Chéri

City Paper Grade: B

by Molly Eichel

[ City Paper Grade: B ]

THE STORY OF US: Michelle Pfeiffer plays an aging courtesan who takes a young lover in Stephen Frears' Chéri.

Michelle Pfeiffer is in a precarious position as an actress. She's too old to play the traditional romantic lead and still too beautiful to relegate herself to the mothers-and-crones ghetto. Instead of desperately clinging to her youth, Pfeiffer has chosen roles that almost highlight her age — like the reluctant cougar TV producer in Amy Heckerling's I Could Never Be Your Woman or the decrepit witch in Stardust. In Stephen Frears' Chéri, Pfeiffer once again uses her age to her advantage as Léa de Lonval, a famous courtesan of Belle Epoque Paris. While visiting former rival and current verbal sparring partner Charlotte (Kathy Bates), Lea reconnects with Charlotte's roguish son, whom she deemed Chéri (a gaunt Rupert Friend). They promptly fall into bed together and wake up from their lusty haze six years later when Charlotte demands grandchildren and marries Chéri off to the virginal Edmée (Felicity Jones). The story, based on Collette's novels Chéri and The Last of Chéri, centers around the two lovers pretending they are fine with the separation but aching for each other. Pfeiffer has done well with Frears and corsets, with Dangerous Liaisons, and they continue their streak with Chéri to a certain degree. Pfeiffer has grace, class and bite befitting a woman who is paid to love. She is hard on the outside but her rare moments of vulnerability are subtle and striking. Equally successful is the bawdy Bates, who allows the bitchiness of her character to roll off her tongue. She doesn't labor over the daggers that come out of her mouth; it's simply the natural pattern of her speech. Christopher Hampton's script is tight and gets quickly to the point, a change of pace for a costume drama, but its directness leaves characters thin and atmosphere at a minimum. This is Belle Epoque Paris that we are supposed to be in, supposed to feel, but in Chéri, it's only an excuse to dress up the actors in pretty period pieces.