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| Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle By Rakechan |
| Directed by: Alan Rudolph Written by: Alan Rudolph and Randy Sue Coburn Released: 1994 Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Campbell Scott, Matthew Broderick Running time: 126 minutes “The sun’s gone dim, and The moon’s turned black; For I loved him, and He didn’t love back.” Once wrote Dorothy Parker (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who was a legend in her time. She was part of the renowned Algonquin round table (a group of sharply witted journalists in 1920s New York). A woman in a man’s world, she strives to out-do all those around her, she parties twice as hard as any man around her could, which inevitably led her to a great deal of emotional pain. The film is predominantly set in the 1920s, with sumptuously colourful footage of Dorothy in her prime, with clips from her later life, in the late 1950s shot in stark black and white. Always witty and intelligent, Mrs. Parker captured the attention of many men, but the one man she develops a true affection for is the one man she cannot have; her close friend, the famous satirist Robert Benchley. Regardless of the Algonquin round table group spending almost all of their time in each other’s company, there’s a distinct loneliness that’s apparent in pretty much everybody involved. They say they are all friends, yet they seem to spend their entire time making witty little quips at each other. They all seem interesting, witty, pretentious and intolerable at the same time. The scripting is excellent, reflecting Mrs. Parker’s gift with words, and Leigh performs the script with utter class and finesse. This is Leigh’s film, and she grasps it with both hands, obviously having paid a lot of attention in getting into character. Her voice is almost completely un-understandable at times. If you are familiar with Leigh’s character from the Coen brother’s ‘Hudsucker Proxy’, you’ll probably notice she plays a very similar character, it’s almost as if her fast-talking journalist of ‘Hudsucker Proxy’ is a caricature of her role of Dorothy Parker, even though ‘Hudsucker’ came (marginally) before. Alan Rudolph does a good job of portraying a very troubled but brilliant young lady. I have had an interest in Mrs. Parker for some time, after reading her poetry, but this film shows where a lot of her bitter tone and melancholy content comes from. It’s certainly not an easy film to watch at times, but it gives an insight into a very interesting character. |
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