THE BEAUTICIAN AND THE BEAST
US, 1997, 102 minutes, Colour.
Fran Drescher, Timothy Dalton, Ian Mc Niece, Patrick Malahide, Phyllis Newman, Michael Lerner.
Directed by Ken Kwapis.
Not being a regular watcher of The Nanny, except for some glimpses now and again, urged on by enthusiastic fans, I was not sure whether I liked Fran Drescher or not. She had a caricature of a part in with Robin Williams in Jack, earlier in the year, but this comedy shows she can carry a film very well indeed.
The publicist said it was The Sound of Music meets The King and I but there was plenty of Call Me Madam and visual references to My Fair Lady and Evita (at least). But, it is basically, as the title and the humorous cartoon opening sequence say, a variation on the Beauty and the Beast story: a minute Eastern European country emerging into the capitalist 90s, ruled by a beast of a President (`Stalin without the charm') and tamed by a nasal Queen's beautician mistaken for a science teacher.
Fran Drescher has the courage of her convictions and goes for broke with the funny screenplay and the double-takes. Somehow or other, you believe her. Timothy Dalton, not always prone to act in his movies, gives a persuasive performance as the President. There are jokes at the expense of Soviet totalitarianism. And, while the US way of democracy is promoted, the film has many entertaining shots at America. A pleasant surprise.
1. An entertaining comedy? Relying on the talent and screen presence of Fran Drescher? Audiences familiar with her from The Nanny? A variation on her Nanny performance?
2. The New York settings, the apartments, the beauticians? The contrast with eastern Europe, the city, the buildings, the castle, the countryside? An innocent American in Europe?
3. The colour photography, the colours, Joy’s garish style of clothes? Settings and décor? The musical score?
4. The title, the variation on the beauty and the beast? Boris as the beast? His snarling, appearance? His being transformed? The opening animated sequence with the prince kissing Sleeping Beauty and the consequent jokes?
5. Joy, mid-thirties, unmarried, her relationship with her mother, her mother’s nagging? Her mother at the old people’s home, her friends? Joy and her work, training the beauticians? The fire, her saving the students, the photographs, the news headlines?
6. The irony of Groshinski following her, making her the proposal to go the be the teacher, relying on the newspaper article that she was a heroic teacher? Her thinking about it, an opportunity for freedom, the money? Her mother’s arguments against going, her leaving?
7. The American going to eastern Europe? Ignorance of eastern Europe? Bringing American know-how and self-confidence? The history of eastern Europe in the 90s, the post-Stalinist period, the move towards democracy and the heavy going? Economy? The European traditions of castles, kings and rulers, despots? Style, politics, family life, arranged marriages…?
8. Joy and her wisecracks, her always answering back? Deciding to pretend to be a teacher? The encounter with Boris, keeping him waiting, his telling her off? Meeting the children, Karl and his attack on American imperialism? The anti-American presuppositions? Her relating to the children, Karl and the sex expectations and his awkward manner, mellowing, wanting to paint? Katrina and her being in love with the boy, taking Joy to the nightclub, his being arrested, her father’s forbidding attitude towards her? The fat girl and Joy telling her that big was beautiful? The baby and his biting his nails, with the dog neckbrace on? The children at the table, not seeing their father, her forcing Boris to stay with the children?
9. Boris, the Stalinist look, the dictator, harsh? Too busy, not with his children? Imprisoning the agitator? His not allowing people to answer back, especially Joy? His being got at by Joy, the gradual change, his taking her out, meeting the peasants and greeting them, going to the factory and the issues of overtime and unions? Shaving off his moustache, changing his clothes? The preparation for the party, the buffet, his dancing with her with the gift of the dress, his speech? His not freeing the agitator as promised? His wanting people to love him for himself? The orchestrated response of people in the square, in the factories, at the celebration?
10. Joy, getting to know everyone, the American wisecracks, sentiment? Her knowing everybody in the fields, her reaction to the overtime and the unions in the factory? Teaching the children, West Side Story for Romeo and Juliet (and Boris and his argument with his daughter about the motivations in Romeo and Juliet)? Her explaining to Boris that she was a beautician, his praising her as the best of teachers? The massage sequence and his confession of love, her reaction, telling the truth?
11. The prime minister, sinister, the throwback to the Stalinist days? Trying to blackmail Joy? His hold over Boris? His reactions after Joy returned home, signing the documents, being oppressive? His being arrested for treason?
12. Kruschenko, recruiting Joy, monitoring her, advising her, supporting her?
13. Joy, the achievement with the children, Boris acknowledging this? His anger with her, her leaving? Back in the US, her lonely birthday party, her mother’s friends turning up? Boris at the door, his apology, the final kiss?
14. The film as a contemporary American fairy tale – with the fairytale setting and the fairytale ending?
