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Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991)
Reviewer: Charity Bishop
I am not a fan of E.M. Forster. In fact, I have never read a book of
his, nor seen a film adaptation of his works, that I have been fond of,
but this one comes closer than most. It's a comedy under the guise of a
drama, or a tragedy under the guise of a comedy, but whatever it is, it
seems to hit most of the right notes. Still, if you're looking for Jane
Austen endings, you will find it lacking.
On an impromptu visit to Italy with her dear friend Caroline Abbott
(Helena Bonham Carter), the recently widowed Lilia Herriton (Helen
Mirren) soon engages her family in scandal when she meets a handsome
young Italian half her age, and insists upon marrying him. Her in-laws
dispatch her brother in law Philip (Rupert Graves) in order to talk her
out of it or pay off her lover, but he is too late and arrives to find
them already wed. There is nothing for it but to accept fate and leave
her to her newfound happiness. However, Lilia soon learns that all is
not rose petals in her life as an Italian wife. Her husband shows little
interest for returning home at normal hours, keeps a mistress on the
side, and becomes violently angry if she in any way contradicts his
authority, even when it comes to something as simple as taking a walk in
the country.
It's not long before the hapless Lilia delivers a child and dies,
leaving her husband Gino (Giovanni Guidelli) as the sole guardian. When
the Herrington family in London learn of these circumstances, the
matriarch of the family insists that her children go and fetch her
grandson, so that he might be raised in a proper English home. Philip,
his peckish older sister Harriet (Judy Davis), and Caroline are soon
engaged in a quarrel over who will take care of the child, with the
mysterious and mildly sinister Gino lurking in the background. But as
fate would have it, disaster waits just around the bend.
There are some aspects of the production that truly shine, and it
carries on the tradition of Merchant Ivory without the brand name. The
scenes are appropriately atmospheric and it manages to retain a decent
sense of humor despite the overall tragic conclusions. The acting from
everyone involved is appropriately adequate, but when Mirren's character
departs, the rest of the film seems a bit banal. Her impassioned,
wild-hearted heroine was really the only staple saving it from
mediocrity, and leaves Davis to carry on the burden, which she does with
her idealistic portrayal of a narrow-minded, rather quarrelsome aunt.
The nice thing is that it's impossible to figure out early on where the
story is going to go next, and so there's a nice element of surprise in
each twist and turn, but the characters are not fleshed out nearly as
much as they need to be.
For example, Gino comes across early on as a very sweet, mild-mannered
boy. Midway through the marriage he becomes overly demanding and even
physically violent toward his wife. Perhaps he is merely a master
manipulator, since he shows none of these tendencies later on, or maybe
it was just poor plot development, but the audience could have done with
a little more closure than they were given. That being said, there's not
much wrong with the film content-wise. A couple of mild profanities and
thematic elements sneak in, including a carriage accident, a man shoving
his wife against a wall and shaking her, and two deaths. Lilia and Gino
playfully kiss and start to undress one another later on in their
marriage, but the camera pans out before much skin is shown. It's an
interesting film and certainly one I would not mind seeing again, but
could have been stronger with a little more enthusiasm from the cast.
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