Tu ne m'oublieras pas

Geraldine Chaplin was so believable. It made such an impact on me that I can still remember it. Especially wonderful for me was the background music and singing of Alberta Hunter. It was not a movie of violent revenge. It was sweet revenge. Sure, it would be called stalking today, but she was just checking out that ratty ex-husband.

I suppose the main criticism you can level against a film like REMEMBER MY NAME is that it has a distinctly tame, quiet, television-movie style feel to it, so that the drama feels oddly muted for a movie made for the cinemas. It's a late '70s stalker story along the lines of PLAY MISTY FOR ME, although not quite as good as the Eastwood movie.

What REMEMBER MY NAME does have going for it is an excellent cast of past and future stars who enliven an otherwise ordinary tale. The story involves a seemingly happily married couple who are disturbed by the arrival of the husband's old flame who seems obsessed with resuming their relationship. What follows is quietly gripping in places, although the film as a whole is let down by a non-existent ending and a definite lack of incident.

Anthony Perkins is excellent at playing these mild-mannered characters hiding dark secrets but the real acting honours go to Geraldine Chaplin, who invests her disturbed character with real authenticity; she's absolutely frightening in the part. The supporting cast includes plenty of faces who would go on to become famous in the future: Tim Thomerson, Dennis Franz, and best of all a skinny Jeff Goldblum. Blaxploitation actor Moses Gunn also has a role.

After carving out eccentric, obtuse molds for her personality while co-starring in Robert Altman's "Nashville" and Alan Rudolph's "Welcome to L.A.", Geraldine Chaplin finally earned a full-bodied (though still utterly eccentric) leading role in Rudolph's "Remember My Name", which was produced by Robert Altman. Chaplin plays an ex-convict and sociopath seeking a reunion with her former husband, a carpenter who has remarried and resides on the west coast; lacking interpersonal skills of any kind, she decides to get his attention by stalking he and his wife and breaking into their house. Intriguing, if unpleasant, modern-day melodrama with noir-ish overtures, made memorable by Chaplin's high-wire performance. Tough and unyielding, and possibly schizophrenic, Chaplin creates a portrait of a woman obsessed by the past, and wilting under the untouchable persona she has created for herself. The narrative goes a little batty in the final stretch, leading to a perplexing conclusion; however, the film's detached tone is very deliberate and assured--it creates a monotone ambiance which is hard to shake off. Director Rudolph, who also wrote the screenplay, seems to feel this material very deeply. It's a twisted and melancholy valentine. **1/2 from ****

You need not have to wade through any over-intellectualized reviews of this film! Breaking it down into basics: (1) it is a low-budget indie; (2)you can figure it out by at least midway through for those with above a lukewarm IQ; (3) some very wasted time; (4) not quite as satisfying as it could have/should have been, since the predator who is really a victim is completely unsympathetic Skip it unless you really enjoy slogging through old B&W B-movies which offer little more than simple revenge as character motivation.

An interesting and well-acted psychological drama about an unhappily married man (Perkins) who finds himself stalked by his first wife (Chaplin), a mentally unbalanced woman who spent the last 12 years in prison for murder. You've seen this kind of insane-female-admirer plot before, but here it's handled more intelligently and tastefully than usual. It remains refreshingly unpredictable all the way through.

Chaplin is particularly impressive, managing to exude fragility, menace, and just plain craziness all at once. It's a solid performance if you're willing to overlook her ever-changing accent (is her character supposed to be American or English?). The film also features an overbearing blues soundtrack that, while decent enough in itself, sounds like it belongs in another film. Still, it's a good movie, probably worth viewing more than once.