Review of The Dying Gaul (2005) by Mikael K — 09 Apr 2013

Writer-director Craig Lucas's first directorial debut does indeed look like a film directed by someone who doesn't know the craft. "Amateurish" is the first word that comes to mind from watching "The Dying Gaul" as the visual storytelling looks unhoned and clumsily composed. It still doesn't mean that the film wouldn't be good. Direction aside, the script and the acting is so superb that the obvious problems in cinematic execution are merely a distraction. The movie feels almost like a piece of filmed theatre.

The story is about Elaine and Jeffrey Tishop, a married couple in a contended but slightly stagnated relationship, played by Patricia Clarckson and Cambell Scott. Into their lives enters Robert (Peter Sarsgaard) a scriptwriter whose project Jeffrey is producing. Robert has recently lost a lover to AIDS and is distraught at the movie studio's plea to change his brilliant script inspired by the tragedy from being about gay lovers into being a heterosexual love tragedy. Robert gets more and more tangled with the Tishops, forming a deep friendship with Elaine, a friendship that has echoes of romance in it. Then he enters into a secret sexual affair with Jeffrey. The tragedies of the three characters form into a complicated tangle of conflicting emotions, self-delusions and secrets within secrets.

"The Dying Gaul" is a splendidly nuanced and perfectly mature exploration of the incongruences in human behavior. The characters act in ways they can't control or find justification for, and the overall point of view avoids cheap moralism at all costs. There are no clichéd outbursts usually associated with relationship dramas of this sort, the focus is on the characters' inner actions more than their outward expressions.

I may not be convinced about Craig Lucas's talents as a director, but he sure proves himself a unique writer. And with such a stellar trio starring, his story is guaranteed to move you however severely the cinematic presentation struggles with its form.