RSS 2.0 FeedJuly 2009, Film
Don't surrender to the temptation of seeing Michelle Pfeiffer
Set during pre-World War I France, "Chéri" stars 3-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer as Lea de Lonval, the equivalent of a modern-day cougar who has gone through a countless number of much younger men during her lifetime.
Ninety-two minutes. That's the amount of time I will never get back during my lifetime thanks to the French romantic drama Chéri, which is about as French as baseball, jazz and Abraham Lincoln.
Set during pre-World War I France, Chéri stars 3-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer as Lea de Lonval, the equivalent of a modern-day cougar who has gone through a countless number of much younger men during her lifetime. A rich elitist whose female friends seem to have the same limitless wealth and unquenchable thirst for young men and gossip, Lea has found herself inexplicably addicted to a brooding, effeminate 19-year-old boy named Fred (British actor Rupert Friend), whom Lea calls Chéri.
Usually, Lea treats her boy-toys like disposable cigarette lighters, but she ends up staying with Chéri for six years. Why she does is puzzling because his disaffection with everything around him is as irritating as someone running their fingernails down a chalkboard. Nonetheless, her time with him is cut short when his mother, Charlotte Peloux (Oscar-winner Kathy Bates), the biggest gossipmonger of them all, arranges a marriage for him with a teenage girl, Edemee (British actress Felicity Jones). This naturally puts Lea into an emotional tailspin while Chéri broods even more.
Edemee is a the lone island of likability among a sea full of characters that are so unlikable that you wish they would exit stage left, never to return. The 51-year-old Pfeiffer, who looks great on camera, demonstrates a diminished capacity for acting as her emotional range comes off as contrived and forced. Furthermore, her scenes with Bates, who should be stripped of her Oscar because of horrific overacting, lack any chemistry. Their exchanges often come off as bad theater with a complete absence of direction. Pfeiffer's multiple love scenes with Friend have lots of physical sensuality but there is little passion, if any. As for Friend himself, he should perhaps consider an alternative career path.
One has to wonder why director Stephen Frears (The Queen) and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Atonement) were thinking when they came up the idea for this film. In a day and age when rich, greedy, elitist snobs are going to jail for not caring one bit about the common folk why should audience members care about characters who could also care less.
Lastly, there is nothing French about the film. No French accents were attempted, much less any attempts at the actual language. Nothing about the locations felt French nor is there any sense of French culture, beyond rich older women using up young boys, which might get them thrown in jail in modern times.
On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, Chéri receives an F.
Chéri is rated R and has a running time of 92 minutes.
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Indie Film Editor
Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.
In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.
Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.
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