PARADISE
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1991 Frank Maloney
PARADISE is a film written and directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue. It stars Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson, Elijah Wood, Thora Birch, and Sheila McCarthy.
PARADISE is a remake of Jean-Loup Hubert's autobiographical 1987 French film LE GRAND CHEMIN. This is Touchstone's (read Disney's) third remake of a French film (the other two being THREE MEN AND A BABY (from TROIS HOMMES ET UN COUFFIN) and THREE FUGITIVES (from LES FUGITIFS). PARADISE is the most successful of the three, although the Disney people have some very odd ideas of how people live in the country.
What makes PARADISE more successful is the degree to which it remains faithful to the French original aided by the surprising performances turned in by Griffith and Johnson. The story is simple, spare, told in small scenes that exist without explanation or comment. This stands in contrast to the larger-than-life, hand-holding feel of the typical Hollywood film. And even though Griffith and Johnson are considerably more glamorous than their French counterparts (Richard Bohringer and Anemone), they are instantly believable as partners in a troubled marriage, people living too long with loss and guilt, people who cut themselves off from contact with the very people who could heal their pain.
Honestly, I had no idea either Griffith or Johnson was such a good actor. Griffith captures the lost, hiding character of her part in gestures of meekness and a whispery voice of a woman on the verge of a nervous and marital breakdown. Johnson turns what must be his best performance as the man who must climb out of self-loathing and bitterness. These were performances I could believe in.
Probably, the only member of the cast member whom I found to be problematic was Elijah Wood, who played the boy in AVALON and who here plays the insecure, loner city boy, the scholarship boy at the private school who no more fits in with the sons of wealth than he does with the street toughs who chase him in his own neighborhood. Wood is supposed to be the catalyst who saves the married couple he's sent to live with as well as the tomboy who befriends him and, of course, himself. I found his part too pat, his character too passive, to be really believable or understandable.
Sheila McCarthy as the boy's mother, Thora Birch as the tomboy, and Louise Latham as her unwed, unweddable mother turn in fine acting jobs. Birch's role was conceived by Donoghue more seriously than I would have preferred; she is after all a pretty funny little girl. Her mother's comic potential becomes in the hands of Donoghue more irritating than funny and I was left wondering why anyone would put with such a person, at least until the climactic scene. Donoghue in general was so intent on making a serious relationship film, so intent on eschewing Hollywood fantasies, that she over-corrected into the realm of good intentions and some dry stretches.
Overall, I enjoyed PARADISE very much and can recommend it. Try to catch a bargain matinee to maximize your enjoyment.
(NOTE: this film is rated PG-13 for language and some nudity.)
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
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