I want to make two things clear about this film: first, I love it; second, most folks won’t. It's hilarious that the DVD cover includes a blurb that it's a “roller coaster of thrills.” No, it really isn't. It's not a thriller, it's not an action movie, it's not even really a love story, though a romance is central to it. It's really a study of some very interesting characters.
The plot is pretty standard stuff. There’s a thief named Beatrice (Asia Argento), who we’re informed is called “B. Monkey” by her peers because she can get into any building. That makes her sound like an expert cat burglar, and I never get tired of that sort of thing, but in fact all we see her do in the film is commit armed robberies. That's disappointing. She lives with her two partners, Paul (Rupert Everett), who runs the little clan, and his cradle-robbed lover Bruno (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who goes out to commit the actual crimes with B. Paul is an addict, though what he's addicted to is never made clear, and he's been turning the trio's profits into drugs. This has left him dangerously in debt to a crime boss named Frank (Tim Woodward). Meanwhile, Paul's relationship with the increasingly unhinged Bruno has taken a turn for the worse, and B is beginning to feel like it might be time to grow up, get a regular job, and abandon her criminal activities.
Meanwhile, there's Alan (Jared Harris), a schoolteacher by day who spins discs at a hospital at night. I never heard of a hospital with a DJ, but I think it's a pretty cool idea, provided the DJ has Alan's tastes; he's very into the music of John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. He has a rewarding life, but it's a little bit dull. Alan could use a bit of excitement.
So, he's living a quiet life and looking for adventure, and she's living a raucous life and looking for peace, and of course they meet and fall in love. But their relationship is threatened by B's difficulty in adjusting to ordinary life, Alan's fears of B's past, and of course the possibility that Frank will just get fed up and have everyone shot.
So from a story standpoint, this is very ordinary. Furthermore, there are a lot of rumors about studio interference and forced re-shoots and re-edits, which might explain why the plot seems a bit disjointed at times (well, most of the time). Looked at as a narrative, the film doesn't exactly fail, but it isn't very strong.
It is strong, though, just as a sensual experience rather than a story. It's not the most beautiful film I've ever seen, but it is very lovely. The cinematography is excellent. The movie takes place on the streets of London and Paris, and ends in a highlands rural community, and the scenery is great. I adore both Alan's apartment and Paul's house, and even the little French inn the couple stays at on vacation. The movie is full of great sets. It doesn't really have a score, or at least not much of one; instead it has a soundtrack, and a great one. It's half the cool jazz that both Alan and Paul love, and half the techno and trip-hop that B and Bruno fancy. The film, lovely as it is, is also worth just listening to, between the music and the voices of the cast. It's very evocative.
Although the story isn't the greatest, the characters are well-drawn and well-played. I've always thought of Harris as a terribly underrated actor, and he sort of holds this movie together as the only stable character. There are certainly moments where I feel like he's being a bit of dick: when B enlists Bruno's aid to intimidate a troublesome woman into silence, Alan flips out, whereas a discussion ("B, I appreciate that you're trying to help me, but I'd rather you didn't assault people...") would seem like a more reasonable response than disappearing for a few days. Still, it's understandable; Alan is doing his best, but he's in a situation (and dealing with people) that are beyond his experience and capabilities. His character has a boring life, perhaps, but Harris doesn't play him boring, and while he's frequently frustrated with B, it's clear that he's always in love.
That bit might not have been so hard to play, though. Argento's B is a force of nature, one of the most desirable women I've ever seen in a movie. She's fierce and fearless and always on top of every situation in her own world, though Alan's world confounds her. At the same time, though, she's sweet and forgiving and just very genuine. She feels everything so deeply, and it's natural to her to act on those feelings. Anyone would love her. Her criminal past isn't terribly well-done; she seems like more a dilettante than a career criminal. The part of her past that does work is her affection for Paul and Bruno. In fact, for most of the film, her love for Paul is more obvious on the screen than her love for Alan, though perhaps that makes sense. Everett's Paul is the best character in the film.
That's not unusual for him. He's stolen practically every scene in every movie he's been in. He's just one of the most talented and magnetic actors in the world. This part suits him. Paul is very ironic, very nihilist, and very charming. He is utterly pathetic; I spend a lot of the movie angry at him, for being weak, for being cruel, for thoughtlessly endangering B, and yet I ache for him, too. Everything that happens to him is his own fault, he deserves what he gets, but I keep hoping he can somehow be saved. When Alan physically throws him out of the house, I want to slap Alan for it.
Meyers was very young and still learning to act here. He's mostly just ridiculously beautiful, that's very clearly why he was cast, but I like the way he plays Bruno. He's wild-eyed and ardent and always on the verge of an explosion. Whereas Alan and Paul are the grown-ups in the movie, Bruno and B seem like children together. When they just sit and talk and laugh, they're perfect together. And really, though there are scenes where Meyers could possibly have been better, there are none where he isn't good. His last scene, where his motivations change twice in just a very few seconds and he wraps up the plot basically all by himself, is surprisingly good. It's a bit of a heavy responsibility, and it doesn't help that the scene isn't terribly well-written, but with the support of Argento and Harris, he totally pulls it off. This established him, for me at least, as someone to watch, and over the years he has rarely let me down.
To some extent, I suppose the love story is the tale of Alan learning to fill the space in B's life that had been filled both by Paul and by Bruno. Right from the get-go he's very much like Paul in her life, the calm, the obvious affection. He has to learn to be like Bruno, though, with his wild passion and recklessness. I guess that's the point of Alan advancing on Bruno in that final scene, refusing to back down, declaring that he'd die for B in a situation where he might actually do just that. I think it works, but mileage may vary.
The supporting cast is okay. There are a couple of familiar faces. Clare Higgins, who will always be the scheming Julia of Hellraiser, has a couple of not-bad scenes as the headmistress of Alan's school. Julie Wallace is utterly disgusting (meaning that as a compliment) as an abusive mother. My favorite appearance, which of course meant nothing to me or anyone else in 1998, is an impossibly young Eddie Marsan as an out-of-his-depth thug. Seriously, he looks 15. It's hilarious.
I've never recommended this film to anyone. It's very flawed. The believability of the relationship between B and Alan is sometimes perfect but occasionally a bit shallow, the story is both convoluted and predictable (a difficult combo), and the denouement is a bit too...sweet, maybe. It feels a little contrived. It has nothing to say, offers nothing new. But to me, the beautiful things about this film are extraordinary. I don't ignore the flaws, but I can forgive them for the sake of the characters and their surroundings. They're worth it to each other, and to me, as well.
BEST THING ABOUT THE FILM: The four stars and the varying mood they create. Everett brings a darkness or sadness, Meyers a sense of danger, and Harris sanctuary and stability. Argento floats effortlessly among the three, sometimes taking on the atmosphere of her scenemates, and sometimes conflicting with them, but it all works. I always feel what I'm meant to feel. Also, it's insignificant, but I like the bit near the end where Asia imitates the women at the cricket match. It's a nice moment.
WORST THING ABOUT THE FILM: Asia's closing narration. It's superfluous and a bit cloying. I mean, it might have been left to our imaginations that B and Alan would settle into their new lives, but I guess it's okay that they show us the cricket match and the pub. As I said above, I enjoyed a bit of the cricket match, really. But the narration just tells us what we're seeing, along with the fact that they never saw Bruno again, which is information we didn't really need. It's such an amateur touch from a very talented director (Michael Radford, Il Postino) that I really want to blame the studio for it. “Who knew I would find happiness in the middle of fucking nowhere?” is just a terrible closing line, and the film deserved better.
SCORE: 7/10
LISTS: Favorites of the Nineties
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