8-1/2 WOMEN
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Lions Gate Director: Peter Greenaway Writer: Peter Greenaway Cast: John Standing, Matthew Delamere, Vivian Wu, Annie Shizuka Inoh, Barbara Sarafian, Kirina Mano, Toni Collette, Amanda Plummer, Natacha Amal, Manna Fujiwara, Polly Walker, Elizabeth Berrington, Myriam Muller, Don Warrington, Claire Johnston
Those who take in "8-1/2 Women" as their introduction to Peter Greenaway's vision would likely that the picture is far- out, different, novel. Indeed it is. But the old Greenaway hands can't be blamed for feeling that the fifty-seven-year old Welsh director is losing his experimental edge. Put "8-1/2 Women" side by side with such daring pictures as his "Pillow Book," "Drowning by Numbers" and in my conviction his best work "The Draughtsman's Contract" and the film evokes no such probing or even visual splendor. "The Draughtsman's Contract," for example, which came out of Greenaway's more youthful mind, deals with an arrogant young artist who takes commissions from the mistress of an estate in return for sexual favors--not unlike his current movie, by the way--but the 1982 movie was delightfully inflected by its 17th Century spirit and looks more sumptuous than "8-1/2 Women." Greenaway made history in the U.S. when his "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" (1989)--a parable about love, revenge and greed--made the Motion Picture Academy change its concept of rating movies, eliminating the "X" rating in favor of the current "NC-17."
Thematically, Greenaway has always been obsessed by humankind's avarice, sexual fantasies, and revenge, while visually his movies tend to be distant, cold, and aloof with a strong emphasis on visual splendor over narrative conventions. Leaving much of narrative to the printed page, Greenaway believes that cinema is first, last and always for the eye, with story lines taking a back seat. But "8-1/2 Women," oddly enough, follows conventional story lines from A to Z without the challenging experimentation of his previous offerings. This time he singles out the idle rich for his satiric barbs, honing in on a father-son duo who have the most stereotypical views of women, who exploit them when they are weakest, and who get their deserved comeuppance in the end. That's about as conventional as you can get with Greenaway.
What sets the story in motion is the grieving of a prosperous Geneva banker, Phil Emmenthal (John Standing) after the death of his wife and the efforts of his son, Storey Emmenthal (Matthew Delamere) to perk his old man up. When the two inherit pachinko (gambling) parlors in Kyoto, Japan, they may have intended to run them strictly for the profits that would come from the Japanese fascination with gambling. But after seeing Fellini's 1963 movie "8-1/2" illustrating its self-analytical filmmaker's utilization of women for his new project, Matthew conceives of a way to cheer up his grieving dad. Letting their fantasies run reckless, father and son commit incest with each other and then turn their Geneva estate into a bordello. To serve them, they employ eight women plus one additional female who has no legs. The harem include Kito (Vivian Wu), who turns on when she sees male-female impersonates; Giaconda (Natacha Amal), who has had six children and will produce another for the bankers in return for $25,000; Beryl (Amanda Plummer), who steals horses and fears extradition to Saudi Arabia where she could receive harsh punishment; Griselda (Toni Collette), who is pushed into portraying a nun; Palmira (Polly Walker), a beautiful hooker with the heart of gold.
Filmed exquisitely in Japan and Luxembourg by Greenaway's regular photographer Sacha Vierny, "8-1/2 Women" graphically demonstrates--with liberal use of both male and female frontal nudity--that the sexual fantasies of the men soon become banal to them and that the women ultimately gain the upper hand with fancies of their own. To illustrate the vapid, stereotypical views of women held by the Emmenthals, Greenaway populates the screen with females representing the usual clich‚s. The bankers run through an earth mother, the eternally pregnant woman, the thief, the fainthearted, the heart-of-gold whore, the nun-at-heart, and the servant; the only creature engaging them when the sex becomes routine being Palmira--who has no use for "unused" youth, goes after the older man, and evokes the envy and frustration of young Storey. John Standing and Matthew Delamere do make a convincing father-son team, the son's ultimately disastrous advice assuring us that the scheme, however unusual, is credible enough.
To embody his view that painting represents the best means of contemplating the world, Greenaway calls upon some of the great works of art in formulating his women. Mother Earth is found in the works of della Francesca, Rubens and Picasso while the chaste nun has been painted by Rembrandt and fantasied by de Sade. The good-looking, sympathetic whore has been the subject of fantasies from Mary Magdalene to Marilyn Monroe.
The vision is there, all right. What is lacking are a deeper exploration of the connection between the paintings and this picture and a truly experimental style to cast Greenaway's bold notion into a more innovative style--a technique that could have a better chance of capturing audience awe.
Rated R. Running Time: 120 minutes. (C) 2000 Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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