Endstation Sehnsucht

Tennessee Williams is a legend. This play is a true masterpiece. So it's worth watching it no matter how the actors do. And they do pretty well. Alec Baldwin gives us possibly his best acting, but possibly Jessica Lange doesn't reach this level, while having a role most actresses would beg for years to have. John Goodman is fine and gives a perspective of Mitch I hadn't in mind but he's a bit characterized as a comedy type and possibly that creates problems. Diane Lane is ok but nothing special (it's the less demanding role anyway). The scenery is better than the original film but the film has been PC transformed. Too mild for what Williams wanted to show.

Having played Blanche duBois myself, I'm hypercritical of all other actresses who tackle A Streetcar Named Desire. I've only given compliments to two other actresses: Cate Blanchett (in the modern remake Blue Jasmine) and Jessica Lange in the tv version. Jessica is a very attractive woman and can handle Southern belle in her sleep, but she didn't rest on her laurels for Blanche. She truly studied the script and the character - it showed.

John Goodman reunited with his Everybody's All-American costar and played Mitch. Although Mitch isn't the hardest role to play, Goodman was a good casting choice and delivered a solid performance. A surprising pick was Diane Lane as Stella. Stella is usually portrayed as a frumpy woman, a contrast to her sister's elegance. Audiences are almost supposed to think she sunk to where she belonged when she chose Stanley for a husband. But you can see the good breeding in Diane. When Jessica continually says she thinks her sister could have done better, we agree with her. For although Stanley is played by a good-looking man, we don't understand why she sunk down in the mud. Diane also doesn't play Stella as "mealy-mouthed". She's been beaten down, but once upon a time, she had as much energy as her sister. It's an interesting take on the role, and I appreciated it.

Alec Baldwin played Stanley Kowalski, and although he ticked all the boxes of acting as an uncouth slob, he didn't really delve any deeper into the character. A dirty shirt and a swagger helps with an initial impression, but a good actor knows not to rely on them. It felt like he was "acting", and it didn't feel like Jessica Lange was. She truly was Blanche. She used her femininity: giggling, trying to appear smaller than her frame, moving her hands with grace, and trying to soothe everything with a smile. Smiling is very ladylike, and underneath all her fluff was a simmering fear - fear that she'll be found out, fear that she'll crack, and fear that her coping mechanisms won't work. Jessica used the script, filled in the cracks, and gave a multi-dimensional performance that makes you say, "Vivien who?"

Wow. Still reeling from this one several hours later. What a true and deep and affecting performance from Jessica Lange plus the usual intelligent and imaginative choices from Alec Baldwin. I've seen a few productions of this, plus the Brando movie. I have never before been left with such depth of feeling for ALL of those characters trying to find their feet again in the conflicts and complexities of that post World War 2 society.

This is mostly a fine production of the venerable Tennessee Williams classic. Baldwin relies a bit too heavily on Brando portrayal but Lange finds her own way. She gives the doomed, fragile Blanche an inner strength that most other interpretors do not. Lane and Goodman are fine, as well.

'A Streetcar Named Desire' is for me one of the best works of one of the great playwrights of the 20th century Tennessee Williams, it's wordy (then again that's the case with all Williams, some so more than others though) but is full of passion and emotion. When it's performed well, it really does sizzle. Sizzle it did with the 1951 Elia Kazan classic with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, regardless of it not being entirely faithful to the play the direction, emotional power and incredible performances makes one forget that.

There may be those that question the point of this made for television version, and generally because the film is so good and it would be difficult to equal or better it. Personally don't think that should be the case, it's just another version of the play and plays, of all different types of qualities (even some of lesser Shakespeare has more than one version available), often have more than one adaptation/production. Williams' work is no exception, well his best anyhow, so the likes of 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Glass Menagerie'.

Do prefer the film version on its own terms, but on the most part 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is a worthy version. It is truer to the source material, with what was omitted in the film (now with censorship not getting in the way this time), intact, same with every location, every line, every one of the play's bold themes and the character writing deeper. It is faithful but not too faithful.

Where the film scores over this version though is that to me it had more of the smoldering passion that is a little lacking here and this didn't leave me as moved. The direction, while always thoughtful and never distasteful, isn't as pulling no punches as Kazan's and while the performances are very good, even great, here from personal opinion none reach the same iconic level. While details wise it is more faithful, which is to be lauded as the play is one of Williams' best, to me the film captured the spirit of the play more.

Judging it on its own, there isn't anything done disastrously. There are a few repetitive shots that make us aware of the camera and do agree that the attitudes of Blanche and Stella to Stanley's rape do not ring true, something that should have hurt and anger pouring out but treated with indifference.

For those short-comings though, there are also a good number of virtues. The production values are pleasing on the eyes, the locations having surprising authenticity and the camera work is mostly fluid, the odd bit of repetition aside. Williams' dialogue is intelligent and poignant, wordy but that is a hardly a fault with the production and have never considered it a short-coming with the play either (with lesser Williams plays like 'Orpheus Descending' it is more noticeable and less forgivable). The storytelling may not have the same amount of impact but the faithfulness is not something that works against the production, although the film smolders more there is hardly a shortage of tension and emotion. The climax is quite powerful.

None of the performances are on the same level as the iconic performances of the film, but they are very strong in their own way. Jessica Lange is a remarkably nuanced if perhaps not frail enough Blanche, while not overdoing too much the manipulation, and Diane Lane, at times telling a lot through her face, is heart-wrenching as Stella, one can really feel the character's conflict. John Goodman does an admirable job in trying to break away from the comedic work he was famous for at the time (which must have been very difficult to do), and does so sympathetically if perhaps a touch too soft at times. Which brings me to Alec Baldwin, was worried that he would be a disaster having read some of the reviews, but did appreciate that his interpretation was different from Brando's and not an imitation, he doesn't smolder as much and isn't as brutish but the more human approach that he brought to this difficult role was interesting and he did it well from personal view.

On the whole, worth a watch. 7/10