KATE AND LEOPOLD
US, 2001, 118 minutes, Colour.
Hugh Jackman, Meg Ryan, Liev Schreiber, Breckin Meyer, Natasha Lyonne, Bradley Whitford, Philip Bosco.
Directed by James Mangold.
Kate and Leopold is a romantic comedy which earned an Oscar nomination for British musician, Sting, for his song, "Until...". It's the only song I know which mentions Aristotle ('If I was as smart as Aristotle - and understood the rings around the moon", which might surprise Aristotle himself, although it has an NT touch about it). Fortunately, the philosopher's name has a convenient rhyme, "If I caught the world in a bottle..."!
Duke Leopold is a 19th century British aristocrat - of the penurious kind. He is in New York City, 1876, under pressure to find an American heiress and marry her and her fortune. He is also ahead of his times as he is an inventor, marvelling at the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. Part of his fairytale good fortune in the film is that he travels to 2001, literally going ahead of his times, and revels, eventually, in the strangely technologically transformed New York. He also proclaims it a miracle that the Brooklyn Bridge still stands.
Leopold is courteous and good-mannered. He embodies the etiquette of Victorian England - which, I'm afraid, looks very and regrettably strange in today's egalitarian but uncouth society. His behaviour is impeccable, or, when it is slightly peccable, he is the perfect gentleman in apology. After some initial and immediate terror, Leopold is fascinated by the modern gadgetry, from answering machines through CD players to toasters. (Though he is able to wean a young boy and Kate's unemployed actor brother from television by getting them to sing some Gilbert and Sullivan.) He is able to master some of the technology very quickly. Within a day of arriving, he is reading the autocue like a professional for a margarine commercial.
But he is man of his culture: his principled courtesies to women (as well as a backlog of presuppositions about the place of women which he soon learns are outmoded), his sense of right action, borrowing a horse from a carriage outside Central Park as he pursues a thief who has made off with Kate's handbag, his sense of outrage at advertising something which he finds literally distasteful. Hugh Jackman is the perfect embodiment of the suave, savvy, ingenious gentleman.
Which means that in this romantic comedy, it is the male who is the romantic and the female who is the cynic. Meg Ryan is an ambitious executive whose career is on the up and up. Her veneer (not noted for its subtle courtesy but rather by an abrasive intrusiveness) is 'out there', has brainwaves, goes into action with the touch of the cutthroat. She is trying to be a leader in a very commercial business world. (And, if you see Kate and Leopold you will enjoy Bradley Whitford taking time off from the West Wing portraying an uncomfortably exploitative boss.)
But is she? Kate is the character who has to be transformed. She is the one who is deeply uncertain about herself. She is the one who has to learn love. But she is struggling to make it in a macho world. "I've been paying dues all my life, and I'm tired, and I need a rest and if I have to sell a little pond scum to get it, then so be it'. What her Duke Charming does to her - and this is a fairytale - is to show her the tender side of life, that life need not be competitive and that refinement is for everyone, not merely something snobbish. "Life is not solely composed of tasks, but tastes." His observation on the 21st century, at least in New York, is that we have all the conveniences but have little integrity.
You know from the beginning that Kate is going to give up her push, her ambition, her comfort and money. Leopold's world is the desirable world. She says that she has never risked making a leap into anything. Now that Leopold has made her look, she is ready to leap... It's an ideal, but the moral is the opposite to that of the song from Cabaret: Kate and Leopold do not agree that money makes the world go round.
1. Popular romantic comedy? The blend of costume drama and
contemporary comedy?
2. The stars and their screen presence, charisma? Working well off each other? The strong supporting cast? The musical score? Sting's final song, 'Until'?
3. The 1876 settings, the Brooklyn Bridge, costumes and décor? The contrast with the modern 21st century, New York City, apartments, streets, television studios? The constancy of the Brooklyn Bridge?
4. The contrast between the good manners and etiquette of the 19th century, Leopold bringing them into the 21st century? Their seeming out of place - standing for a woman, etiquette of speech? The contrasting speech manners and mannerisms? The pace of life in each century, the leisurely aspects of the 19th century, the frenetic busyness of the 21st century? The comments on the differences, for example about cuisine, meals and menus? The singing of Gilbert and Sullivan contrasting with watching television?
