Director: Jonathan Demme
Original Release Date: November 11, 2013
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5
 |
| via Wikipedia |
Halvard Solness, an accomplished architect, is dying. His doctor pays a visit, as do his former rival, that rival's son/Halvard's assistant and the assistant's fiancée/Halvard's bookkeeper and mistress. Follow all that? It's not even the most twisted part of the story. Halvard is also visited by a young woman, Hilde, who remembers Halvard from her childhood. Though she's not seen Halvard in 10 years, she's clearly in love with him. The screenplay is Wallace Shawn's adaptation of Ibsen's play The Master Builder.
Halvard (Shawn) is a terrible person. His wife Aline is fully aware of his philandering as he makes minimal effort to conceal it. He destroyed his rival professionally and is deliberately holding his own protégé back. The fact that he once made advances on 12-year-old Hilde would be disgusting in any context. All that aside...
It's an absorbing story even with a thoroughly detestable protagonist and the fact there's very little action. The entire film is shot in the one house - maybe three rooms? - which helps support the stage-play-on-screen feel. The acting is strong. Shawn is always good. Julie Hagerty hits all the right buttons as Aline and Andre Gregory plays the former rival, Knut, in a My Dinner with Andre reunion. Honestly, it feels a bit like the earlier film - more characters but nonetheless a complete narrative told in conversation.
Lisa Joyce steals the show as Hilde - a bright ray of sunshine, yet clearly on the edge of madness. She more than holds her own in her scenes with both Shawn and Hagerty.
Overall, it's okay. The basic elements are strong and I certainly admire the simplicity. But I don't see myself ever watching it again.
No comments:
Post a Comment