Review of Death and the Maiden (2003) by Dfw F — 10 Nov 2009

Death and the Maiden (1994) Roman Polanski is in trouble and I thought I would catch up on a few of his movies I had not seen. Paulina Escobar is the housewife to a prominent lawyer in an unnamed third World country.

One day a storm forces her husband to ride home with a neighbor. That chance encounter brings up demons from her past, as she is convinced that the neighbor (Dr. Miranda) was part of the old fascist regime that tortured and raped her, while blindfolded.

Paulina takes him captive to determine the 'truth'. Paulina is torn between her psychological repressions and somber memory, Gerardo is torn between his wife and the law, and Dr. Miranda is forced to endure captivity while husband and wife seek out the uncertain truth about the clouded past.

When it comes to dark and morbid thrillers, there's no one around that can handle them like Roman Polanski does. Polanski has made this as vivid and suspenseful as possible. It is a cold tale of a torture victim turning on her tormentor.

It's a windy, stormy night somewhere in "a country in South America after the fall of the dictatorship." Lightning flickers, thunder rumbles, and rain comes down in sheets. This atmosphere, so carefully constructed by director Roman Polanski and cinematographer Torino Delli Colli, is Death and the Maiden's most notable feature.

Beautifully done! Ghosts of a dictatorship evoking that of Chilean general Augusto Pinochet haunt this house by the sea. Polanski abandons all attempts at subtlety. Justice stands by uncertainly while the victim and victimizer trade places.

Some say this film was too heavy handed- I disagree. Cast is excellent, though having Anglo-American actors portray South Americans will bother some people. Always good at projecting determination, Weaver is a bundle of raw nerve endings and her impulsiveness helps keep one on edge.

Kingsley shrewdly tantalizes the viewer about his identity, and gets to deliver the plays most riveting monologue at the end. Polanski directs the film without a wasted moment. A little humor does nothing to relieve tension but, as in a Hitchcock picture, has a way of increasing it.

With only three characters in the whole film, each part is vitally important to the story, and it's a joy (but nerve-wracking one) to watch Kingsley, Wilson, and Weaver interact. Polanski's direction is equally powerful, his editing quick, sure, and engaging.

Although set in unnamed South American country, I wish Polanski had just went ahead and identified this as Chile and that the play was based on real facts and realities. Dorfman's play, which was produced on Broadway in 1992 with Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss and Gene Hackman (directed by Mike Nichols), was clearly based on the contemporary history of his native Chile, There were a few negative reviews of this film I DISAGREE!! I feel that the movie never quite found its audience.

This is Sigourney Weaver's greatest and finest film role and only can be compared to her performances in "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Year of Living Dangerously." Certainly one of the best films of 1994.

Excellent film Four Stars really almost a five star movie.