Guinevere

Year: 1999 (USA)
Genre: Drama/Romantic Drama
Directed: Audrey Wells
Stars: Sarah Polley, Stephen Rea, Jean Smart, Gina Gershon, Paul Dooley, Carrie Preston, Tracy Letts, Emily Procter, Gedde Watanabe, Sandra Oh, Carlton Wilborn
Production: Miramax Films

What would make a smart, young, beautiful woman fall in love with a photographer three times her age? What would possess her to give up a spot in Harvard for the opportunity to live with a tortured artist? Could it be a human desire to create and having the room to do so? Could it be he offers sage-like wisdom that outweighs the adjunct creepiness of the situation; Perhaps. It also helps to have low self-esteem and little direction in life. In the non-committal words of Harper Sloane (Sarah Polley), “He was the worst man I ever met, or maybe the best, I'm still not sure. If you're supposed to learn by your mistakes, then he was the best mistake I ever made…I was his Guinevere whatever that means.”

Philandering isn't just a city in Spain you know

As you can imagine the basic outline of Guinevere (1999) is one of a relationship between an aging photographer (Stephen Rea) and a colleen with a self-image problem. As their relationship progresses, Harper uncovers Connie’s bohemian lifestyle extends to his love life as well has his approach to art. Can she properly balance their love, her family’s expectations of her, his expectations of her and a menagerie of rival “Guineveres”? Stephen Rea’s Connie asks for five years of his muse’s life. Five years rent free for Harper to coax and develop the artist inside herself. Can she truly accomplish this task?

Okay enough with the rhetorical questions. The fact is those who will like this movie will like it because it is a mediocre film made relevant by its subject matter. Self-proclaimed artists and photography buffs will likely see Guinevere as a diamond in the rough; a romantic take on their struggles living with their gift. Luckily I have no artistic talent so I can speak for the majority when I say Guinevere is diminutive and not worth sitting through. There are moments that bring to mind other, better films about similar subject matters like Blow-Up (1966) and La Dolce Vita (1960). Those moments however are interspersed with conversations about which picture is better, whether Uncle Tom’s Cabin was art or a product and these are not my boobs.

It's all about artistic license...also boobs.

As one gets older, the libido takes a back seat to the heart so I can sympathize with Stephen Rea’s character a little. He craves seeing a young artist blossom and loves seeing Harper slowly come out of her shell and eventually become a photographer. That being said he is also craven for a woman’s touch and gets it with a clockwork obsession. He doesn’t necessarily cheat on Harper, though it is implied. Instead he reinforces his own ideals of love while never really loving Harper to begin with. He loves her potential not who she is.

Jean Smart, who plays Harper’s bourgeois mother, does a spot-on analysis of Connie and his warped relationship with Harper. Upon discovery she comes to their apartment and points out that only a young naïve girl would look at a bohemian photographer like him with a modicum of admiration. “No woman of experience would ever stand in front of you with awe in her eyes.” She being a woman with experience may have a seemingly unpleasant marriage but at least her children are talented and they live in a home filled with expensive stuff so of course she knows what she’s talking about
.

She wears paint covered overalls
She must be misunderstood

Now one can get a sense of legacy from a movie of this kind. Jean Smart’s character might see her legacy through her accomplishments in her career and economic success, while Connie might see his accomplishments highlighted in the pursuance of beauty. It’s a fair question, whether you yourself would prefer to be remembered for being monetarily successful or being artistically talented. If only such heavy themes were put into a better movie where the whole story wasn’t treated so glibly; then we’d have something to talk about.

Final Grade: D-