VANYA ON 42ND STREET
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore, Larry Pine, Brooke Smith, George Gaynes. Screenplay: David Mamet. Director: Louis Malle.
A few years ago, I saw a production of "Les Miserables" in San Francisco, and I loved it. I loved the experience of being in that theater, and of giving myself over to the spectacle and the energy of that live performance. Some time later, it occurred to me that if I had seen the identical production on a movie screen, I probably would have laughed myself silly at its bombast. What does any of this have to do with Louis Malle's VANYA ON 42ND STREET? Only this: live theater and film are not the same animal, and what works in one does not necessarily work in the other. VANYA ON 42ND STREET is a great stage production, but as a film it is simply good.
The film is a rendering of a sort of guerilla theater group performance of Chekhov's UNCLE VANYA in a dilapidated theater on New York's 42nd Street called the New Amsterdam. The play is set on a Russian country estate run by Vanya (Wallace Shawn), an embittered man passing through middle age with little to show for his life. He is hosting Professor Serebryakov (George Gaynes), an ailing retired academic and the widower of Vanya's sister, as well as the Professor's young second wife Yelena (Julianne Moore). Vanya is in love with Yelena, as is Astrov (Larry Pine), the doctor who visits from the city to tend to the Professor. Astrov has an admirer of his own, the Professor's daughter Sonya (Brooke Smith), but none of them seems destined for happiness.
The framing device, which shows the cast members and director Andre Gregory walking down bustling New York streets towards the theater, is clearly intended to establish a relevance of VANYA in the modern day. To the extent that it succeeds, that connection is really about living a life in the theater. There is a five year history behind this production, as the principles met in living rooms, abandoned theaters and really any available space in a pure labor of love. From the moment when the actors imperceptibly begin the production with the line, "Your looks have faded," this VANYA becomes a kind of purgation of the agonies of being an actor, and the characters come to represent very recognizable types. Serebryakov is every poseur who succeeds while more talented performers struggle in anonymity; Vanya is the workhorse who works unappreciated for years; Sonya is the young would-be starlet who faces cruel realities about what it takes to be noticed. Played on a spartan stage and in contemporary dress, VANYA seems startlingly modern and very personal to these performers.
The years of rehearsal and refinement show in performances which are effortless almost to a one. Wallace Shawn, he of the gnome-like features and familiar lisp, finds in Vanya a reservoir of black-humored hope even as he acknowledges the horror of lost years. Julianne Moore (last seen--and plenty of her--in last year's SHORT CUTS) is a stunning Yelena, and Larry Pine's Astrov is torn and conflicted throughout without emoting. However, perhaps the most wrenching performance belongs to Brooke Smith, who tears into Sonya with an emotional ferocity few actors could muster. Her two scenes with Moore are powerfully played, and when she broke down I felt tears welling in my eyes. It is as good a performance by a supporting actress as you'll see this year.
All these things VANYA ON 42ND STREET does exceedingly well, but while I was sitting in my seat watching it on a screen, I often felt more distanced than I should have felt. Louis Malle's choices in framing shots are not particularly inspired, and cinematographer Declan Quinn's camera teeters for no apparent reason, creating that verite vertigo pioneered by Woody Allen's HUSBANDS AND WIVES. To put it bluntly, I couldn't quite figure out why this film had been made. I started to become annoyed that I couldn't be one of the lucky few who was able to see this production in the flesh, and I wondered why these actors who were obviously so dedicated to this play hadn't considered touring with it. VANYA ON 42ND STREET is a superior interpretation of a fantastic play, but I couldn't quite shake the conviction that I really should have seen it *on* 42nd Street.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 old theaters: 7.
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