5. The title and its focus on the two characters, their initial clash, getting to know each other, falling in love, the happy ending?
6. The film as a fairy tale, the plausibility of the plot? Stuart and his scientific background, knowledge? (And the only one to know that there was a crack in time over the Brooklyn Bridge on a particular time?) Leopold as a Prince Charming, a Duke Charming? Finding his Cinderella - in the modern world? The reversal of roles with the male as romantic and the female as cynical?
7. The Brooklyn Bridge, 1876, the New Yorkers, the speech and dedication, Leopold and his sketches, Stuart and his camera? The return home, his uncle criticising Leopold, the decision for a wife, his having to marry for money, the ball, dancing with Miss Tree, attended by Otis, seeing Stuart and his photographing, chasing him, the Brooklyn Bridge, holding on to him, the rope breaking and their falling into the 21st century?
8. Leopold and his not believing Stuart, coming into the apartment, the 21st century apparatus, being woken by the music, his seeing the variety of technologies, gadgets? Working the toaster - and yet its being burnt? The television? The answering machine? His gradually getting used to the machinery of the 21st century and being able to use it?
9. Leopold and the first encounter with Kate, her antagonism, the question of the dog, taking him for a walk, refusing to pick up the poop? The clash with the policewoman, his disbelief about the regulations? Being chased down the street? Kate and her forcing him out? Stuart and his falling down the lift-well, the dog not saving him? In the hospital and desperate to communicate with Leopold? Charlie and his meeting with Leopold, the little boy and watching television? Their entertaining themselves with Gilbert and Sullivan?
10. Stuart and his preoccupation with science, finding the crack in time, going to 1876, the photographs of the Brooklyn Bridge and his later showing them to Kate and Charlie? His return, concern about Leopold, the accident, in hospital, treatment and being drugged, people not believing him, his history with Kate, their clashes, his questioning whether they were the best years of her life with him? His friendliness towards Leopold, having the solution, getting him back, urging Kate to follow?
11. Leopold and his going to the television station, reading the commercial, the meal for Kate, served in style, the violinist playing? In the street, getting the horse and pursuing the thief through Central Park, and the applause? His decision to do the commercial, performance, tasting the margarine, his anger at how bad it tasted? His comment on principle and Kate wanting him to compromise? His doing the commercial?
12. The build-up to the climax, his falling in love with Kate, his going to the meal, his insulting J.J. and the repercussions for Kate? His apologies? His speaking the truth to Kate, talking about integrity rather than convenience? His return home, the same scene, the announcement, his seeing Kate, the romantic and happy ending?
13. Meg Ryan as Kate, her comedies, her mannerisms, idiosyncrasies? The abrasiveness with Stuart, coming into his apartment, looking for things, criticising? The past and her years with him? Going to work, the clashes with Leopold, not believing him? Being rude? The dog? The walk in the street? At work, her relationship with her secretary, with J.J? Her work, market research, the issue of the commercial, the tests, the auditions? Her brainwave in getting Leopold to audition? Success and her dance in the street? Her gradually becoming more interested in Leopold? The rescue of her purse and his riding across Central Park, the candlelight meal and her talking about herself, the promotion, J.J. and the meal, Leopold and his directness and criticisms? Her compromising, feeling tired and wanting a rest, prepared to sell 'Pond Scum'? Her return to work, the announcement of her promotion and her arguing with Stuart and Charlie? The final acceptance, her change of heart, her talking about what she really wanted, her not being able to love, her not being prepared to take a risk, her not relating well? Going with Charlie and Stuart to the Brooklyn Bridge, edging out onto the ledge, going back in time and the happy ending?
14. Charlie, acting, not believing Leopold, thinking he was a method actor for 24 hours at a time? Singing Gilbert and Sullivan? Taking Leopold out and going to the club, learning manners from Leopold, his getting the girlfriend's address and phone number? Charlie phoning her, dressing up for the date, having success? The true bonds of friendship with Leopold?
15. The contrast of the lifestyle and manners and speech patterns and leisure of the 19th century with that of the 21st century? Etiquette seeming out of place in the 21st century? Leopold as an ideal for modern times?
