The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

As some of you may know the 37-year old Tennessee Williams had an affair with 15-year-old boy, who was orphaned in the war, and likely had been forced into male prostitution in Rome in the late 1940s. He and the likes of Gore Vidal were there because post war Italy had a specific market for that.

Williams' biographers and Williams himself tell us that the basis for Roman Spring is Williams own experience as an older man with a young boy. This film though is really difficult to watch once you know its roots because the 14 year old is turned into a mid-20s year old predator, inverting the relationship's predation.

It must have been an interesting film to attract such an array of comment which both support the film and criticises it. The interest for me lies not in the fact that it is of itself a good film or a bad film, nor in the fact that it is a remake of a Beatty/Leigh film. The interest lies in the fact that such a range of comments both approving and disapproving could be made about the performances of the actors, including Dennehy, with such vehemence. I must say that I do not find comments like; "He's hot! He gets to take his shirt off a lot" any more an objective comment about acting ability than Leigh was much better at acting 'the neurotic' than Mirren because that wasn't acting either, she really was that way! Williams often concentrates upon characters who are emotionally fractured or ragged: Kowolski in "... Streetcar ..." and Laura Wingfield in " ... Menagerie." Karen Stone is likewise emotionally frail. Cossetted by a rich husband for years and harbouring doubts about her acting talent, she is also physically unfulfilled. When her husband apologises to her for not fulfilling the physical role in their marriage, she retorts: "If I'd wanted to behave like an animal, I would have married an animal" but clearly she does want to behave like an animal as is evidenced by a string of marcetta that escort her in Rome. She is damaged goods, She is emotionally scarred and physically and emotionally vulnerable, a fact recognised by the Contessa, a vengeful, embittered, exploitative, parasitic harpy, whose business it is to know these things and arrange for a remedy. Ironically, Karen is anything but hardened like stone, whatever her name suggests. She embarks on a series of assignations culminating in Paolo, an arrogant aristocrat whose genius for story-telling rivals the Brothers Grimm. We cannot be sure he is even a Conte, when Karen attempts to phone him using the number on the gilt-edged card he has given her, the line rings strangely, but not unexpectedly, dead. Nor is Karen Stone unaware of what is going on. She remarks upon the series of young men that the Contessa has supplied, all of whom coincidentally had some friend in dire (fiscal) need. But she is content to be 'shook down' (to a degree) in order to have the attention of these attractive young men who could and would do with enthusiasm what her husband could not. I wanted to shake the woman, not for her stupidity because she wasn't stupid, but for her susceptibility and vulnerability. I wanted to say: "Act you age, woman, you're making a fool of yourself." Mirren's eyes flicker almost imperceptibly when Paolo changes his story about the six brigade members who were killed. First, they were killed "on the plains of Africa" but hours later they were killed "on the boat". He doesn't bat an eyelid, she does! But neither of them seem to care. He is so self-assured in his supposed aristocratic arrogance and she is so needy, the lie passes.

Williams's preoccupations were generally local, or at least American. In this story, however, he has introduced a European/American theme and I wondered if Williams had not been recently reading some Henry James. Here we have the American ingenue confronted by the might and deviousness of the European sophistication and tradition. The Italians may be impoverished, they may be reduced to running scams and fixing up lonely ladies with gigolos, they may be living in penury and have to beg but they have the weight of the European tradition and culture to support them in adversity. So the age of Rome is mentioned at least twice, overstating its age by some hundreds of years, and Paolo draws attention to the oldest street in the city. Whether it is or not, it serves his purpose to say it is. But to Karen he says: "You are only fifty years old" which to her should be an unspoken criticism, and shocks her that he should say it aloud. But he is really saying: You Americans have no history compared to us", a sentiment espoused earlier by the Contessa who opines that any country with less than 400 years of history, has no tradition. We see in advance the pathetic contempt that the vanquished European has for the triumphant ( and sometimes triumphal) American. It is fully articulated in the last scene with the Contessa in a bitter attack born of frustration. Without assessing the relative moralities of Karen Stone or the Contessa or Paolo, it is the American who morally crumbles at the end, inviting an unwashed, unkempt, possibly very smelly young man (he's a bit too old to be an 'urchin') into her bedroom. Her degradation is complete. It doesn't require anyone to murder her. She is already destroyed. The Italians still have their culture, traditions, and history to fall back on.

