Review of Chéri (2009) by Dean B — 13 Jul 2009

"Cheri" initially seems to resemble that other great Collette bauble, "Gigi," but by its quietly devastating finale, the champagne in its veins has turned to ice water. No film this year (or in the past several) has been more visually stunning, as every shot recaptures the Belle Epoque era so faithfully as to induce swoons.

True, the story doesn't have the emotional hot bloodedness of "Dangeous Liasons" (the last time Frears, Hampton and Pfeiffer collaborated), and there are moments where it underplays via wit and feigned casualness instead of going for the emotional juice.

But when those moments come, they're sucker punches, and Pfeiffer is the one with the gloves off; her final shot is reminiscent of Close's at the end of "Liasons," but even more devastating and haunting as the film's entire pretty world is destroyed in a few brief sentences of narration.

Rupert Friend tries to give depth to Cheri, but he's a callow and shallow character that even the most gifted young actor (Ryan Gosling? Joseph Gordon Levitt?) would've had difficulties with. Kathy Bates, though playing to the balconies, is a hoot and a half as Cheri's mother.

And maybe someone other than Frears (Ian McKellen? Vanessa Redgrave?) should've handled the narrator duties. But they're all just singing backup; it's all about the sumptuous visuals, those deliciously spiky lines from Collette (like bourbon-stuffed chocolates), and Pfeiffer's character slowly, slowly realizing that her youth is gone, and everything she thought so important is now slipping away like sand in the tides of time.

(A key scene of Pfeiffer walking on a beach in a gown that matches the water, solitary footprints trailing her, could be a framed masterpiece.) It's a trifle that lingers in the mind, like the scent of a lover's perfume or aftershave, and unexpectedly nicks at the heart.