Great Film: Head in the Clouds
World War II from the European View
Writer and Director John Duigan has added to his cinematic stature with
this recent film about the interrelated responses of three countries -
England, France, Spain - to the early phases of WW II and in doing so
gives some inadvertent insight into how the continent was so endangered
by the little known bad boy Hitler in the years leading up to the
horror of a second World War.
The title seems very appropriate - taken from the quip of 'Head in the
clouds, Feet on the ground' - as the lead character Gilda (a radiantly
beautiful Charlize Theron) seems to float above all of the reality of
warring struggles in 1933, focusing her life on paramours, expensive
clothes, and 'dangerous liaisons' with a varied assortment of men, all
the while keeping a firm stance on needs of her strangely disjointed
life. Indeed, the opening of the film finds Gilda in need of shelter
from a night's fling with a Cambridge lover and she knocks on the door
of a poor struggling Irish student Guy (Stuart Townsend), thus
beginning a lasting affair that coasts through the entire story.
Guy eventually follows Gilda to Paris where she is a popular
photographer living with her gallerist, but also living with her
lesbian lover Mia (Penelope Cruz). Gilda, Guy, and Mia become a
triptych and it is only the impact of the rise of fascism in Spain
(Mia's home) that separates the ménage a trois: idealistic Guy and
compassionate Mia are off to fight Franco while Gilda is left behind to
admit to the encroaching threat of Nazis in France and enter into her
own version of involvement.
How these three weather the war and resolve their varied degrees of
complicity provides the film's finale. The cast is strong, the settings
are gorgeous (in all three countries) as captured by cinematographer
Paul Sarossy, and the musical score by Terry Frewer introduces a
potential talent for film composition (while borrowing heavily from
French cabaret songs, symphonic music by Edward Elgar, and pieces of
Francis Poulenc). But the overall reason for enjoying this rather long
film is the interplay of Theron, Townsend and Cruz in a variety of
richly sensuous vignettes. Well worth watching. Grady Harp
Cast
- Major Franz Bietrich played by Thomas Kretschmann
- Gilda Bessé played by Charlize Theron
- Mia played by Penélope Cruz
- Guy Malyon played by Stuart Townsend
- Charles Bessé played by Steven Berkoff
- Lucien played by David La Haye
- Lisette played by Karine Vanasse