Much has been said of the acting of various characters so I don't want to comment on this other than to say that Olivier Martinez seems to have received special attention for being wooden. Having not seen him in anything else, it's hard to make a comprehensive statement about his acting but I thought he conveyed the stiffness and arrogance that one would expect of a 'titled' person. Others may disagree.

The movie was not the best and Martinez has always been a little weak in his films... (I could not except the fact that he was the the other guy to Diane Lane in "Unfaithful" over Richard Gere... I'm not gay or anything but Richard Gere is much more appealing than Martinez)... That being said... I'm 30 years old... and I hope my wife is that sexy and looks that good when she is over 60 years of age. Mirren was downright sexy and so appealing for a woman her age. I'm a huge fan of hers. God bless her and her continued sexiness. Her measurements have barely changed in over 40 years. How does she do it. Has she had plastic surgery or boob enhancements? Does anyone know any info about her?

Tenesee Williams is marvelous, but this is really awful.I am a huge Mirren fan but she is miscast as an ageing fading "beauty".Olivier is' way too old at pushing 40 to be a young gigilo and I have real problems with his "acting" and not just in this movie.I have seen all his early French movies as well as his newer ventures into English.There is a harsh cold arrogance within him that yells male macho pig that lacks any depth or finer feelings.He seems always so stiff and unnatural,his acting is really wooden.( The scene where he lifts his hand to hit Helen/Karen had me in stitches ) The Santoro chap without uttering a word, was truly mesmerising and far more of a breathtaking hunk,one wonders what all the fuss over OM is really all about.The entire movie was wooden and forced.I truly loathed it.I am old enough to remember the original which was not that brilliant either, but knocked the socks of this sad re-make.I felt sorry for Mirren selling her huge talent up the river in this bilge and OM needs roles wherein he is and acts his 40 rather than this 'nonsense in this, and Unfaithful, of being a cheeky 23 year old which he patently is not.he looks his age.He seems very arrogant vain cold in all his movies..the French press call him the "Mannequin who wants to act".. which may be a bit harsh as they loathe him for his misogyinist treatment of their divine la Binoche..but grains of truth maybe.Given that I do admit as a TW fan this is the hardest story to get right on screen it seems..or maybe no-one can get the 'casting just right? Borrow it it is harmless viewing, but do not waste money buying DVD

The remaking of an old movie is justified if something is brought to it which was lacking in the original. The 1961 "Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" was not an entirely successful venture. Unlike most of the other legendary Tennessee William's screen adaptations, "Roman Spring" originated as a novella rather than a play, making it trickier work for screenwriter Gavin Lambert. The relationship between ageing star and young gigolo could have been explored with greater candor. Despite the start quality of both Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty there was a distinct lack of chemistry between the two.

There is no way a remake can escape comparison with the original. In every conceivable way this television remake is totally inferior. Casting Vivien Leigh in the role would have been mandatory at the time. Her unforgettable Blanche du Bois in William's "Streetcar Named Desire", together with her real life mental problems plus the last vestiges of her famed beauty would seemingly portend a great performance. But this all seemed to play against her in a mannered and predictable performance. Surely there is no lack of glamorous ageing stars of yesterday who could have had a field day with this role. Instead we have the distinctly unglamorous Helen Mirren, hopelessly miscast in a role she should have had the sense to turn down. A young Warren Beatty, working desperately hard at his Italian accent at least possessed virile sexiness, the stock of any self respecting gigolo. Here we have the pretty faced yet completely uncharismatic Olivier Martinez. There are hordes of spunky, hunky, and hopefully talented actors who could have injected a much needed dose of youthful bravado in this limp intergenerational affair. With this lackluster couple given center stage the movie is hopelessly sunk.

In the original, the Contessa, a pimp of inordinate greed, was played by Lotte Lenya with a thin veneer of social grace masking a menacing viciousness. Her scenes are the finest in the movie. Whoever cast the role in this remake must have thought the choice of Anne Bancroft as the Contessa especially adroit, with the expectation that she would tap into her Italian heritage. What they did not take into account were the many years spent in the company of Mel Brooks, plus a number of Jewish mother roles under her belt. There are moments when you may expect her to offer the gigolo in her stable a bowl of chicken soup while bemoaning the starving children in some far off country. It's a performance that makes one wince, especially with the memory of the inimitable Lenya.

Despite it's faults, the original "Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" remains completely untouched by this pale and spiritless facsimile.