STONE

US, 2010, 115 minutes, Colour.
Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich, Frances Conroy.
Directed by John Curran.

It can be safely said that Stone is not a crowd-pleaser. At first glance, it might seem like a thriller, a parole officer confronting a bizarre prisoner and audiences expecting the worst between them. Well, something of the worst does happen but not in a thrilling way. Rather, this film, the screenplay based on his play by Angus Mc Lachlan, is strong on verbal interactions, often a two-hander between officer and prisoner, between officer and prisoner’s wife, between officer and his wife.

So, this is a psychological drama, a drama of tests of integrity as well as of manipulative game-playing and seduction. It is not a pacy drama. It requires attention from its audience, demands that they get over their fidgets. Attention to the wordplay and verbal jousting means a deepening awareness of (very) flawed characters, not really sympathetic personalities who have made messes of their lives or who have messed others’ lives.

The director is John Curran who is at home with this kind of material, who does not compromise in presenting harsh realities and relationships. His films include Praise, We Don’t Live Here Anymore and his powerful version of Maugham’s The Painted Veil. Curran’s direction is unhurried and he uses the camera to help us focus on particulars (the characters’ eyes and gazes, trapped and crushed insects), long takes, careful framing. Curran also tinkers with the sound engineering, a lot of sounds, noises (which the prisoner becomes conscious of) and regular snippets of religious radio and rather literal biblical moralising.

There is also an alarming prologue concerning the parole officer, his young wife and his baby daughter which sets a violent tone to what will develop. Then the film moves forward two decades or so. The officer is at home with his wife, church-going, scripture reading, she particularly religious and emotionally damaged. At work, he has to be tough, but he is about to retire. He wants to keep his last case-load before leaving. And that is where he encounters the prisoner.

The officer is played by Robert de Niro, a more subtle performance than many of his recent turns, yet with a range of moods at home and at work. He is not really a nice man but he looks as if he has learned some integrity. Edward Norton is the prisoner, reminding us of how extraordinarily deceiving he was in his first film, Primal Fear. He wants to get out as does his schoolteacher wife who sets out to work on the officer. The seduction is well written and well played, with Milla Jovovich acting more effectively than all the Resident Evil performances combined. And, at home, Frances Conroy gives a fine performance as a complex, wounded woman.

The interactions become dramatically intense at times as integrity is tested. Where can it end? The finale here is not a cut and dried American ending. Life will go on but how?

Stone (the nickname of Norton’s Character) will not draw big audiences, but it may find a following for audiences interested in offbeat dramas and the work of John Curran and his cast.

1. The focus on Stone himself, on his domination, his manipulation, the focus on Jack – through Stone’s perceptions? Through Jack’s perceptions?

2. The Detroit area, Michigan, the towns, prisons, ordinary Americana?

3. The visual style, the framing and compositions, the vistas of the countryside, the close-ups, especially of eyes? The long takes the contemplative aspect? The art design of the whole film?

4. The aural impact of the film, sounds and Stone’s being pervaded by sound? Sound and noises, music, the radio, the voices, the snippets with their religious comment?

5. The moral dimension of the film? The prologue, Jack working in the prison, his place in the family and his hold over Madylyn, his daughter, her divorce? Issues of justice, crime, the law? Administration and manipulation? Psychological games? Belief, seduction, the moral core necessary for a person’s integrity? Secrets and lies?

6. The visuals of the trapped insects, the window coming down on the insect? The moths fluttering? The birds flying free?

7. The prologue, Madylyn, silent, suffering, exasperated, Jack and his watching TV, oblivious of her, her reaction, his upset, taking the baby, holding it out the window, her giving in and staying? The embrace? Jack and later years, working in the prison, with parole criminals, finishing his job, retiring, wanting to keep his caseload to the end? The warder’s joke about his case studies? His successor, staying to work with Stone? His age and experience?

8. Jack, the news of the death of his brother, the religious ceremony, his speech about his brother, the bond? His breaking down? The support of the priest – later going to see him, not used to talking to the priest in such a frank way? The church dimension of his life? The years-long relationship with Madylyn, love, their bonds, the religious perspective? Her character, trapped? Smoking and drinking? Going to church, praying, reading the Scriptures, interpreting them? The other religious tracts? Jack in himself, with Madylyn? Her suspicions, the phone calls, the finale, the burning of the house, her lies about the cause of the fire, any story doing? The final sequence with her daughter, her daughter saying she should have left long since?

9. Jack and Robert De Niro’s performance, a strong man, a weak man, moral, not moral? His professed integrity, the law? His tensions, the flattery from Stone’s wife? Allowing himself to be seduced, the result, his being disturbed? His discussions with Stone, the end, his anger, the house being burnt?

10. As a parole officer, the case, talking with Stone, exasperated by him, listening, the files? The protocols? Stone’s wife and the phone calls, the gift of the nest, coming to meet him? Her explaining about his bad back, the magnets and the treatment? His going, succumbing, the sexual relationship, the secrets?

11. Stone and his age, experience, his appearance, his hair, the crime, the death of his grandparents, his being out of the house, burning the house down? Serving his time in jail? His thinking, reading, the religious issues, beliefs, expressions of his beliefs? Yet his chatter, the meetings with Jack, self-absorbed, asking Jack about his freedom? Asking Jack questions about sexuality and age, Jack resenting this as inappropriate?

12. The time, the talks, each affecting the other, games, genuine?

13. Stone’s wife, seeing her at school with the children, doing a nice thing and not telling anyone? Her charm? The visit to the prison, her being searched, flirtatious with the guards? Her love for Stone, the passion, the phone calls? The plan with Jack, going to the house, making the phone calls, the gift of the nest, the meetings, her explanation about the magnets, her seductive presence at home, her decision about Jack, telling Stone? Going into action with Jack, the relationship, his choice? How much was game, how much affection?

14. The staff, the warder, the angry receptionist? Jack’s successor, his coming on and propositioning her, her reaction?

15. The build-up to the case, the hearing, Jack and his reaction, bewildered by Stone and his wife, the success of the appeal? Jack absent? Stone and his change of clothes, hair, the final talking with Jack?

16. The farewells, the threats? Stone saying he knew about the sexual relationship?

17. Jack and his being humiliated, going home, Madylyn and her bizarre behaviour, the fire and the destruction, Madylyn’s story?

18. The farewell to Jack, the speeches, his drinking, confronting people? Stone, Jack and the gun, Stone defying him to kill him, Jack backing down?

19. The final glimpses, each having been changed by the other? Discussions about fate, choices and consequences?