THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 23, 1995 TAG: 9511220073
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
``PEOPLE IN LOVE should never live together,'' pithy, witty Lytton Strachey tells us in ``Carrington,'' adding wryly, ``the inevitable result is that they either fall out of love or drive one another insane.''
To the contrary, this wildly inventive drama about the lives of writer Strachey and painter Dora Carrington suggests that love is entirely possible - without passion. Here, in a movie that presents varied and sundry beddings, is an antidote to the ``Remains of the Day'' theory that the British are afflicted by repression.
Everything in the lives of these Bohemian ``artists'' is straightforward and often straight-to-bed.
Since they are immediately identified as Bohemians and especially since they are British, it will more easily be accepted as ``arty'' rather than lurid. In any case, the longtime affair between these two, played by Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce, is a rare cinematic suggestion that not all people in love look like Brad Pitt or Sharon Stone.
Written and directed by Oxford playwright Christopher Hampton, ``Carrington'' is highly literate. Hampton divides his film into six distinct chapters, with all the character motivation taking place off screen. What we see on screen is reaction.
While there is little to explain the artistic lives of this painter and writer, there is a great deal to illuminate their sexual and personal lives. All of it is highly entertaining, and often engrossing.
In the beginning, there is much concern that poor Carrington remains a virgin, and her deflowering becomes a community project. A handsome young suiter pursues her diligently, but she comes to prefer the company of the older, bearded, bald and homosexual Strachey.
Pryce plays Strachey as if the man were a combination of Noel Coward and Clifton Webb. He berates himself because, ``I am penniless and fond of adjectives.'' It's entertaining to watch and hear every second of the way.
When they agree to live together, she asks, ``What do we do about the physical?'' She answers herself with the claim that there is nothing really romantic about love.
He has been condemned for objecting to World War I. ``It was an obscene and ridiculous war, but I suppose it's quite appropriate to have won it,'' he says, adding wryly, ``there are times when I feel like a character in a farce by Moliere.'' There are times the audience feels the same, but Pryce takes the role and runs with it. He won the acting honors at Cannes. The film shared the best film honor.
In contrast, Thompson's Carrington is strangely ambivalent. She marries a blond hunk (Steven Waddington) who doesn't object to Strachey going along on the Venetian honeymoon. Her husband takes a mistress, who also visits the cottage on weekends. She cohorts with a handsome sailor. All this seems quite casual.
Thompson, usually so good, is woefully miscast and has to remain in the shadow of Pryce. Free love costs less than the price of a ticket, but you get a liberal dose of British literacy. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
GRAMERCY
Jonathan Pryce and Emma Thompson take an ocean-view stroll in
``Carrington,'' which is written and directed by Oxford playwright
Christopher Hampton.
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Carrington''
Cast: Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce, Steven Waddington, Samuel
West, Rufus Sewell
Director/writer: Christopher Hampton
MPAA rating: R (nudity, language)
Mal's rating: Three 1/2 stars
Location: Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk
by CNB