TWO GALS AND A GUY

 

Jessica Lange ranks high in the pantheon of great American actresses and in The Great Lillian Hall she takes on a role she should be able to do in her sleep… playing one of Broadway’s first women of the American stage.

The wrinkle is when and where we find Ms. Hall as the film begins and that is in a new production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. This actor’s dream is rapidly becoming her nightmare as the once great diva struggles with the onset of dementia.

You are in good hands here and my adding two cents is not much needed. The MAX presentation is in the best tradition of its former HBO self… a simple, predictable, straight-forward production. Ms. Lange could not be better in her title role, Kathy Bates is nice in support as the diva’s long-time acerbic assistant, with Pierce Brosnan as the friendly NY Midtown neighbor. Lily Rabe gives a solid portrayal of the long-suffering daughter of the great lady. The show will garner more than its share of nominations come Emmy season.

Following Ms. Lange on MAX is another fine film actress, starring in a six-episode mini-series, The Regime. This time actress Kate Winslet carries the load… but not alone. The award-winning female star gets ample support from a production team that features fabulous costuming, great sets, and a solid ensemble of international actors in support, including an odd choice for a cameo role by Hugh Grant.

The writing of this lushly produced series is what must come under some degree of scrutiny. The “play” and its makers cannot seem to sort out if they are making Evita or Veep and it takes at least five of the show’s six episodes to “decide” which of those two diva types will dominate in the end.

Winslet is a terrific actress… and she shows us a wide range of stuff from her bag of tricks, including some disconcerting business with her lower lip… but tricks alone will not carry the day when it isn’t clear just what our reaction as audience members should be to the story we are being told.

One of the reasons TV invented the “laugh track” was to remind those singular folks out there in front of their lonely television screens that it was okay to chuckle… out loud. Trust me, this becomes even more difficult when the people making the picture cannot seem to decide which it is they want you to do; laugh or cry. Me? Good as Ms. Winslet always is, I found myself wishing that HBO had decided to make this mini with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.

What is worse than having one’s film maker not knowing if he wants the audience to laugh or cry? How about wanting them to laugh but failing at it… badly.

Franklin, the Apple TV+ mini-series, does this… more than it should. Lame attempts at humor aside, this mini-series featuring Michael Douglas as America’s ambassador to France circa 1776, looks posh enough, both in costumes and sets and the production values are top of scale. Mr. Douglas is a fine actor who is just about age-appropriate for the title role of Benjamin Franklin at the time of the American Revolutionary War and one should add to the above a solid list of substantial credits for the writers and producers of this series.

That said, considering the bulk of the piece is about international intrigue, coupled with diplomacy in its earliest forms… and that much of this is done in French… is it too much to ask that these very smart historians and screenwriters make some kind of an effort to let their audience in on just what is going on? Sacre’ bleu!

Maybe it’s me. I waited something like 15 years before I got around to seeing John Adams on MAX. Perhaps if I wait a bit longer before trying to finish Franklin, it too will age well.

 

Barney Rosenzweig