26 November 2013

The discreet charm of the bourgoisie


ENOUGH SAID (A-minus) - Nicole Holofcener makes movies that skim by under the radar and can feel nearly weightless. That doesn't make them insignificant.

Holofcener is a studious observer of the existential weight of middle-class privilege: white guilt ("Please Give") or women's self image ("Lovely & Amazing"). Her latest adult comedy, a love story starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini, is one of Holfcener's most satisfying. It's a simple tale of love and coupling and of aging and regret. It's a wry, bittersweet breakdown of a budding relationship between a man and a woman, each divorced, settling into middle age and watching a daughter go off to college.

The film relies heavily on Louis-Dreyfus, a TV comedian, and she comes through like a seasoned movie veteran. Louis-Dreyfus has never not been funny -- even in the sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine," if you happen to stumble on a repeat at an odd time of day, and especially in HBO's "Veep" -- and here she's her usual charming self, schlumping around L.A. with a massage table on her back as Eva, a mobile masseuse. The physical comedy of just her hauling that table in and out of the back of her car never gets old.

Eva attends a party with pals Sarah and Will (Toni Collette and Ben Falcone) and, separately, meets poet Marianne (Catherine Keener), a potential new customer, and shlubby Albert (James Gandolfini), a meet-cute potential mate. She agrees to a date with Albert and has a great time, despite a lack of physical attraction at first (he's got that big belly and a doughy face). Meantime, she gives Marianne massages and the two become friends, with Eva serving as a sounding board for the neurotic writer, who mainly bitches about her goofy ex-husband, who happens to turn out to be ... Albert.

The true genius of this movie is the fact that Eva soon puts two and two together but does nothing about it and proceeds to undermine both relationships. Sucking up Marianne's poison empowers Eva to undermine her fledgling romance with Albert before it has a chance to plant roots. It's a subtle psychological study, and soon Eva is channeling Marianne and henpecking poor Albert and embarrassing him in front of friends (and embarrassing herself more in the process). This all builds to an inevitable sitcom reveal, and the final third of the film chronicles the self-loathing of Eva, as she tries to repair the damage done to the relationship, as well as come to terms with the departure of her daughter, Ellen, off to Sarah Lawrence. Eva has neglected her daughter's emotional well-being, in particular by palling around with Ellen's clingy best friend Chloe.

It's tough to explain how touching this film is, and also how funny it is. There are few all-out belly laughs. I did like this exchange between Eva and Sarah and Will over Sarah's obsession with rearranging her furniture on a weekly basis. Will is baffled over why Sarah keeps moving stuff around:

Eva: She's filling a hole.
Will: I'll fill your hole.
Sarah (sighing): Different hole.

Unfortunately, many of the scenes with Sarah and Will (and the inept maid who they can't bring themselves to permanently fire) are not fully fleshed out; good ideas and key plot devices, but not quite three-dimensional. They do factor in a pivotal scene, hosting Eva and Albert at dinner, where Eva can't help herself and cruelly nags Albert to the point of exasperation. (I squirmed a bit, because I'm sure I've done that to mates in the past, thinking I was being clever; but I also laughed out loud during the scene, especially over the running gag about Eva being endlessly amused by the fact that Albert apparently doesn't know how to quietly whisper.)

Why is Eva sabotaging the relationship? It can't just be because the guy's a physical mess. She's got some deep problems gnawing at her. She can't be real with Albert or her daughter. She won't jettison Marianne because she thinks Marianne is so needy that she'll fall apart if Eva doesn't stay friends with her. (Marianne is mostly bereft of friends, though she does have Joni Mitchell on speed dial.) All the while, Louis-Dreyfus draws us further in through a face that is no longer a comic mask but that of a handsome 50-ish woman who has been wounded in the past and hasn't figured out a way to recover.

Holofcener offers a clue to what's going on in an early scene, when Albert and Eva are in a post-coital cuddle. Eva, facing away from him, her eyes lifeless, says, "I'm tired of being funny." Albert responds with, "Yeah, me, too." There's a pregnant pause, and then Eva says, "But you're not funny."

She's being playful, but cutting. She's cynical and more than a little worn down. And she's putting up a facade, unable to let a person get a glimpse of her raw emotion.

Like this lovely film, she is being sweet and sarcastic, because that's all she knows how to do at the moment.  


Bonus Features
This movie features a trio of my favorite supporting actresses: Catherine Keener, Michaela Watkins and Amy Landecker. Pardon me if I have a bit of a type.

Other A-grade films by Nicole Holofcener, in order of preference:

  • Lovely & Amazing
  • Please Give
  • Friends With Money
  • Walking and Talking


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