Mary Reilly A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1996 By Michael Redman
*** (out of ****)
The Jekyll and Hyde story told from his maid's point of view is, in a word, "Dark". You wouldn't expect something bright and cheery based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, but the film is surprisingly dreary and dismal.
Jekyll/Hyde (John Malkovich) is terminally depressed and desperate. Mary Reilly (Julia Roberts) is a victim of monstrous child abuse and the anti-woman sentiment of the times. Director Stephen Fears' version of the London slums makes us marvel that anyone survived them. The lighting level is exceedingly low throughout the movie: it almost appears to be filmed in black and white.
The direction and cinematography are brilliant and liquid. Scenes flow into the next scene like honey oozing off a strawberry. (Except there's no red, of course.) The look is so moody and melodramatic that you'll be shocked when you leave the theater. I saw it at a matinee and took quite a while to adjust to the sunny skies afterward.
Often the Jekyll and Hyde archetypes are viewed as splitting a whole person into components of good and evil or perhaps cerebral and emotional parts. Here the doctor is intellectual and perhaps good, but certainly powerless. His alter ego is forceful and totally without conscience. Two parts that make up a whole. Neither are capable of functioning without the other and once separated, disaster is inevitable.
The differences between the two characters would be more effective if it were accomplished by demeanor and attitude. When we finally see the transformation, the special effects thrust the story into the realm of science fiction, not the psychological horror that the tale demands.
Roberts and Malkovich are skillful in their roles. Both are suitably melancholy, fitting in with the rest of the film. The only flash of life and color comes from Glenn Close (and her lips) as the madam of a whorehouse where Hyde lives, and surprisingly, Jekyll apparently frequents. Life and color maybe, but this is not Close's best role. She seems little more than a cardboard cutout character.
A beautiful film in its own dreary way. You'll appreciate the filmmaking craft, but don't expect to leave in an upbeat mood.
[This appeared in the 2/25 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted a redman@bvoice.com] -- mailto:redman@bvoice.com This week's film review at http://www.bvoice.com/ Film reviews archive at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman
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