THE WOMAN IN RED

US, 1984, 82 minutes, Colour.
Gene Wilder, Kelly Le Brock, Charles Grodin, Joseph Bologna, Judith Ivey, Gilda Radner.
Directed by Gene Wilder.

The Woman In Red is based on a French screenplay, Un Elephant Ca Trompe Enormement by Jean Loup Dabadie and Yves Robert. The screenplay was adapted for the screen and directed by its star, comedian Gene Wilder.

One of the reasons for the adaptation was the fact that this successful French original was seen by comparatively few Americans. Wilder's adaptation is pleasant enough - but seems arbitrary in comparison with the original (which it imitates quite frequently).

Wilder's performance is one of the values of the film - his moon-eyed sentimental but comic hero. Judith Ivey, a stage actress who appeared in Harry and Son and The Lonely Guy, is his enthusiastic wife. His friends are played by Joseph Bologna and Charles Grodin. There is a comic touch by Gilda Radner (from Saturday Night Live) who married Wilder. Model Kelly Le Brock is very attractive as the woman in red. There is a popular musical score by Dionne Warwick and, especially, Stevie Wonder.

1. An entertaining comedy? A piece of Americana? Sex comedy? with the frothy touch? How serious? A Gene Wilder vehicle: acting, writing, directing?

2. The backgrounds of San Francisco, the city, American men and women and their '80s behaviour?

3. Colour photography, gloss, advertising, restaurants? The contribution of the songs?

4. Was it evident that the film was an adaptation from a French comedy? How effective an adaptation?

5. The credibility of the plot: mid-life crisis, the seven-year itch etc.? The reality of infatuation and its consequences? Audiences identifying with Ted? The attractiveness of Charlotte? The ironies of the reality of Charlotte, her marriage? Insight into the middle-aged man and his crises? The ending and Ted's fall ? for what? Yet the wink of the reporter? The tone of the out cuts used during the final credits?

6. The framing with Ted on the ledge: audience curiosity, the voice-over and comment, the narrative throughout the film, emotional response to Ted falling at the end?

7. Gene Wilder as Ted? The nice middle-aged man, faithful? His friends and their macho style? Their pranks Bud and his blind man routine in the restaurant and driving off, getting Ted away from his wife etc.? Sympathy for Ted? His relationship with Didi and his children? His deceiving them? The impact of Charlotte's appearance, his fascination, the song and the rhythm and her skirt? The comedy of his following her: the lift, the lights, the phone call and the mistake? The set-up for his infatuation and fall?

8. Didi and her love for her husband? Dropping him at the tennis? Friends? The talk about the phone call and phoney excuses for going out? Ted's staying? The mistaken call from Miss Milner and its consequences and her scratching his car? Miss Milner at the office? Going horse-riding - encountering Charlotte, the comedy of his not being able to ride, his throwing away the earring in the street then searching for it? The plan to go to San Diego, Didi and the telegram? His being trapped on the plane? His changing his clothes and his hair and colleagues' reaction? Finally going on the date with Charlotte, his happiness? The irony of the birthday celebration and his being found out? Bud saving the day? The genuine fight with Joe and discovering it was a set-up? Going with Charlotte for the modelling, going home, the sexual encounter and the jokes about the socks etc.? Her husband's arrival and his being on the ledge? The television cameras and his reaction? Didi and the children seeing him? A month of Ted's life? Tongue-in-cheek ending?

9. Didi as a faithful and attractive wife? The admirer of her daughter and his solicitations during the phone call? ' Seeming strength, declaring her weakness, her jealousy? Her love for Ted, presence at the party, watching him on TV? The children?

10. Charlotte: attractive, the woman in red, the music and her dancing on the air vent, her modelling of the posters, riding, the humiliation for Ted? her deciding to go out with him, the party, being rescued by Bud? The attractiveness, the modelling session, the bedroom scene and her husband arriving?
The truth about Charlotte? Feet of clay etc.?

11. Miss Milner and her being poked fun at, the date and her delight, her sitting in the restaurant drunk, scratching Ted's car, the further phone call, the encounter in the cafe and her taking the brake from car, her reaction to his change of hairstyle and clothes?

12. Joe as the philanderer, seeing him inaction with waitresses, his attitude towards his wife, her walking out on him, the reconciliation, Didi and Ted minding the child - the contrast with their domestic style? His playing pranks, rescuing Ted for Charlotte? Incorrigible?

13. Michael and his affair with the doctor's wife, her phone calls during the night, his participation in the pranks? The tennis sequence?

14. Bud as quiet, pleasant and sensitive, his relationship with Eric, the homosexual partner arriving and publicising his affair? Ted's reaction? His visit to his apartment and telling the joke about 'what problem'? His macho behaviour in rescuing Charlotte? (The sympathetic portrait of the homosexual?)

15. Jokes, sight gags? Laughing with Ted, at him? The psychological underpinning of the film? Moral behaviour? Repercussions?