Summer Escape Movies

The past few weeks, I have been neither scholarly nor dedicated about reading or even watching movies, only marginally adhering to the 2011 lust list theme. Last night, did an old chick flick, the 1991 Oscar- nominated Prince of Tides -- mainly because I remembered the story was written by Pat Conroy, not for any movie idolatry of either star, Nick Nolte (before we knew he was a drunk) and Barbra Streisand at the acme of her NYC Jewish princess cycle. The movie is so old that Blythe Danner is Nolte's wife, but she still evidences the source of Gwenyth's acting ability and good genes.

And yes, the story is about adultery and Nick leaves NYC and returns to his wife and three daughters in South Carolina. Conroy writes of violence and repression and has a wonderful subplot of what it took Nick/Tom's mother to claw her way to social prominence whereas both Blythe and Barbra are credentialed doctors. Nick seems to have inherited his mother's dissatisfaction with life and it is only after another family crisis and a time of reaffirmation coaching Barbra's son, that he can re-center. I was going to say when I started writing about Conroy that most of his characters are portrayed as worthy. Even Barbra's cheating, taunting husband has passed his musical genius on to their son; Nick's mother, despite her greed and cultivated false facade, has made him resilient and sturdy.

In contrast, last week I watched Swept Away by Lina Wertmuller, that is the original 1974 version in Italian, not the remake with Madonna (I can't even imagine). Yes, the male lead slaps his women around and the sex with the wealthy woman he becomes shipwrecked with is at times rough. Funny, I remembered that I saw the movie before not during those scenes of sex on the beach, but when Giannini is in the phone booth at the end of the movie trying to convince Mariangela not to return to her husband. So how do I stretch a comparison of these two films? At the end of each, both are couples are back with their wedded partners. The movie-viewer is left to imagine which marriages will last, be happy, or even be improved from the adulteries. In my mind, Nick fares the best. Although he pines for a parallel life in NYC, he has matured and returns to an intact, functioning family where his wife's infidelity itself only was a call for attention. Barbra might lose her post-coital smile but she is left with her career and probably significant alimony. Mariangela's class identification and lust for money prevails ; her interlude of passion occurred only because of timing, place and crises. Comfort and status are restored and her previous posture and politics readily resumed. Giannini, too, seems to revert to his class surprisingly to a wife who has the innate talents to hold her own with his machismo.

Finally, a comment about both films having been directed by women (Streisand did hers). Although Prince of Tide is a stronger narrative thanks to the talents of Conroy, Barbra's version seems to women's movement dominant to me, with the heroine successful in terms of outer appearances and status symbols. Wertmuller's subliminal message is European class distinctions and the dance of their interactions and envies. Both cover themes in ways that are not nostalgic despite their releases 20 and 40 years ago.