DEATH AND THE MAIDEN
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson. Screenplay: Rafael Yglesias and Ariel Dorfman. Director: Roman Polanski.
One of 1994's most unintentionally hilarious films was the adaptation of Isabel Allende's THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS, a bloated epic in which Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Winona Ryder were supposed to be playing Latin Americans. It baffled me that such casting could take place in an age where an Anglo playing any other race would incite riots, and the casting of SPIRITS was ultimately much of its undoing. Roman Polanski has made the same choice with DEATH AND THE MAIDEN, and again it was a very bad one. While as a concept DEATH AND THE MAIDEN is strong and intriguing enough to maintain interest, it is sabotaged by actors who often appear not to have the faintest idea what to do with the material.
Sigourney Weaver stars as Paulina Escobar, a woman still suffering profound psychological side effects after being tortured as a political prisoner fifteen years earlier in an unnamed South American country. The fascist government is recently fallen as the film opens, and Paulina's husband Gerardo (Stuart Wilson) is preparing to investigate the human rights violations of the old regime. One stormy evening, Gerardo's car gets a flat near their seaside home, and he is given a ride home by Dr. Roberto Miranda (Ben Kingsley). When she hear's Miranda's voice, Paulina becomes convinced that he is the man who repeatedly raped her during the torture sessions, and she takes him hostage. Although Miranda protests that he is not the man, and Gerardo believes Paulina is crazy, Paulina insists that Miranda make a full and sincere confession of his crimes, or she will kill him.
The psychological underpinnings of DEATH AND THE MAIDEN are a complex set of relationships and interactions which make for an extremely promising story. At its heart is Paulina's conviction in Miranda's guilt, a conviction which we should always doubt because of her paranoia and unreliability. Unfortunately, as it plays out, the performances and direction make our choice far too easy for us. Sigourney Weaver is part of the problem, playing Paulina not just over the top (which is probably where the role should be) but so far over the top that she falls off the top. Weaver as a personality simply seems too strong to be so close to complete breakdown, so she makes up for it by contorting her face and snarling. But a more serious problem is the performance of Ben Kingsley, who is approaching a land speed record for most different races and nationalities played in a career. He plays Miranda as such a little weasel that if he's not guilty of this particular crime, we figure he must be guilty of _something_. The part requires more ambiguity, and the very talented Kingsley just doesn't deliver in this case.
Perhaps even more disappointing is the relationship between Paulina and Gerardo, which is remarkably intricate. Paulina's torture was the result of refusing to give Gerardo's name as the publisher of an opposition newspaper during the dictatorship, but she is repaid by betrayals both real (an affair Gerardo had while she was in prison) and perceived (his acceptance of the position with what Paulina believes is a shadow court to slap torturers on the wrist). Her feelings for Gerardo range from hatred that she sacrificed herself for him to a love more necessary for self- preservation than real; Gerardo, meanwhile, never feels quite worthy of what she did for him. All this is in the text, but somehow director Roman Polanski doesn't let it out. Paulina never seems to love Gerardo, while Gerardo is mostly befuddled. The moments when they do reveal themselves, all in very stagy speeches, ring hollow because the same truths should have been evident in the performances.
Once upon a time, Roman Polanski was a master at building suspense (CHINATOWN, ROSEMARY'S BABY, REPULSION), but he rarely gets the tone of DEATH AND THE MAIDEN right. One scene shows what might have been, late in the film when Kingsley makes a confession. Polanski holds a very long take on Kingsley, refusing to cut to Weaver's reaction, and at that moment you genuinely wonder whether this is a guilty man spilling his guts or an innocent man giving the performance of a lifetime to save his skin. But moments later, Polanski cops out with a too-obvious resolution. The performances in DEATH AND THE MAIDEN should have created a mystery. Instead, the mystery is why they couldn't make the material work.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 political prisoners: 5.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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