Guinevere Directed by: Audrey Wells Starring: Sarah Polley, Stephen Rea, Jean Smart, Gina Gershon Running time: 104 minutes My rating (5 star scale): ****1/2
Harper is the younger daughter of a family of lawyers. She is about to head off to Harvard law school and is attending her sister's wedding. She meets the wedding photographer who is the only person there, including her family, to pay any attention to her. Although he is 30 years older than her, soon she is spending time with him and secretly moves in with him, after telling her parents she didn't get into Harvard after all.
Connie, the photographer, insists she learn to do something artistic and decides to teach her how to take photos. Harper soon learns that she is not the first young woman Connie has educated in this fashion. And she doesn't seem to mind. But this is the kind of relationship doomed to failure and how it fails is what interests us. As Harper says, if you learn from your mistakes, this was a great learning experience.
Polley is brilliant in this role, playing a naive girl who grows into a self-confident woman. Rea does a great job as the fragile older man who seduces younger woman not merely for the obvious physical reasons but for much deeper psychological purposes. And Jean Smart gives a staggering performance as Harper's mother, who can't really do anything to stop her but who knows exactly what is happening and why. Her confrontation with Connie is the highlight of the film.
This is a movie packed with strong character development and great scenes. Funny scenes like the fortune cookie reading at Harper's birthday dinner at her home, to tragic scenes like the final parting between Harper and Connie. Unfortunately, some of the minor roles (Gina Gershon as an exlover of Connie's) are rather weak. And it seems unlikely that Harper would be so artistically talented. But this is compensated for by the insights into Harper's family, who bring new levels of meaning to the word dysfunctional, and into Connie's psychology.
The age difference between Harper and Connie has you seeing Connie as a dirty old man. And he is. But by the time the movie ends, you've come to forgive him his seductions and realize he is as much a victim as anyone. The young women he seduces will leave him and go on to greater things. But he is stuck with who and what he is.
This is not as great a film as Polley's previous film The Sweet Hereafter. But it does give her an opportunity to stretch further as an actress and to play a complex and interesting character. I'm really looking forward to what she does next and even if you're not a fan, you should see this film.
-- Allan Jenoff Check out my web page at http://www.interlog.com/~jenoff/
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