Movie Review: Penelope / Stone Village Pictures / Type A Films / Starring: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage / /Now Playing
So
often, it seems, with the truly great actors and actresses, almost everything
that they touch turns to gold, whether it is a performance in a movie, if they
take a role behind the camera as a director or they turn to producing films.
One only has to consider the careers of Orson Welles, Robert Redford, Jodie
Foster, or Ron Howard, and the tremendous contributions that they have made to
the film industry, to truly appreciate their greatness. You can now add
another name to that list, the name of Reese Witherspoon. Penelope a
fairy tale for modern times, co-produced by Witherspoon, Jennifer Simpson and
Scott Steindorff, and running under the banner of Witherspoon’s production
company Type A Films, is certain to be nominated for a 2009 Academy Award.
The film which casts Christina Ricci in the lead role as Penelope, as well as starring James McAvoy as a potential suitor, and Catherine O’Hara as an overprotective, babbling mother, is well written, cast impeccably, and features numerous outstanding acting performances. Leslie Caveny who is best known for her writing and production credits for the hit television series Everybody Loves Raymond, makes her big screen debut, and has developed a wonderfully romantic and comedic script, which tells the story of a Penelope, a now twenty-five year old young woman, who has been cursed with the snout and ears of a pig since birth. Her wealthy paternal great-great-great grandfather romanced and later spurned the love of a maid named Clara to satisfy his family’s demands that he marry someone of more suitable economic and societal status. Alas, poor Clara whom we meet only in a fleeting cameo appearance becomes heartbroken and jumps off a cliff to her death, leading her mother to pronounce a curse on the Wilhern family. The next Wilhern daughter to be born shall be born with--you guessed it the snout and ears of a pig. How did that curse come to plague poor Penelope several generations later? You do not want us to tell you everything, do you?
Christina Ricci gets my vote, at least to this
point in the year, for A Best Actress nomination, in her role as Penelope
Wilhern. Ricci’s eyes portray the sadness, loneliness and disappointment of a
young woman who has spent her entire life locked up inside a mansion and has
never seeing the outside world. She has dealt with the rejection of potential
suitors, all of whom run away, as they consider her to be too hideous to look
at, let alone marry.
Canadian actress Catherine O’Hara is hilarious as Penelope’s mother, Jessica Wilhern. It is difficult to tell how much of the Wilhern character was scripted, and how much of O’Hara’s personality was incorporated into the character of Jessica Wilhern, because the two seem inseparable. One would hope that at Oscar time, O’Hara will receive consideration for a Best Supporting Actress award.
Ladies if you have not yet feasted your eyes on Glasgow native James McAvoy, prepare yourself for some heart palpitations and sweaty palms. As is the case with many fairy tales, there must be a hero, and McAvoy (Children of Dune, The Last King of Scotland and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,) is cast in that role. He not only brings his good looks to the screen, but he also puts forth a sensitive, vulnerable performance as Johnny Martin / Max (one role, two names). Enough said, go see the movie.
If we had the time and space, we could continue to expound upon the outstanding performances turned in by a supporting cast consisting of Richard E. Grant (Franklin Wilhern), Simon Woods (Edward Vanderman) and Reese Witherspoon’s surprisingly minor role as Annie, but we want to instead turn our attention to actor Peter Dinklage who plays the conniving one-eyed, journalist Lemon. Dinklage’s role demands the elements of seediness and tenderness. Lemon’s seediness is portrayed in almost caricature form, while his change of heart occurs primarily in one scene as he sits at his desk mulling over a newspaper report about Penelope. The careful phrasing of his lines, his facial expressions and his body language are believable, and not for a moment does one doubt that Linkage’s character could ever undergo such a transformation.
The film is long enough, at ninety minutes to develop the storyline gradually, without huge leaps of faith, and yet remains short enough, so that it does not try the patience of the moviegoer by including superfluous information and dialogue. Mark Palansky turns in an impressive directorial debut. Joby Talbot did a wonderful job with the musical score, perfectly matching the mood of the music to the scenes depicted on the screen. Talbot also directed the music for Son Of Rambow, which will be out May 2nd. He also fulfilled similar roles with the 2006 movie Sixty Six and 2005’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.
The movie Penelope, may be no more than a fairytale, but it strikes a deep chord with many people today, who find themselves living alone, in a world too busy to notice the pain they have experienced, because they did not quite measure up to their family or society’s expectations for them. There is a very strong message here for those who find themselves in that position, and for those who are, at least in part, responsible for them being there. The movie is not pretentious, nor is it preachy. It does not depend on racial, economic or religious biases to convey a message that needs to be heard by all of us.
Reviewed by Joe Montague
Reviewed March 2008
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