LikeTheDew.com

Take the timeless, transcendent beauty of Michelle Pfeiffer, add a biting, bawdy Kathy Bates, place them in the sublime setting of Paris’s Belle Epoque, and slowly and sensuously stir it all together with the direction of Stephen Frears (“Dangerous Liasons”) in a batter composed of two short stories by Colette.  The result:  a saucy sweet and tartly tasty French soufflé called “Cheri,” now playing at the Tara Theater in Atlanta.

Cheri is a delicious but imperfect dish. It has a bit of a slow start, a tad of miscasting and a somewhat expected plot. But I loved every delectable bite.  Pfeiffer is phenomenal in this luscious mixture of grand romance and caustic cynicism….wit and wistfulness.  It is set in tres chic Paris during its most beautiful era, and the clothes are awesome.  Need I say more?

Pfeiffer at 51 is still perhaps the most beautiful actress on film. With a classically-chiseled face that could have incited the Trojan Wars or triggered a knight’s joust, in Cheri, she is utterly believable as a celebrated sensation of the late 19th century.  An infamous courtesan who counts only counts and other rich and famous “gentlemen” as her clients, Lea’ (Pfeiffer) is 49 as the film opens.  The century has turned and she is tired and beginning to contemplate the joys of “having a whole bed just  to yourself.”

She is also a very reluctant soon-to-be member of a sort of “courtesan club” of aging and ancient fallen women who keep their own company on the outside of proper high society.  As depicted in the film, these women had all the perks of the rich, (haute couture, elegant homes, jewels, servants, etc.) but were persona non grata with the upper crust.  After all, when one has consorted with the king in flagrante delicto, it is unlikely you’ll be welcomed for tea at the queen’s.  As a result, these ladies create their own society playing cards, dishing dirt and reliving their concubine crimes of the heart.

The unofficial leader of the pack is Kathy Bates as Charlotte Peloux, long-retired and a long-ago rival of Lea’s (although that’s a bit hard to believe).  When Charlotte invites Lea’ for tea, she is really planning something more, or should we say amour, in the form of her debauched 19-year old son, nicknamed Cheri (Rupert Friend).  Hoping to get her son off of opium orgies and into the arms of a respectable madam who can bring him under control, Charlotte/Bates uses some pretense to leave Cheri and Lea’ alone.  Fueled by the combustive chemistry generated by one gorgeous creature for another, as well as the narcissistic thoughts they must have had about how good they look together, nature takes its course.

Six years later, Lea’ and Cheri are still together. Is it a party that has gone on too long because their sex-life is a gift that keeps on giving?  Or, is it at long last love (which is an anathema to the cynical natures of both)?  The answers are prompted by Mama Charlotte’s sudden plans to marry-off Cheri to young, virginal Edme (Felicity Jones) the daughter of another one of her courtesan companions. Mama Charlotte wants to become a very unlikely Grandma Charlotte.

What happens will not be revealed here, but it is when the aforementioned sweet sauciness of the film turns tart with regrets, recriminations and an exploration of the essence of love.

As Lea’, Pfeiffer reminds us that she is not just another breathtaking face.  She masterfully uses it as a tool that poignantly captures the bitter irony of a woman who may have at last found meaning in a trivial life, but possibly too late.  And, she fearlessly displays it, sans makeup, into the uncompromising harshness of direct sunlight in a scene meant to starkly underscore the age difference between her and her 25-year-old lover.  She still looks better than 99 percent of the female population at age 20 … and she has never been better as an actress.

Bates, although always worth watching, is less convincing as a great faded beauty whose sexual charms and grace once rivaled Pfeiffer’s.  She is all steel and no magnolia.  Still, she camps it up with cloying cattiness as a bawdy matron who’s gratefully settled into a retirement where she can eat what she wants, replacing a bod once made for sin with a head made for figures in the investment market.

At first, Rupert Friend’s Cheri is all indolent, callous youth, and like most teenagers, really hard for us adults to get to know. It’s a bit difficult to see anything more than transitory pleasure that could hold a sophisticated woman like Lea’ for more than six hours, much less six years. Yet, perhaps that was the director’s intent. As Cheri is forced into marriage with a young girl who expects a grown man for a husband instead of a boy toy, he is forced to evolve into just that.  For the first time, he contemplates more about his life than what he should wear to show off his new cravat.

Like the play and film “Prelude to a Kiss,” Cheri explores the nature of erotic, romantic love versus enduring love … the physical shells that attract us but will eventually age and wither, versus two souls bound by the essence of what’s within. And in the end, that painful reckoning for Cheri and Lea’ is credible and compelling.

I highly recommend Cheri to all dewstresses who will love the sumptuousness and Camille-like quality of it all … and to dewers who are secure in their manhood.

Note: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for the agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of LikeTheDew.com. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click here to report a violation.

6 Responses to “Grand romance and caustic cynicism in ‘Cheri’”

1. Lee Leslie says:

   July 9, 2009 at 8:20 pm

   Great review. Can’t wait to see it.

   Reply
2. Terri Evans says:

   July 9, 2009 at 8:38 pm

   You (and Cheri) have rung my bell! I hope to see it soon, but also hope to read it first. Splendid! I felt like I was there, but happy not to know how it ends.

   Reply
3. Billy Howard says:

   July 9, 2009 at 11:04 pm

   Any movie reviewed with the words: saucy, tartly, tasty, luscious, cloying and bawdy, adds in magnolia to keep it southern and then questions my manhood if I’m afraid to watch it, goes to the top of our list. Although I am a bit afraid. Great review!

   Reply
4. Janet O'Hara says:

   July 10, 2009 at 5:54 am

   Great review, looking forward to it already and I only hope it makes its way over the pond to the UK soon. Can quite believe that Michelle Pfeiffer wants to stay with Rupert Friend, he was adorable in The Young Victoria.

   Reply
5. Dallas says:

   July 12, 2009 at 12:11 pm

   Delicious … And men, “What’s security got to do with it, got to do with it?” Fear and desire, shaken not stirred – twist or olive, don’t care, just pour me one.

   Reply
6. Kevin Duffy says:

   July 13, 2009 at 11:41 am

   So Dew go.

   Reply

Leave a Comment

Click here to cancel reply.

What is CAPTCHA and why do I have to enter it to post a comment?

Quick answer: Look at the picture (below) that contains letters. Type those letters in the CAPTCHA Code box.

Longer explanation: Our comment system now requires a CAPTCHA test (an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" for all comments (unless you have registered and are logged-in). CAPTCHA is an image of letters that is dynamically generated (click the speaker icon to hear it or the arrows to load another test that may be easier to read). The letters, because they're part of an image and not text (e.g. text that you could cut and paste), are difficult for a spambot or other computer program to read. Yet, a person has little trouble reading the letters in a captcha image and then typing them into the form. Using a captcha test on our website is a great way to ensure, for instance, that a person and not a spambot is filling out a web form (we used to get 100 or so spam comments every day which our volunteers had to wade through). Also, a captcha can make it difficult for a person to continuously resubmit form information and overwhelm our comment function. If you hate CAPTCHA, just register on LikeTheDew.com and login (registration is on the bottom left of our home page) and you won't be stopped by CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA Code

You can add images to your comment by clicking here.

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website