A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1999 Ted Prigge
Director: James Ivory Writers: James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (based on the novel by Kaylie Jones) Starring: Kris Kristofferson, Barbara Hershey, Leelee Sobieski, Jesse Bradford, Anthony Ruth Costanzo, Dominique Blanc, Jane Birkin, Virginie Ledoyen, Samuel Gruen, Luisa Conlon, Isaach de Bankolé, Nick Nolte
"A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries" is a beautifull shot and beautifully memorable film, crafted like it was a series of episodes from one life, divided into three sections of emotional maturity. It just so happens that that's exactly what its source is. Adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel by Kaylie Jones, daughter of famous American war scribe, James Jones (author of "Red Badge of Courage" and "The Thin Red Line"), this film has been meticulously created to be episodic in structure, and more like distant remembrances than actual emotional involvement. And like all films like this, it not only involves in the story at hand, but it forces us to remember our own pasts, and what has shaped us to be the person that we are at the moment.
As a skematic for a person's current life, "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries" is never fully complete, and there are moments where we don't understand the lead's motives until the moment she makes her choices. As a tragedy, which what it would be in the hands of others, it's unfulfilling, and little subplots (like the daughter's relationship with her brother) are never totally together. And there are more than a couple notable ends left dangling in the wind. But that's exactly how it has been designed to be: just the right amount of judgment on situations with a twist of emotion. The events of the film are told in an almost distant tone, but what transpires from them become exactly like happy/sad memories. For instance, the story's plot is supposed to be about a family who has lived most of their life in France coming back to America, where the teenage children have to assimilate, but it never feels like that is the actual point of this story. It feels more like a woman at an older, more mature age rereading her diary she kept when a young girl.
The woman, renamed Channe Willis (played at a young age by Luisa Conlon), is first seen living in Paris with her parents, author Bill (Kris Kristoferson) and beautiful wife Marcella (Barbara Hershey), when they adopt a young child named Benoit (played at a young age by Samuel Gruen), who was the son of a young french woman (Virginie Ledoyen), too young to keep him. Benoit happily renames himself after his new father, and becomes best friends with Channe. Once grown up to about the age of 14, the two have drifted apart and Channe (now played by Leelee Sobieski) befriends an affeminate boy named Francis (Anthony Ruth Costanzo) at her multi-lingual school, and the two become inseperable, isolating Billy (Jesse Bradford). Slowly and methodically, Francis gets on her nerves, though, distancing himself from her until he finally confesses his undying love for her in an idiosyncratic and touching scene.
But throughout, despite who is the closest man or boy in her life, her father always lingers over her. Though a notorious drunkard and being totally and hilarious redneck, Kristoferson brilliantly crafts Bill into the most wonderfully paternal figure of the year. He's gruff and intimidating but he's also bizarrely charming and approachable. When his health begins to fail a bit, he decides he wants to move back to America, and his children react differently to the massive change. Channe becomes promiscuous, and Billy becomes a loafer, watching TV constantly, a bag of chips never being far away.
As her father's days near an end due to a mortal illness, they become even closer: she confesses her promiscuous ways to him, and he takes it matter-of-factly. When she becomes serious over a boy, and they get to the point that they want to sleep together, Bill shocks both of them by suggesting they sleep in her bed, under the same roof - "If they're gonna do it, they might as well do it right."
This film is chock full of moments like that, the moments that become memorable not only to the people who live through them, but to those who observe silently. And throughout the film, we get the picture that this family is completely unique, like all families. They're close yet still comfortably distant, and all are respective of eachother, even when they have fits of selfish rage (on New Years Eve, Marcella lays a massive head trip on her daughter the likes of which I hope I never have to endure personally). This is all told in the reserved, matter-of-fact manner that Merchant Ivory productions have been acclaimed for. They tell their plot points flat out, without a whole lot of production, but then quietly observe the little emotional attachments that come along with them. "The Remains of the Day" would be such a boring flick if it hadn't been for the way they quietly observed the Anthony Hopkins character, and brought out his inner demons (that's also thanks to Hopkins, of course). Well, they work the same way for the characters in "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries." They observe Channe, and all those around her, especially her father, a man who borders on flawless legend and down-to-earth flawed human being.
The acting is simplistic and pretty incredible. Sobieski, totally annoying in her past films like "Jungle 2 Jungle" and "Deep Impact," is totally fascinating to watch here (this gives me hopes for her supporting turn in the upcoming Kubrick film). Hershey hasn't been this good in years. And Kristoferson gives the performance of his life, at least as to what I've seen of him (which means, I guess, that this is his best performance, followed by "Big Top Pee Wee"). As notoriously redneck as he is, he shows that he's a totally lovable actor, and if there's some special award for "Best Performance by an Actor Who We All Thought Had Very Little Talent Previously," hands down it'd go to Kristoferson. He and the other actors make this all seem real, and that's the reason this film is so entertaining to watch. A film like this reminds us how little plot matters in certain films - it just matters how much it affects us with the little things, and the memories it gives us after the film has been long over.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2
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