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Directed by Stephen Frears
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Cheri As I
watched “Cheri,” the new film from the Colette novel,I thought how lucky we are
that there are still features being made like this one. Doomed by the current box-office
trends to lose money, this is the kind of film that only committed film aficionados
would dare to make – even more, to make it knowing it will only cost them money. Perhaps I’m wrong; I would like
to be, and the film will make its money in other countries. I hope so. “Cheri”
– the masculine form of the word – is the story of an aging
courtesan, Léa de Lonval
(Michelle Pfeiffer, playing close to her age of 51), in the years of the
belle epòque, before the first world
war. She has retired from the
business now but is wealthy enough and still close to a couple of other
retired courtesans, among them Madame Peloux (Kathy
Bates), who has a 19-year-old son, called by everyone “Cheri,”
who is gorgeous but a complete wastrel. Madame Peloux
asks Léa to take him under her wing, so to
speak, and help him grow up. What
is a surprise to everyone is that she and he fall in love, and six years
later are still together. And
then Léa’s friend Madame Peloux, thinking only of her son, finds him a young wife,
Edmée, and he marries her. Director Stephen Frears
and scriptwriter Christopher Hampton have not ended that film at that point,
and we watch he stunning Pfeiffer as she must deal
with this blow. The
film’s sets are stunning, particularly Léa’s
spectacular Art Nouveau bed, as becomes a courtesan of her class, and so is
the rest of “Cheri.”
Rupert Friend is stunning, with an almost girlish face and cheekbones
you could cut Roquefort with; Pfeiffer’s voice is a bit limited,
varying from mid-Atlantic to East Coast, and yet that is no problem for
us. She remains as beautiful as
ever, and we recall from her role in “White Oleander” that she
still has fine acting chops. But
the film’s power comes from the Colette novel, Hampton’s script,
and Frear’s direction. They turn what might have been a
failure into a triumph. |