Film

Rip It Up, Issue 82, 1 May 1984, Page 6

Film

TENDER MERCIES Director: Bruce Beresford A plot involving an alcoholic down-and-out country singer put back on his feet by the love of a young Baptist widow might, at first, seem the subject for the most banal of country ballads. Yet in Australian Beresford's first American film, this tale has been distilled into an exquisite film, as notable for its breathtaking Oklahoma visuals and brilliantly evocative use of colour, as it is for. the immaculate ensemble playing of the cast.

Tender Mercies is Robert Duvall's first film since the 1981 Pursuit of D.B. Cooper. It has gained him an Academy Award and rightfully so. This man, whom Pauline Kael once described as "a powerful, recessive actor" and "almost a genius at keeping himself in the background," gives a compelling performance. He can extract more eloquence out of the simple act of hoeing the garden after his daughter's death than some actors could from pages of script.

Although Duvall is very much at the centre of Tender Mercies,

one cannot but be impressed by Horton Foote's spare and laconic script, so perfectly complementing the film's stunning images of isolation. Also outstanding are Tess Harper as the young widow and Wilford Brimley as the gruff manager of Duvall's countrysinger wife.

Another Australian currently w'orking in America is Fred Devil's Playground, Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith) Schepisi. His recently completed Iceman could be another film to watch out for.

THE DRESSER Director: Peter Yates Like Willy Russell's Educating Rita, Ronald Harwood's The Dresser started its life as a West End success. Its visiort, purportedly based on Sir Donald Wolfit, of an eccentric old actor touring a Shakespearian troupe around the provinces during wartime, was a pain to the indomitable human spirit as well as the fragile interrelationships between the characters.

The Dresser has, I feel, been "opened up" more successfully than Educating Rita. Most of the scenes still revolve around the milieu of the theatre, whether they be in Sir's chaotic dressing-room or the introductions and tail-ends of various shaky stage performances. It is the tension between these that provide the anchor for the film.

Also at the core of The Dresser is the concept of theatricality which is brilliantly maintained in the transition to the screen. All the characters, with the exception of Eileen Atkins' harrassed stage manager, are resolutely larger-than-life. The theatre, at times, seems like a substitute for the wacky chateau in de Broca's King of Hearts. Albert Finney's Sir can stop an inconsiderate train with one well-aimed bellow, and his manner in the dressing-room is just as extrovert.

Even more daring is, Tom Courtenay's protrayal of Norman, Sir's prissy and protective dresser. For a while one feels that Courtenay is coming perilously close to caricature but, within the theatrical concept of the film, this is a perfectly gauged and delivered performance one of the most moving to be seen for some time. William Dart