Julie Walters, Joely Richardson, Jodhi May and Sophie Thursfield make up a superb ensemble cast in this chamber drama, set in , in which dark humor underlines dire events. Director Nancy Meckler and writer Wendy Kesselman are every bit as meticulous as the villain of their piece, a French provincial widow Julie Walters obsessed with perfection in the care of her Le Mans townhouse. Both films take us into the closed pre-World War II of women. Except for the occasional outing and social event, she spends most of her life in her parlor, dictating orders to her exceptionally obedient, near-mute servant Richardson and relentlessly crushing the spirit of her near-adult daughter Thursfield , whom she dresses like a child.
Initially, the move seems ideal: Madame will be getting two servants for the price of one, and Christine will be getting the companionship she craves. How long can two young women, overwhelmed by a grand passion, behave like robots?
The narrowness and formality of the existence of the women in both films is truly suffocating, and Meckler and Kesselman capture this atmosphere every bit as forcefully as Zhang Yimou did.
If Kesselman wrote four wonderful parts, then Meckler got four equally fine portrayals. In a radical change of pace, Walters, an irresistibly showy actress, reveals tremendous restraint, creating an almost comically monstrous woman. Her Danzard dominates the household, but Richardson dominates the film as a woman whose emotions are increasingly at war with her circumstances.
May is a lovely innocent undeservedly caught up in madness, and Thursfield is admirable as a woman who has only her wit to protest her lot in life. Times guidelines: The film has considerable sexuality and some discreetly presented yet shocking violence.
