Stephen Frears reteams with his Dangerous Liaisons (1988) screenwriter Christopher Hampton and supporting actress Michelle Pfeiffer for Cheri, an adaptation of two novels from Colette, the famed French author whose novel also spawned the 1959 Best Picture winner Gigi. To say expectations for this film were high would be an understatement considering the source material, the three Oscars Liaisons won back in 1989 and the anticipated hope we may see Pfeiffer step back into Oscar-worthy form. Liaisons was the first of three Oscar nominations for Pfeiffer and while her turn here as an aging courtesan of the belle époque is tasty, it is Rupert Friend as the title character that steals the show in a film that doesn’t live up to expectation, but is entirely enjoyable.
In describing my feelings for this film to a friend that missed the press screening I found myself stuck between trying not to build it up to much while at the same time trying not to make it sound as if it were a disappointment. Cheri is truly beautiful with a score from Alexandre Desplat that brings plenty of life to the story and cinematography from Darius Khondji that captures the morning light as if it had never been seen before. What the film lacks is any kind of real tension or dramatic linchpin as it moves from a joyful introduction of our cast of characters to a cold conclusion without much to grab hold of in-between. This isn’t to say the meat of this film is empty, it just lacks the juice worthy of a tale of a middle-aged woman and her unexpected 19-year-old suitor.
Cheri does nothing to hide its potentially controversial storyline as Michelle Pfeiffer plays Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer), a woman that has made for herself quite the bed of roses, coming up as a high-society coquette of the late 19th century, just before the first world war. Lea is approached by Charlotte Peloux, a one-time competitor and shameful gossip played appropriately by Kathy Bates. Bates delivers a performance that’s almost too on the nose to be fully appreciated, but her spark is much needed and appreciated throughout.
Charlotte reaches out to Lea, asking her to “teach” her son Cheri (Rupert Friend) the ways of how to treat a woman. Without much reluctance Lea accepts, but what follows certainly couldn’t have been predicted, at least not by the characters as the audience is sure to be two steps ahead the entire way. Six years pass and more than a mentor-pupil relationship forms, but in the background Charlotte has other plans for her son, setting the rest of the story into motion.
Cheri is about learning to love and accepting one’s age and the consequences of both once realization truly sinks in. The lessons learned in Cheri aren’t necessarily profound, but they are affecting once the final bell tolls. However, I couldn’t help but feel like the story was simply going through the motions, never really surprising me or moving me one way or another.
I am sure Pfeiffer will get her due from the majority of critics and she is perfectly suited for the role of Lea and she pulls it off quite elegantly, with plenty of grace and self-realization when needed. However, Rupert Friend was the film’s high note as he plays the pampered bon vivant who has never had to want for anything, but where the performances of Friend and Pfeiffer are lost is in the connection between their two characters. Six years pass at the drop of a hat and as beautiful as this film is I would have thought Frears would play up the romantic angle a little more, especially considering we are talking about the city of lights here. Of course the point of the film is not necessarily about the romance between the two leads per se, but giving the audience a stronger emotional connection to the two of them would have only made the final minutes that much more effective, not to mention the rest of the movie on a whole.
Overall, Cheri is a perfectly enjoyable film, but one you probably won’t take much away from or lose much sleep over discussing. The film may still garner Oscar attention as very little is wrong, especially in the performances and the technical side of things, but the overall package just doesn’t quite cut it. What does remain is an overall sense of beauty, both in the film and the face of Michelle Pfeiffer, a woman seemingly shot, at times, without a trace of makeup and still looking 10 years her younger.
