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. In a just
world, that charisma would take her out of
the international indie scene and into a
mainstream career.
— Gary Morris J H
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„jJX X U W V V ii
Quite simply the world's
finest Queer columnist.
Jdeet the man him self at the Ju st Out booth at
‘P ortland’s Pride ^Festival Ju n e 15 & 16.