THE OBJECT OF BEAUTY
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1991 Frank Maloney
THE OBJECT OF BEAUTY is a film written and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, starring John Malkovich and Andie MacDowell, with Joss Ackland, Peter Reigert, Lolita Davidovich, and Rudi Davies.
THE OBJECT OF BEAUTY brings together two actors from two of my favorite 1989 films -- Malkovich in DANGEROUS LIAISONS, Andie MacDowell in SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE -- in a story that seems to have been written to showcase their delicate, aristocratic mannerisms. If theirs had been the only story, it would at best have resulted in a shallow comedy of manners: two spoiled, jet-setters living off the last of their used-up credit, united in their mutual mistrust, their mutual fear of being broke and having to give up luxurious London hotels and the rest. She owns a 9-inch Henry Moore sculpture worth $40,000; she won't sell it, but she might fake its theft and take the insurance money. But when it turns up missing, they both think the other took it.
What saves the characters and the movie is the radiant presence of the hearing-impaired hotel maid played by Rudi Davies. Her life of poverty parallels Jake and Tina in their brocaded suite -- her struggle to find a place for herself, her punk younger brother who wants to take care of them someday (just as Tina is waiting for Jake to take care of her), and the power of the Henry Moore over her life. Davies doesn't speak, she glows brighter than her red hair with a beauty than MacDowell may someday achieve if she's lucky. The same sad beauty of the Henry Moore, the beauty of experience, of having lived, of having perceived something behind the quotidian.
Not that I don't admire Andie MacDowell greatly for her sly skills as a deft, subtle comedienne. I don't think she's quite as good here as she was in SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE, but it's close, a talking point, certainly.
Malkovich's Jake reminds me of Jeremy Irons in REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, if only less fascinating and more human. He's funny, despicable, and sympathetic, especially when he drops his upper-crust moue long enough to give us a glimpse of the frightened man behind it.
Of the other players, I give much praise to Joss Ackland, the duplicitous hotel manager whose oleaginous will is to avoid scenes and run his hotel "on a seamless cloud of perfection" whatever compromises and dirty deals are required. Peter Reigert is Tina's soon-to-be-ex, the man who started it all by giving Tina the Henry Moore. The little bust is itself a kind of character, too, as it passes through many hands, inspiring a range of emotions and serenely being itself in a variety of environments.
The only casting problem was that the script really had too little for the wonderful Lolita Davidovitch to do. Still it's always good to see her on screen.
Over all, THE OBJECT OF BEAUTY is a well-crafted, subtle comedy about growth that makes humans out of us all. Highly recommended -- even at full prices.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
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