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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 05/23/2009 : 12:24:38
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Chéri
I think the last film from writer Christopher Hampton and director Stephen Frears was the very flawed Mary Reilly, which shares with Chéri the issue of point of view.
So, despite his often inspired directorial efforts, here comes Frears wearing hob-nail boots and crushing the delicacy of Colette's novel.
I'm not saying Colette is an A-list writer by any means, but she did have a certain sensibility and respected the nuances of emotion. Both Hampton and Frears, like many well-brought up Englishmen, have big trouble in that department.
The titular hero of Colette's Chéri is the son of Madame Peloux, a formidable courtesan of the demi-monde, and given his nick-name by Lea another very successful and far more gorgeous whore. Kathy Bates and Michelle Pfeiffer respectively donate wonderful performances. Sadly Rupert Friend as Chéri does not, though Hampton's script makes that a task for a far more accomplished and experienced actor.
But Frears and Hampton lose the film entirely because they focus on Lea, when the story should be about the emotional evolution of Chéri.
Among many unconventional amours, Colette herself had had an affair with her own much younger step-son, but she was reputed always to have seen the absurd side of her life. Indeed, one of things that saves her novels from being "novelettish" is her sense of irony.
Because Frears focuses on Lea, whose attraction to a young boy, even such a spoiled dissolute as Chéri is only intimated in terms of his alleged prowess in bed. This really is not enough to hook you into whatever story is left.
That's because we're not allowed to see the accumulation of moments of change that the hideous boy undergoes. And if we don't truly understand that then Lea's bitter-sweet folly can never touch us.
The whole thing is just very well-coiffed soap opera.
But the photography and settings are lush, and the art direction by Dennis Schnegg is worthy of an Oscar.
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Chéri
