Review: Cheri (2009)
November 23rd 2009 02:50
Cheri (2009, Frears)
Written on November 22, 2009
Cheri is a period film which takes place during the Belle Époque period in France in the19th century. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Lea, a wealthy courtesan, whom has decided to “retire” and, at the film’s open, is planning a trip alone to “drink, eat, and sleep.” Through voice-over narration by an omnipresent narrator, we are informed of other famous courtesan’s of the day, but none as lovely or as “fortunate” as Lea (she’s never fallen in love).
Soon, without explanation, she is kissing and bedding her oldest friend’s 19 year-old son, Fred (nicknamed Cheri by Lea herself), whom she has known since his birth. This scene is mildly unsettling, especially since Cheri’s mother (Madam Peloux played by Kathy Bates) deliberately leaves the patio upon noticing the turn of events, in an effort to allow them to come to pass.
Prior, Madam Peloux had been complaining about Cheri’s lack of inspiration and direction (he stays out late drinking at fancy restaurants and sleeps until noon) so perhaps she felt Lea could bring some passion into her son’s life. Regardless of her motivations, the evolution of the scene feels awkward. It occurs only 10 minutes into the film; the characters are not yet fleshed out and there was a complete lack of build-up or tension leading to their first kiss.
Next we are treated to a few odd scenes that again, fail to reveal information about the characters or why we should care about these two as a couple. Perhaps the most accurate statement comes from Lea when talking about Cheri: “I can’t criticize his character because he doesn’t seem to have one.” The audience, whom has learned nothing about this boy, can certainly agree. Yet suddenly our narrator informs us that 6 years have passed and they are still together.
Fifteen minutes into this 90 minute film, we begin to enter that dangerous state of pointlessness and worse, boredom. Therefore, just when the audience wonders where this film is going, we are introduced, finally, to conflict: Cheri’s mother has arranged a marriage as she wants grandchildren. The woman is young, rich and from a respectable family. Lea must now deal with the realization that she is in love.
We’ve seen this story before. A woman who has hardened herself from love her entire life falls into it when she least expect and suddenly finds herself wanting nothing else. A couple, now drawn apart, will long for one another and regret their circumstances when they could have been changed if one had only spoken up about their true feelings. These revelations already occur to our protagonists by the 30 minute mark. The rest of the film consists of Cheri and Lea longing for one another and each filling their loneliness in different ways. This is all formulaic but it wouldn’t be terrible if in fact we cared at all if these two are together. The chemistry is non-existent and, as aforementioned, no attention was provided to the development of their romance before driving them apart.
It’s wonderful to see Michelle Pfeiffer on screen but sadly she is woefully miscast in a rather thankless role that rarely gives her the depth she requires. Naturally she can pull off the role of a sexy older woman but it feels as though she should be playing this role in modern day as she appears almost too worldly and sophisticated. The few moments in which the camera lingers on close-up’s of Pfeiffer’s face are where her performance excels. It is only those (sadly few) instances wherein the audience can dig beneath her character’s hard exterior and come up with something human and beautiful.
The film is directed by the marvelous Stephen Frears and he does his best with the material. The script, however, is terribly flat and meanders for the better part of an hour in which absolutely nothing occurs to further the plot beyond what we’ve already learned in the film’s first act. The set pieces and costumes are rather beautiful and Frears films Pfeiffer with loving attention yet without overly sexualizing or demeaning her. He allows the camera to reveal her beauty in radiant lighting and then, by contrast, her imperfections set against dark and drab cool tones.
The film’s narration is a tool that utterly fails. For instance, the most important scenes of the film are told to us through this omnipresent narrator and thus, leave the viewer feeling utterly cold. The final scene, told through narration and spanning (yet again) years, is completely ineffective and further highlights the atrociousness of the script.
Apart the few admirable efforts discussed herein, Cheri fails to engage audiences due to hollow interactions and a dreadful script which offers nothing new to an age old tale. Instead of revamping the genre of tragic star-crossed lovers torn apart by circumstance, Cheri plays into clichés and predictability and is an ultimate disappointment.
ETA: I decided to look up the writer of this film after writing this review and was astonished to discover it is Christopher Hampton, who adapted Atonement. Now, Cheri is an adaptation as well and it's amusing since throughout many moments in the film I compared it to Atonement, thinking to myself 'Atonement takes a tragic tale and reworks it into something fresh, new, and utterly memorable'. How the same man could adapt a different book two years later and create such a sparse, flat screenplay devoid of any real emotion is beyond me. Perhaps it was his source material this time around. Just thought this was interesting.
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