Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Family found dead in Ohio home
Robbers order bar patrons to empty pockets
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Sex-toy study at Duke University raises some eyebrows
Akron man turns himself in after authorities turn up heat
Get ready for detour, delays on Route 8
Man appears alive at own funeral
Blogs:
Pets:
Not 101 Dalmations…but close!
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Saturday entertainment, one more time …
Akron Zips:
No. 1 UA soccer remains perfect, Zips football defeats rival Flashes
Tribe Matters:
Tribe makes roster moves
Cleveland Browns:
Lewis doesn't like boycott
Kent State Sports:
Kent State falls to Akron, 20-28
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Knicks
Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Wrestling, bowling teams prepare for season
All Da King's Men:
Bigger And Better Boondoggles
Blog of Mass Destruction:
The Shooter
Akron Law Café:
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Perfect Weather for an Autumn Drive
Let's Talk Real Estate:
RUMORS: Downtown Restaurant Explosion
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
By Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
Published on Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
She's a leading Paris courtesan, that high-class brand of prostitute that had its heyday before the telephone created ''call girls.''
He is the son of a friend, a vain pretty-boy given to ''debauchery'' — wine, women and opium.
She knew him as a child and was the one who gave him the nickname Cheri. He grew up calling her ''Noo Noon.'' And even though she is ''of a certain age'' and contemplating retirement, he is smitten, or as close to smitten as he allows.
Cheri, based on a novel by the French writer Colette, is a sumptuous but only rarely romantic romance set in France during the belle epoque just before World War I. Despite having Michelle Pfeiffer playing Lea, a fading beauty in all her self-aware glory, Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons) loses himself in the dazzling dresses and stunning hats and loses the sting of a failed romance, the longing of a lovesick older woman, the callow youth who comes to realize the love he has lost.
The wit comes from the inversion of the characters — the 50ish woman who doesn't draw the stares that her absurdly pretty 19-year-old toy boy (Rupert Friend of Pride & Prejudice) does.
The story's sting is in the defense mechanisms they both employ. He's been a wastrel, and being the son of retired courtesan Charlotte (Kathy Bates, well cast) he has no morals or scruples. Lea has always taken lovers who could afford to support her. Until Cheri.
But Mother Charlotte wants grandchildren and arranges a suitable marriage for Cheri. Will their feelings finally come out?
Friend is all hair and cleft chin and pout, here, a blank slate. But he's Twilight gorgeous, so much so that you'd swear it's not makeup or lighting that makes Pfeiffer blush.
The two don't have a lot of chemistry, and while each is adept at getting across that subtle suggestion of ''I'm not going to give in to love,'' they don't give us any emotional release when they do give in.
Thus Frears and his Liaisons screenwriter, Christopher Hampton, give us a period piece in which the settings are fab, but the liaisons aren't dangerous, or even romantic.
She's a leading Paris courtesan, that high-class brand of prostitute that had its heyday before the telephone created ''call girls.''
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
