Renewing my mission to finally sit down and watch Dangerous Liaisons (1988), the previous union of director Stephen Frears, screenwriter Christopher Hampton and movie star Michelle Pfeiffer, I enjoyed the rather melancholy adaptation of two of Colette's novels, Cheri---which aptly portrays love as something beyond passion, and age as an ever inalienable aspect of who we choose to love and when we choose them. I've no idea why I've yet to see Frears' Dangerous Liaisons---like any young gay cinephiles obsessed with actresses I had my Glenn Close stage as a young teenager. Perhaps it was the level of difficulty I'd met before finally being able to sneak watch Fatal Attraction (1987), or maybe I'd moved on to Faye Dunaway by then....regardless, I've yet to see cinema's renowned adaptation of the French novel of sexual politics and evil mind games, even though there are actual French film versions starring Jeanne Moreau (1959) and Catherine Deneuve (2003)---plus an ill timed adaptation by Milos Forman, Valmont (1989) and the new generation's modernization of the tale, Cruel Intentions (1999).
The material, then, for Cheri (meaning "darling" in the masculine sense) is, no doubt, much less volatile, but nevertheless intriguing. Set during the decadent Belle Epoque period in France, I would like to note that Frears and Pfeiffer make it all a little too English---I believe a French version would be more lusty, passionate, and sexual. We are, after all, dealing with, as the narrator informs, a time when these particular courtesans were quite wealthy and had some degree of social power---even though they were prostitutes. I may have preferred a Gallic adaptation with Isabelle Huppert, though I'm certain that would have been a bit more psychosexual (and we already have Ma Mere, 2004). As for an English/Hollywood adaptation, I truly believe Michelle Pfeiffer is currently the most appropriate selection for this role. In the 1990's, Jessica Lange was attached to star, but alas, was considered too old once the project came together. Pfeiffer is indeed radiant as Lea de Lonval, a courtesan considering retirement, about to enter her ravishing 50's. Kathy Bates stars as a, umm, old co-worker Mme. Peloux, whose son, the wayward Cheri, is squandering his youth on drugs and prostitutes. Bates seeks out Pfeiffer's help to, well, make a man out of the scallywag---but instead they fall in love. Spending six years together, the film jumps over the couple's bonding to focus on the intervention of Bates, who arranges a marriage for Cheri. The rest of the film focuses on Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend (Cheri) as they come to realize, at different times, that what they had together they would never find again. Pfeiffer's last speech to Friend is quite enthralling and moving. The film's only problem is we come only to care for Pfeiffer, and sometimes wonder why the hell she fell in love with Cheri. The film lacks passion and chemistry, but because of it, creates an interesting angle about the machinations of love. Overall, the film is also an ode to the beauty of Michelle Pfeiffer, who now in her 50's, is more gorgeous than ever. I predict an Oscar nod to Pfeiffer, and perhaps more of her films won't go straight to DVD like Personal Effects (2009) and I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007). Bates' Mme. Peloux seems to border on caricature, but given her amount of screen time and jovial manipulativeness, I found her to be fitting as an ill preserved courtesan. A laudable effort for the ever competent Frears.
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