INTERSECTION
US, 1994, 97 minutes, Colour.
Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Lolita Davidovich, Martin Landau, David Selby, Jennifer Morrison.
Directed by Mark Rydell.
Intersection is an American version of the French film, directed by Claude Sautet, Les Choses de la Vie (The Things of Life). The earlier film starred Romy Schneider.
The film was based on a novel by Paul Guimard who wrote the screenplay for Sautet’s film.
The film is about the break-up of a marriage. Richard Gere portrays an architect who has been married to his wife for sixteen years. They have a teenage daughter. However, in retrospect the marriage seems to have been more of an arranged one, to foster his career, to give his wife some kind of status. With the strained marriage, the architect encounters a journalist, at an auction where she leads him on to pay more for a clock than was needed. They begin an affair.
The film is framed by a car accident in which the architect is killed. There are a variety of flashbacks, often flashbacks within flashbacks, to illustrate what happened in the marriage as well as in the affair.
There is an ambiguous ending as, in his confusion, the architect writes a note to the journalist urging her to forget him. However, he later leaves a message on her answering machine asking her to meet him – and it is on the way to the meeting that she sees the car, the wreckage and goes to the hospital where she encounters the wife. The wife has found the letter and, satisfied that her husband was breaking off the relationship, spares the journalist the knowledge and tears up the letter.
Martin Landau appears in a supporting role, the year that he won the best supporting Oscar for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood.
1.A film of marital drama, marital breakdown? The French origins of the film? Its relocation to North America?
2.The titles, intersected lives, the road, the imagery and the crash? The alternate, The Things of Life?
3.The Canadian locations, the northern hemisphere lights, the city of Vancouver, homes, offices, museums? The native American museum? The highways and the forests? The musical score?
4.The structure: Vincent driving, the van backing out, his swerving to avoid it, the oncoming truck? The crash? The variety of flashbacks – flashbacks within flashbacks? The cumulative effect of this jigsaw? Vincent in himself, his relationships, Sally and Olivia?
5.Vincent as a character, gifted architect, ambitious, his meeting Sally, her parents, the formal dinner, the speeches, the playful attitude in the room, locking the door? Sally and her being her father’s daughter, working in the firm, her place in society, functions, charities? The years passing, their work, social obligations? The daughter and her upbringing? Vincent and his needs? The encounter with Olivia, the auction, her tricking him into paying more for the clock, the recurring images of the clock? His being led on, continuing to meet Olivia, the beginning of the affair, sensuality and some meaning in his life? The separate lives of Vincent and Sally? His meetings with his daughter, discussions with her? Olivia meeting her and giving her the gift? At the office, talking with Neal and Neal giving him a lift, giving him advice? Going to the museum, the speech, Olivia’s arrival, the scene, low-key, the meeting between Olivia and Sally? The effect of that meeting, Vincent driving around, writing the letter to Olivia, meeting the grandfather and the granddaughter and talking with them, his phone call to Olivia and the answering machine? His making a decision, driving, the crash, in hospital, dying?
6.Sally and her character, her life, wealth, girlish when she married Vincent, growing brittle over the years, success in the office, social obligations, yet her love for Vincent? Her being hurt by his infidelity? Meeting Olivia at the museum? The news of Vincent’s accident, going to the hospital with Neal, finding the letter, tearing it up after meeting Olivia?
7.Olivia, seeing her at work, journalist, her columns, the auction, leading Vincent on, buying the clock? The discussions afterwards? The affair? Discovering that Vincent was married, his decision, meeting his daughter? Going to the museum, the scene? The phone message and her hurrying to the hospital? Meeting Sally? Not receiving the letter?
8.The workplace, Neal, the plans, Vincent and his abruptness, taking out his uncertainties on others? Neal’s advice? Accompanying Sally to the hospital?
9.Familiar themes, yet the strongly-drawn characters, the situations, the moral perspective and issues, the criteria for commitment, the reality of infidelity – and the consequences?
