ESTIVAL FILM
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In from the cold
Sigourney Weaver finds herself in swinging 705 America in The Ice Storm.
In November 1973, America was in a state of crisis. President Nixon was sweating it out as the Watergate scandal escalated, and the nation was finally having to face up to embarrassment and defeat in Vietnam. In his second English language film (following the hugely successful Sense And Sensibility), Ang Lee filters this sense of disquiet down into the lives of a group of middle-class couples confronting a growing coldness in their marriages.
The hipness of the 'Swinging Seventies’ doesn't really hold sway for Janey (Signourney Weaver) or Ben (Kevin Kline), and the affair they are having has lost any meaning or affection it may have once had. The role gives Weaver the opportunity to play a more complex female character than often comes the way of a top Hollywood actress.
’She’s very up-front about the fact that she's incredibly dissatisfied,’ Weaver says of Janey, 'but what is she going to do about it? She has no career, she has no other way of supporting herself. I found her remoteness very touching. Even when she’s with Ben having an affair, she’s very distant from him because she wants the pleasure of
the sex but without it really touching her. I don't see the women I play as strong or not strong. I always think you play people who are doing the best they can whatever the situation is - the human response to a crisis.’
This type of detailed, well-acted prestige project — the film picked up the Screenwriting Palme at Cannes in May - provides a marked contrast from Weaver's follow-up film, the next instalment in the Alien series. The actress may be taking on the character of Ripley for the fourth time, but that's not because they've got a lot
Wit's end: Stephen Fry in Wilde 72 THE llST 22—28 Aug 1997
Bedtime story: Sigourney Weaver in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm
in common.
Wilde
*‘kirak‘k
Finally, from Tom & Viv director Brian Gilbert, comes Wilde, a film that demonstrates the fact that homosexuality can now be presented sympathetically to a mainstream audience.
Stunnineg set in Victorian England, the film tells the tale of playwright Oscar Wilde (Stephen Fry), who is married to a beautiful wife, Constance (Jennifer Ehle). However, deSpite his wedded status, Wilde is consumed by passion for Bosie (Jude Law), a handsome young Oxford student wrth whom he is having an affair. His secret life is safe and happy until Bosie’s disapproving father, the moody
'l'm not brave at all,’ she admits. 'In fact, there have been a couple of situations in my life where I was so at a disadvantage that I’d ask myself, "What would Ripley do?" Once I was stuck in an elevator — and I’m incredibly claustrophobic — and I said to myself, "If I were Ripley, I would just wait for people to come and save me". Which I was able to do. l’m about as far away from Ripley as one can get.’ (Alan Morrison)
I The Ice Storm, Cameo 7, Sat 23, 8pm, [GM/1)
Marquis of Queensbury «Tom Wilkinson), starts interfering wrth their relationship Painfully, the closeted truth is forced out into the penalisinci climate of Victorian society, resulting in tragic and traumatic consequences
With a performance ccirribininci passion and tenderness, dry wit and intelligence, the audience-friendiy Fry,
clad in period costume and floppy Win,
is perfectly cast as Wilde, tastefully and ;
tOuchincily portraying the essence of
homosexual romance. Boasting a cast of quality English actors, from Vanessa Redgrave to Zoe Wannainaker, plus beautifully opulent sets and costumes, Wilde IS a highly accesSIhle movre, a bittersweet tribute to a literary genius (Beth Williams)
I Wilde, DOlll/lllO/l, Sat 23, 5 30mm, [6 ([4).
-:\‘.§;:‘.:“:~.‘,. 1 Gala Mix 4: Highland Toffees Two
H it list
This week's golden moments on the silver screen.
Best Of The Fest The critics' raves, the audience faves, and a few so beloved of the Festival programmers, they're giving you another chance to catch them. Best Of The Fest, Cameo and Fi/mhouse, Sun 24, various times.
Wilde Stephen Fry is the master wit in this moving biopic. See review, left.
The Sweet Hereafter Ian Holm gives a towering performance in Atom Egoyan's portrait of a community grieving over the loss of its children. The Sweet Hereafter, Cameo 7, Sat 76, 5.30pm, £6 (£4). Sick: The Life And Death Of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochlst A sufferer of chronic cystic fibrosis discovers an extreme means of reclaiming his body through self- inflicted pain in this brave, documentary. Sick: The Life And Death Of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist, Filmhouse 2, Fri 22, 8pm, £6 (£4).
The Man Who Would Be King The Festival closes with a gala screening of John Huston’s brilliant epic adventure, taken from the Kipling story and starring local boy made good, Sean Connery. The Man Who Would Be King, Odeon 7, Sun 24, 6pm and 9.30pm, £70 (£4).
Scottish films — The Butterfly Man (above) and Pit/7T: Pre-Mi/lennium Tension -— set the tone of excellence in this top-of—the-league programme of international shorts. Gala Mix 4.- Highland Toffees, Fi/mhouse 7, Sat 23, noon, £6 (£4).
Pusher The comfortable life of a Dutch drug dealer collapses when a heroin deal goes wrong. Pusher, Cameo 7, Sat 23, 70.30pm, £6 (£4). Shooting Fish Kate Beckinsale isn't as gullible as her con-men employers think in this cracking British comedy. Shooting Fish, Cameo 7, Fri 22, 70.30pm, £6 (£4). People On Sunday Retrospective subject Edgar G. Ulmer collaborated with Siodmak, Zinnemann and Wilder on this silent German realist classic. Peor)/'e On Sunday, Film/rouse 2, Sat 23, 7 pm.