WIDOWS' PEAK
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1994 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: The peace of a small post-WWI Irish
village is shattered by the feud of two women in this
picturesque comedy. As with many recent British films, the
setting is the real star of this film. The plot twists are
not as mysterious as they were intended to be. Rating: high
+1 (-4 to +4). WARNING: A VERY HEAVY SPOILER FOLLOWS THE
REVIEW.
In the 1920s, Kilshannon, Ireland, is a town dominated by rich widows. The hill at the center of the town has been given over entirely to the women and has been dubbed "Widows' Peak" by the locals. Of the elder female contingent, first among equals is Mrs. Doyle Couniha (played by Joan Plowright). The one non-widow on Widow's Peak is Katherine O'Hara (Mia Farrow) who was adopted by the other widows after an indiscretion earlier in her life. O'Hara is a quiet mousey woman who uncharacteristically takes an immediate dislike to newcomer Edwina Broome (Natasha Richardson). Even before Broome's arrival O'Hara is finding reason to hate her and soon the two women are constantly at each others' throats, quite to the bemused amazement of Kilshannon.
The screenplay of WIDOWS' PEAK was written years ago for Maureen O'Sullivan to play O'Hara and for Mia Farrow to play Broome. Time passed and Farrow took the role originally written for her mother. It is really a pity it was not cast that way since O'Hara had the fiery personality of O'Hara. One side effect is that Farrow has to sound Irish and Richardson has to sound American. It would not have been nearly as difficult for Farrow to sound American and her mother to sound Irish. Also, Farrow is far too quiet and introspective for the role. Richardson has a teaspoonful more personality, but neither actress can wrest the audience's attention from Plowright. Adrian Dunbar of HEAR MY SONG is present but a real disappointment in a role that gives him little chance to fulfill the promise he showed in that film.
One odd note, the film steals a joke from CASABLANCA. In a film set after 1943, it would have been considered a film allusion. WIDOWS' PEAK is set in the 1920s and that makes it a theft.
John Irvin directs taking maximum advantage of the small Irish town location. He builds texture into the film showing us scenes around the town, taking us to a local dance and to the town's regatta. He almost has Bill Forsyte's ability for making the town itself the star, but his town does not have quite enough personality to be really interesting. Now and again he does get off a clever piece of local color, like a fairly witty scene of all the widows in town visiting their husbands' graves at the same time, but it is not quite enough to make the town really engaging.
This is a film that is never so tricky as intended, but it is always watchable and usually quite fun. I give it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
SPOILER...SPOILER...SPOILER...SPOILER...
What I found to be the greatest flaw in this film is what was for me almost its utter predictability. I knew that there were surprises coming, admittedly, but I have to say I figured the entire plot before we even saw the character of Mrs. Broome. I saw Miss O'Hara behaves peculiarly negatively about the coming of Mrs. Broome, I thought of the demographics of the area, and I knew exactly what was happening. Even then it seemed to me that Richardson was giving too much away by making Mrs. Broome a terrible actress. (Okay, there were details about what was going on that were not available until later, but even there I was well ahead of the script.) In would not be fair to downrate the film because I guessed too early what was happening, but I think they could have done a better job of misleading me once I knew.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
.
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