June 12, 1998

Showings:
June 12 - Enzian (Opening Night) 7:30pm

A Merry War, which opens the Florida Film Festival, is a light and puzzling comedy adapted from the 1936 George Orwell novel entitled Keep the Aspidistra Flying. The film stars Richard E. Grant (veteran of films as diverse as Withnail and I, The Age of Innocence, and Spice World) and Helena Bonham-Carter (1997 Best Actress nominee for The Wings of a Dove). The movie is beautifully acted and filmed, with wonderful set design and costuming. It has sophisticated and witty dialogue (my personal favorite line - "I will not make love where dogs have peed."). However, the film lacks substance and truly incisive social commentary - especially given that it is based on an Orwell piece (I have not read Keep the Aspidistra Flying, so I cannot comment on the actual adaptation. Still, the film simply didn't feel like Orwell).

It is early 1930s London, and Gordon Comstock (Grant) is an advertising copywriter. His girlfriend Rosemary (Bonham-Carter) is the graphic artist who gives color to Comstock's words. Comstock is also an aspiring poet, having published a short volume entitled Mice, for which the Times Literary Supplement has commented that Comstock, "shows great promise." Comstock's work, as noted by his rich, socialist publisher, Ravelston (Julian Wadham), is about misery. When Comstock is offered a promotion to "Head of Creativity," he impulsively quits his agency. Comstock, who abhors his middle-class status, sees the promotion as placing him irrevocably above the middle-class. Thus, "the poet Comstock" - heir to Blake and Shakespeare - dedicates his life to his art despite the fact that successful British poets must be homosexual and educated at Eton and Oxford (Comstock is none of these). Rosemary, who is realistic about her talents and her station in life, is horrified by Comstock's decision.

Comstock experiences a series of misadventures that bring him in contact with the upper-class and the working class, and at odds with "the money god." Throughout he is haunted by that most middle-class of houseplants, the aspidistra, as well as an ad campaign for "Bovex" on which he and Rosemary collaborated. The poet Comstock simply cannot escape the middle-class.

A Merry War is a great showcase for the manic talents of Grant - he is hilarious. Bonham-Carter is terrific, even if her part is somewhat small and thankless. The various supporting characters are a hoot. The director, Robert Bierman (Vampire's Kiss and the wonderful BBC/Masterpiece Theater series, The Moonstone and Clarissa) evokes sophisticated art-deco London quite well (although the film drags in parts). All in all, A Merry War is a fun and entertaining, if not quite brilliant, film.

Mary Walsh My husband, Erik, and I are recent transplants from New England. We live in Longwood with our two cats, Ellie (from Damiel, the angel in the German film Wings of Desire) and Phineas, otherwise known as Blackie (which describes both his fur and his soul). Being childless, by choice, these are our substitutes, and we never miss a chance to discuss them as such, much to the annoyance of our friends with children. We lead very exciting lives, something like jet-setters, except that we rarely travel, don't go out much and both prefer to read or watch films (although Erik also likes professional wrestling, which he continually refers to as our country's second great art form, after jazz). Other Articles I've Written