The Triumph of Love

This Marivaux play from 1732 is handsomely mounted in an Italian villa, with sumptuous period costumes and decor. Directed by Claire Peploe and produced by hubby Bernardo Bertolucci, its handheld, jump-cut style, with postmodern flourishes, may have been chosen deliberately or dictated by budget constraints. The disjunction between style and subject strikes some as fresh but does not work for me. I have no idea what the original French may sound like, but this English translation seems rather flat-footed, with none of the poetry that sustains the silliness of a cross-dressing comedy like “As You Like It.” Nonetheless, this a well-acted piece. It makes one wonder where Mira Sorvino has been hanging out since Mighty Aphrodite -- turns out the magna cum laude graduate of Harvard has recently married and had a child, but will be back. Her princess has to seduce every character in the movie and she certainly seduced me. Ben Kingsley and Fiona Shaw delight as a brother and sister who have both forsworn love philosophically, only to succumb to the miraculous Mira. I didn’t like this as much as the Clark audience for the final “Fellows Favorite” film did, nicely primed by visiting scholar Melissa Hyde’s introduction, but I liked it more than the critical consensus. (2001, dvd@cai, n.) *6* (MC-58, RT-48.)

Speaking of the Fellows’ film series, I didn’t write about last week’s Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time because I didn’t have anything new to say on third viewing. If you haven’t seen it, do so at your earliest convenience (and like all dvds shown at the Clark, it is subsequently borrowable from the Milne Public Library in Williamstown.) And if you have see the film, well then, I don’t have to tell you about the artist who ranks with Christo as my favorite contemporary. Interestingly, Clark Fellow Molly Donovan has done books with both, and her introduction offered valuable context to a large and appreciative audience, and a first look at Goldworthy’s recent installation at the National Gallery in Washington, for which she was curator.

A new group of Clark Fellows will resume this Thursday at 7:30 film series late next semester.