Sunday, October 14, 2007

[sleuth] 1972



Tonight, I rewatched Anthony Schaffer's 1972 adaptation of his play, Sleuth, starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. It was on TCM. This Friday, an interesting-looking remake, directed by Kenneth Branagh, scripted by playwright Harold Pinter, and starring Caine (again!) and Jude Law, will be released.

My opinion of the film has changed a little. At first, I didn't like the ending, because I thought it ruined the fun that the rest of the film is about. Now I can see it's purpose a little clearer - Sleuth is about men, and it's a little anti-man. It's about the dark side of the contemporary male, and it's driving home the film's opinion that the whole thing has to end in disaster.

I also paid more attention to the cinematography this time, which was actually rather excellent - the use of focus is constantly used to effect in showing the mass of clutter in Olivier's mansion. Too, I also paid attention to Mankiewicz's direction, which, without being the slightest bit showy, is absolutely splendid (the first time I watched it I thought all the credit should have gone to Schaffer's original play) -- and a perfect way to fade into the sunset.

Also, the first time I watched it, I preferred Caine. I must not have been paying nearly enough attention that time - clearly, Olivier is far better, if not more likeable, oozing with evil charm and pretensious, somewhat repulsively catchy eccentricity. With no disrespect to Caine of course, who does manage to pull off multiple remarkable balancing acts. This film is loaded with so many brilliant one liners it should be put in a vault of the world's greatest screenplays (of course, a lot of it's the original play). All in all, I like this a lot more the second time round.

Rating: [****]

1 comment:

Mitch Beaupre said...

That's a nice review, man. I meant to catch Sleuth when it came on TCM but I missed the first 15 minutes, so I decided to wait until I can see the full thing. Hopefully Branagh's version doesn't disappoint; it seems very promising but has gotten such a love/hate reaction.