: The young woman is Femando/Femanda, aka Princesa, a Brazilian transvestite heading toward Milan, where she plans to work as a prostitute to raise money for a sex change. Princesa pursues her dream of being a “real woman” with single-minded intensity, and she’s willing to do whatever is necessary to attain it. This includes being orally raped by an immigra tion officer before she’s allowed to enter Milan, which she takes in stride as part of her lot in life. Once in the city she hooks up with Charlo (Biba Lerhu), who shows her the ropes and intro duces her to Karin (Lulu Pecorari), madam and mother hen to the local tranny whore communi ty and a tranny herself. Princesa is invited to " move in with Karin and becomes very successful. O f course, love intrudes in the form of handsome straight businessman G ianni (Cesare Bocci), who overcomes his initial repulsion at reaching under Princesa’s skirt and finding more than he expected. In the film’s Cinderella fantasy, G ianni leaves his wife and sets up house with Princesa, an act that forces her to think about what she really wants. Based on the memoirs of a famous Brazilian transvestite (who was a consultant on the film but killed herself before it was complete), Princesa is powerful and poignant, subtly acted and pleasantly unpredictable. Brazilian director Henrique Goldman shot on location with a mostly nonprofessional cast to give the drama a welcome grittiness. Some of the best scenes are in M ilan’s red-light district, where the gaudily painted prostitutes beat the hell out o f would- be bashers and alternately comfort and revile their mostly working-class tricks. T h e charism atic Ingrid D’Souza brings a quiet intensity to the lead role. 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Jdeet the man him self at the Ju st Out booth at ‘P ortland’s Pride ^Festival Ju n e 15 & 16.
