MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT
US, 2014, 97 minutes, Colour.
Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Eileen Atkins, Simon Mc Burney, Hamish Linklater, Marcia Gay Harden, Jacki Weaver, Catherine Mc Cormack.
Directed by Woody Allen.
Since 1979, one of the annual events for a film reviewer has been the preview of Woody Allen’s new film, sometimes with two in one year. He has been one of the most prolific American directors as well as having a career in acting. So well-known as a comic, valued for his one-liners, he has also explored the meaning of life, the presence and absence of God, the nature of belief and unbelief, often putting this kind of questioning into the character that he plays.
The 2014 annual event is a quiet pleasure, not a full on comic drama like his previous film, Blue Jasmine, but a pleasant-key, sometimes tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy.
One of the difficulties of Woody Allen being so prolific is that critics and his fans tend to spend a lot of their time making comparisons between his films rather than focusing on the film on view.
This film is very stylish, opening at a theatre with a magic performance in Berlin, 1928, and a brief scene in one of those cabarets with a song by Ute Lemper. But then, it is off to the south of France, lovely countryside, the Mediterranean coast, the mansions of the rich.
The central character, Stanley, played by Colin Firth, world-renowned magician using a Chinese name and Chinese clothes and decor, is tempted by his friend, Howard (Simon Mc Burney), to expose a young woman, Sophie (Emma Stone), who passes herself off as a medium, having vibrations to discern the facts about the past and intimations of the future as well as conducting seances. It is a great challenge. He is an arrogant man with a fair amount of disdain for others, and fancies of his reputation for exposing fakes.
At the house in France is an interesting array of characters. Jacki Weaver (who must be continually offering prayers of thanksgiving for the many international roles she has gained since the award-winning performance in Animal Kingdom) is a widow who owns a mansion, living there with her son Brice (Hamish Linklater) who is in love with the medium. He is a genial enough young man, a touch of the foolish, wooing Sophie, the medium, by playing Jerome Kern songs on his ukelele.
It is Emma Stone’s Sophie who demands audience attention as well as that of Stanley. He is unimpressed by her seance, but puzzles about mysterious aspects and her knowledge of thing she could not possibly know. She is accompanied by her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) who is in the background, planning funding for a foundation for research, but, unfortunately, having very little to do in the action. Much more dominating with her presence is Eileen Atkins as Stanley’s aunt, an amusingly strong performance, especially towards the end when she surreptitiously guides his thinking with what seem to be suggestions but which are designed towards his making a final choice about his life and romance. (Had I been second director, I would have liked Sophie to be sitting in the armchair at the end of the film – you will see what I mean.)
There is something rather strange about having the Woody Allen lines spoken by Colin Firth with his clipped British accent, but many of the lines are those we have heard from Woody Allen himself. Stanley is a rationalist, of the British uptight manner, touches of Noel Coward, but nevertheless he has many Allen lines about the meaning of the world, the meaning of life, the possibilities or not of prayer, the role of God. Some critics and audiences, charmed by the pleasant surface of the film, have decided that there is little depth in it – perhaps they have missed the depth because of the manner of delivery and the Firth tone and voice. (One aspect of the dialogue that should be commented on favourably is that, while Allen has been using a great deal of seemingly unnecessary coarse language over the last 15 or more years, Magic in the Moonlight is refreshingly free of this, no swearing within earshot).
This time the film doesn’t have the wide scope of the excellent Midnight in Paris or the dramatic tension of Blue Jasmine. Nevertheless, it takes its place comfortably in the Woody Allen cannon and provides pleasing enjoyment for fans and audiences.
1. Woody Allen’s career? This film in his late 70s? An entertainment, comic, romantic? Deeper themes about the meaning of life, God, prayer?
2. The title, literal, fake magic, magic performance? Personal magic – and romantic?
3. Berlin, 1928, the shows, the cabaret, the singer? France, the countryside, the roads, the coast, the clips of the water? Homes?
4. The jazz score, the range of songs of the period, Cole Porter: You do Something to Me, Jerome Kern: Who?; Rogers and Hart: Thou Swell? Other songs? The background score?
5. Woody Allen and his strong dialogue, the Noel Coward touches, wit and humour?
6. The introduction to Stanley, the ,magic show, his Chinese disguise, the elephant on stage, the disappearance, the trick with his disappearing and appearing in the lounge chair? His fame? Colin Firth in this role? The arrogant and uptight Englishman?
7. The contrast with Howard, meeting him in Berlin, their past, studying together, comparisons, rivalry? The discussion in the club, Howard’s proposition, testing Stanley, Stanley agreeing? The hints for the later twist?
8. Stanley arriving in France, going to visit his aunt, his relationship with her, her strong character? Her influence on him? Meeting the couple at the house, the hosts? Meeting Brice, Grace? Setting the scene for these characters?
9. Meeting Sophie, her mother? Sophie, her age, charm? Her mother in the background, managing? The talk of vibrations, the information that she had? Stanley and his scorn, his pretending to be a businessman, mocking Sophie about the clouds et cetera? The seance, Grace’s enthusiasm, wanting contact with her husband? The situation of the knocks? The candle rising and Howard taking it? The reassurance for Grace? Stanley and his observations, the effect on him?
10. Keeping Sophie company, their talking, the attraction? Meeting Stanley’s aunt and her knowing something about the affair with the politician, the necklace? The drive, on the road, the breakdown, the rain, in the Observatory, the mystery of life and Sophie’s romantic view? The growing affection between the two?
11. Grace, wealthy, American, with Brice, taken with Sophie, the money for the foundation? Sophie’s mother, in the background, her control?
12. Brice, business, romance, playing the ukelele and singing to Jerome Kern? Proposing to Sophie?
13. The social, dancing, Stanley’s aunt and her presence, vivacity? Her accident?
14. Stanley going to the hospital, his different attitude, the attempt at prayer, awareness of God, meaning of life, change halfway through, his reflections,
sceptical, critical of Sophie? His return? The press conference and his speaking in her favour?
15. The truth, use of fake, Howard and his rivalry and setting the situation up? Wanting forgiveness from Stanley?
16. Stanley, going to his aunt, the devious ways of influencing him by suggestion and question? Stanley and his discovery of something more in life, not just rational explanations, love – and his magic in the moonlight?
17. Speculating, a possible proposal, hearing the knocks, look between the two, the kiss?
18. A film of charm, style, romance, the touch of intrigued with magic, mediums and exposé? An touching on the deeper meanings of life?
