Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993 TAG: 9305010168
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL H. PRICE FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This notion, at once profound and banal, seems to have been shared by Edith Wharton, whose 19th-century tragedy "Ethan Frome" is essentially a study of the torments that loneliness can impose upon an intelligent and feeling human being.
Wharton's novels being somewhat dense and difficult to plow through for the picture-oriented 20th-century seeker of entertainment, there's a movement afoot nowadays in the movie industry to adapt as many of her works as the moviegoing market will stand.
First up is "Ethan Frome," which transforms the tedious brilliance of the novel into the sort of tedious mediocrity on the screen.
We can only hope that the next Wharton - "The Age of Innocence," as interpreted by Martin Scorsese - will find more cinematic possibilities than director John Madden has in "Ethan Frome."
For Madden's "Ethan Frome" is but a beautiful bore, lavishly mounted and cast with a memorable fidelity to the characters, but about as invigorating as watching a blizzard pile up.
The adaptation, too, strives too hard for the letter of Wharton. Scenarist Richard Nelson has evidently failed to comprehend the futility of transforming a distinctive prose style into moving images.
From the first sighting of the tormented title character (played by Liam Neeson) by a novice, humanitarian preacher (Tate Donovan), through the last disclosure of Ethan Frome's innumerable unhappy secrets, Nelson's screenplay slogs so faithfully through Wharton's pageant of misery that even the inevitable romantic entanglements seem stodgy.
All-'round capable performances help alleviate the tedium - Joan Allen in particular, as the distant-cousin wife who has made Ethan Frome's life a hell on Earth - and the cinematography is nothing short of lovely.
It's the writing and directing that make this adaptation a less-than-exhilarating experience.
\ "Ethan Frome" showing at the Grandin Theater. Rated PG-13.
by CNB