Orpheus Descending

Only someone who has never heard of Anna Magnani could watch Vanessa Redgrave's performance and not think of her. To be fair the part in Tennessee Williams' original play was written for Magnani; I just wish somehow she could have made it her own. When she spits out Lady Torrance's best lines, she might as well just look skyward and give the late Italian star a wink. As for the story itself, it is still provocative even viewed by todays eyes--perhaps even more, as thankfully fewer people are accustomed to seeing such deeply rooted racism. However, in this era in which we've come to expect plot twists and character development, there is surprisingly little change in any character from beginning to end. Each person in this story is exactly who he/she appears to be, which will be very frustrating viewing for those who like to see a moral or have someone at least learn something from what has transpired. And since a rather repulsive gossipy woman reveals a rather important detail at the very beginning, I kept hoping for other secrets of some sort to be unveiled. The affected young (by comparison), ghostly Charlotte (Anne Twomey) surely has a story or two to tell, but it never comes. This is not so much a flaw in the script, but rather a warning that it's not the kind of story I expected it to be. It is a clear style choice by Williams, I'm just not sure that less is more in this case. If anything, it made me long for a depiction of the ancient mythical Orpheus on which this play is based.

Hot diggity dog, is this a great movie! I'm surprised that so few people have heard of it, neither would I if I hadn't found it going cheap.

The story deals with your usual southern redneck town full of repressed and frustrated people, typical Williams territory. In this it does a great deal better than such Hollywood formula fare as Mississippi Boring, I mean Burning.

Vanessa Redgrave isn't too convincing as an Italian-American, she's just Vanessa Redgrave; but what the hey, that's just right here. She plays (what else) an abused and unhappy grocer trapped in a loveless marriage. Her invalid husband is incapable of loving her; we might be tempted to feel sorry for him, but we know (which she doesn't) that he was responsible for burning her father to death many years before. The image of fire recurs throughout the movie, both as a symbol of sexual passion and as a harbinger of fearsome cruelty. If we recall that Orpheus descended into Hades, this ashcan of a town is effectively hell.

Kevin Anderson is very convincing as a southern drifter who conceals a kind heart. Not only that, he does a great job of howling out those Delta blues to his trusty ol' guitar, almost operatic in quality. You just know that something is going to happen to him.

Williams combines his usual erotic concerns with a story that involves the Klan, lynching and redneck hypocrisy - and it makes for a more compelling story. I've seen Streetcar and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and I reckon that this is a better movie. The only problem is that the title is too abstract, its relation to the story is too tenuous; something more direct would attract more viewers.

'Orpheus Descending' is not Tennessee Williams at his best, love him as a writer/playwright but not everything he did was gold. The dialogue is unmistakable Williams, the characters typically rich and there are powerful moments but other plays of his ('Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' being a prime example) have much more momentum and aren't as talky or melodramatic, the drama also igniting more in them too. Does that mean it's a dud? No. To me it just doesn't see Williams on top form.

The play was previously filmed in 1960 under the title 'The Fugitive Kind' with Marlon Brando, Victor Jory, Joanne Woodward and Anna Magnani and directed by the great Sidney Lumet. That was an interesting film with many things done well, like the photography and the performances of Magnani, Brando and Jory, but didn't find it a great one and that it didn't solve the play's faults really (that would have been hard though). Personally consider this made for television film as definitely worth watching if not a must see, and that it's the superior version. The spirit of the play is maintained and it manages to be a powerful production, while also not completely successful at overcoming what stops Williams from being at his best.

Like the source material, the momentum isn't always there with it dragging in the wordier parts. The melodrama can be a bit over-heated in parts and could have been clearer. The drama could have opened up a little bit more at times also, but none of these are sustained throughout the production.

However, 'Orpheus Descending' is an attractive enough production with some truly arresting set design especially that doesn't look cheap or get over-elaborate. The photography is neither too static or cluttered, not having too much of a filmed stage play feel. While talky, the writing is still poignant and eloquent. The staging from the get go gets the doomed atmosphere spot on and the tension and emotion mounts right up to the emotionally devastating climax, handled much better here than in 'The Fugitive Kind'. There are complex emotions throughout that are difficult to pull off, while not completely successful the production does admirably in doing so.

Although her accent is all over the place, Vanessa Redgrave's performance is impassioned and very touching. Kevin Anderson's Val does have a sizeable Brando influence, but he does bring enough of his own touches to avoid being too closely indebted and doesn't become an impersonation, an equally sincere performance. Brad Sullivan is both heart-wrenching and subtly chilling and Anne Towmey is a spirited Carol.

In summary, worthy if not great. 7/10

Vanessa, an Italian in lower Slobovia, I mean Lousiana or Mississippi.....what a background to play against. This Tennessee Williams classic has great allusions to 'crossing the river', so read up on your Greek mythology before watching this movie. All of us with Southern accents cringe at the dead-on representation of the hypocritical upright citizenry of this pitiful town. The dying husband/Klansman who had burned out his wife's father many years before (and burned her father, as well, we find out) comes to life in the finale as he applies the torch to the hero. The hero, a young man in a snakeskin jacket, gives new life to three downtrodden women. One of them, driven crazy by the town's abuse, shows acute intelligence warped beyond redemption by her suffering.

This one is not a light excursion into escapist fare. The fact that most of Tennessee Williams' plays pull back the mask from Society's hypocritical face is certainly emphasized here. We make our compromises with what we learned in Sunday School and one day, we join a gang that strips and sets fire to those who are 'different' among us. When they in turn go berserk, as in Columbine, we blame the movies !!(?). Who is truly insane here?

Right on characterizations by the four townswomen, each one familiar to us. The artist who escapes into religious visions after facing lynchings and chain gangs, supervised by the brutality of her sheriff husband, fills the screen with her plain soul-beauty. We were taught of 'Southern Schizophrenia' in Sociology: the cleaving in two of our brains in order to co-exist with going to church three times a week and twice on Sunday.... and our savage mistreatment of the 'different', usually black, Jewish or Catholic. That was then and now is now......are we any different?

See it. Find yourself in it. Not an easy trip, because the 'Orpheus descending' is you and me.

Somehow I had never seen this. It showed tonight on Turner Classics and Vanessa Redgraves, who was always great, took it to a level I had never seen this or the play before. I hope there is video obtainable of this on the stage with Redgraves and Anderson.

When acting is as great as this it legitimizes the profession to do more the pander or entertain. It's both tragic and comic as well as a statement on human stupidity and evil.