Conference bookie::movies

966.0. "Carrington" by ONOFRE::SKELLY_JO () Tue Nov 14 1995 14:19

    Emma Thompson plays the title role of Dora Carrington, an English painter
    who lived at the beginning of this century. People are always "down in the
    country" visiting in English movies and this gives her the opportunity to
    meet author Lytton Strachey, played by Jonathan Pryce in a Cannes festival
    best-actor-award-winning performance. Rather abruptly and inexplicably,
    they fall in love, not exactly an ideal match, since Strachey is gay. The
    movie follows their life-long devotion to one another and the peculiar
    effects it has on their other relationships.

    I found the movie interesting, but somewhat frustrating. The dialogue does
    little to expose the inner workings of these people's minds. If these were
    ordinary love affairs, one might expect the audience to fill in the blanks
    out of their own experiences or at least the conventions of the movies, but
    a baffling set of interrelationships arises that could have used some
    greater verbal expression. From the start, I didn't understand why she fell
    in love with him. His dumpy clothing and wildly bushy beard made him appear
    physically repulsive. Presumably it was his intellect which attracted her,
    but although he makes a few bons mots later in the film, in the beginning
    he comes across as a mere eccentric snob with a rather irritating nasal
    tone.

    The movie also drags in parts, particularly at the end, the worst time for
    me, when I'm already fidgeting from the discomfort of theater seats.

    I would say this movie was more a curiosity than a fine film. It's
    certainly not worth full price and waiting for the video will do no one any
    harm.

    John
    

    I liked this a bit more than .0.  The troubled sexual lives of the
    privileged artists and eccentrics who people the film seemed to be played
    pretty straight, i.e. the characters are respected.  They are shown in the 
    context of their times & places, costumes, Sussex countryside, art and all,
    which seemd to me well done.  I thought Pryce was excellent.
    
    The movie does drag in places, as about 15 years of Carrington's
    difficulties with men are chronicled, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
    
    -Stephen