Bernard und Doris

I wasn't sold on the idea of watching a film about a rich weirdo and the lawsuits that entail, post-mortem, ala "LIFETIME" nightly movies. I wanted to see Ralph work with Susan, but I still wouldn't have watched unless I researched the production of "Bernard and Doris". I saw Bob Balaban is directing.

I've never seen Bob Balaban's work as director. I've enjoyed all of Bob's acting credits which I've seen, particularly his improvisational skills in recent SCTV/Spinal Tap-quality films. I figure Bob knows the HW weirdness like nobody else due to his insightful improvisations. He gets it.

Therefore, he could do it, and bring it in below budget.

Great direction: Lighting and cinematography were far better than recent films I paid money for. I haven't seen Ralph perform this well since QUIZ SHOW, but he brought his talents to what was clearly a communal table of talent.

Susan Sarandon does very well, and the Susan/Ralph team works. The script works, and sells the story.

Balaban seems to have done much more with far less than this film portends to be, even for an HBO FILM.

All right: Susan Sarandon does not resemble the real Doris Duke and is a good 15 years younger and a lot healthier looking than Duke was in the mid-1980's through 1993, when the story takes place; and granted, Ralph Fiennes is far more charming and appealing than the actual Bernard Lafferty. But this movie works because of those two central characters on which the scenario focuses to the exclusion of almost all else. The screenwriter deftly conveys the jet-set lifestyle and grandly tumultuous history of Doris Duke without actually moving us from location to location and decade to decade and we are able to concentrate on what is really a peculiarly moving love story. Duke's relationships with various hangers-on and an adopted daughter are left out entirely. If you are looking for a faithful bio, forget it. If you are looking for a solidly pleasing film with top-notch performances, pounce!

Sarandon delivers the goods in spades, creating a shrewd and intelligent, bristling flesh and blood woman so wealthy and powerful she answers to no one but suffers from those psychic afflictions known only to the super-rich. Her self-administered therapies include astrology, a fanatical devotion to the care of exotic plants (particularly orchids), travel, indiscriminate sex with a succession of boy toys, and of course massive doses of booze and other drugs to keep going from one day to the next. But she is also intelligent, shrewd, a remarkable businesswoman and connoisseur of the fine arts, all convincingly depicted in this film. It's damned entertaining to watch her but if you think about it, no one of her age with that kind of serious drug dependency could look that good. Fiennes matches her every step of the way with a kind of perturbed restraint as the lonely, passive, alcoholic butler. He says at one point that what he wants from Duke is not her money, but just to take care of her. This utterance is completely believable. Unlike the 1999 TV movie about the same pair starring Lauren Bacall and Richard Chamberlain, this butler is much more ambiguous and definitely not a sadistic manipulator.

If there is a clue to the relationship between Doris Duke and her live-in assistant, Bernard Lafferty, it seems to be the moment in which she asks him point blank: "What do you want from me?" After all, Ms. Duke was used to buy people left and right, as it was rumored was the case when she paid a million dollars to French actress Danielle Darrieux for the privilege of divorcing playboy Porfirio Rubirosa. Doris, who evidently got tired of people and things easily, had the upper hand in dealing with what she needed at any particular moment.

"Bernard and Doris", an HBO film, directed by Bob Balaban, and conceived by Hugh Costello, is based on a relationship that is perhaps a fantasy in the mind of its creators. Fact and fiction are mixed freely, although this movie doesn't try to give us reality because after all, Doris Duke's real life story would have probably made a Hollywood epic.

Some things that come out in the film show us an heiress who enjoyed sex. That explains her marriage to Rubirosa a notorious man of mystical sexual prowess. Doris is seen bedding a rough man who, while satisfying her, he sought to have fun with her maid as well. When she fired the servant she immediately regrets it because of being fond of the way she worked.

Bernard Lafferty, a man that had a huge drinking problem, came to work for Doris during her last years. In the film, Bernard is subservient and meek, when reality indicates he probably ruled Doris life with an iron fist. The figure that emerges is not exactly who one could imagine him to be because of the many accusations after Doris' death. The real Lafferty and the screen Lafferty are two different persons.

The film is worth a look because of the work of the two principals. Susan Sarandon is totally convincing as Doris as is the case with Ralph Fiennes the way his character was conceived for this screen treatment. This is one of Susan Sarandon's best roles in quite some time. Mr. Fiennes is great fun to watch as the gay butler that loved to wear his employer's finery.

Maurice Rubinstein's cinematography captures the plush interiors of the Duke's estate. Alex Wurman contributed the music score and the editing of Andy Keir work well with Mr. Balaban overall concept.

and the pairing of Ralph Fiennes as Bernard Lafferty, her trusted butler and confidante is quite interesting. I have read the biography "Too Rich, the story of Doris Duke", and this film seems by far, more accurate and even amusing (as life often is). If we for example, compare this to the mediocre Lauren Bacall version, which does not portray Lafferty as human, rather as a murderous bottom-feeder. Too extreme, and probably unrealistic.

Yes, Ms. Duke did apparently have a very unusual life, but we see her here, as Sarandon plays here, she also enjoyed and cherished life. We see her working fervently on her orchids, all the foundations she was passionate about, and her general intelligence. She was clearly a brilliant businesswoman, as Lafferty interjects.

This film portrays real people, yes, she had an issue with drinking, as did Lafferty. However there was a tenderness and relationship which seemed to have developed between the two. Overall an interesting commentary with excellent performances and lush cinematography, attention to set decoration. 9/10.

This film is about the mysterious relationship between a wealthy woman, Doris Duke, and her butler.

"Bernard and Doris" is a film that is hard to put a finger on. On one hand, it portrays the mysterious relationship between Bernard and Doris beautifully. What they have is more then just employer and servant, but more like a friend, and even more than just friends. On the other hand, I find a lack of emotional engagement between the story and the viewers. The film and the characters do not make me care about them. Fortunately, Susan Sarandon is amazing as she showcases her acting talent. She is stylishly arrogant at first, assertive but approachable in the middle and frail at the end. "Bernard and Doris" is worth watching just for Susan Sarandon's performance alone. The film would have become quite forgettable without her.