Tchaikovsky's Wife, Priscilla and Poor Things

 

A strange Russian biopic all about Antonina Tchaikovsky who married the famous composer. She is hardly ever off the screen. The subtitles were fine, but it was the Russian language that was so distracting at first. I was hoping for a lot more of the familiar music but there was hardly any. What I didn't know was that Pyotr Tchaikovsky was gay. And I think nor did his wife. She may have been warned but did not care. Maybe she thought she could change him as many before. He married her for her dowry as always short of money. It was quite interesting, not knowing he was gay and gradually realising the fact. Their photograph together that was staged in the film is straight from her Wikipedia page. So why did she not take the reasonable deal for a divorce when offered? She comes across as wilful, hysterical, bizarre and bonkers, just like the film itself. Tchaikovsky's Wife  tries to portray her growing insanity, especially that last part that is completely unnecessary. It is shot in a gloomy light, very unflattering to Russia. And too long.

There are so many similarities to the previous film though set over a century later. Priscilla is based on her memoir "Elvis and Me". This time it is her age that is unsettling, She is only fourteen when they first meet, so I found the first half quite creepy. One critic points out "We now have the word for the kind of relationship that is unfolding on screen and it's not a pretty one". Like before, the film concentrates on Priscilla, a terrific performance from Cailee Spaeny. We feel for her isolation and loneliness as a young woman without the intelligence to compensate not having any work or hobbies. She is not very bright as her schooling shows, waiting around at Graceland for Elvis to come back from his filming with those older, beautiful co-stars. Why does she not just leave! Married at twenty one, the later scenes are more interesting as she falls pregnant and has a child. Fortunately there is no role for the Colonel, one brief telephone call. Finally at the very end Priscilla does finally leave. She wears a gold colour that Elvis used to hate. In an interview with Lisa Marie Presley she complains that the film made her father look like "a predator and manipulative". Dead right. We never see the older Priscilla, now a business woman and actress. So different to the naïve child at the beginning.

The Elvis estate denied the use of any Elvis song, but we do see him singing "Guitar Man", a song originally written and performed by Jerry Reed. There!

Wow. What an amazing movie. There is no getting away from it, this is a horror story and at it's heart a very creepy one. Up close and very, very personal with Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, the "creation" of Willem Dafoe's horribly disfigured  Doctor Godwin Baxter (or as Bella calls him: God). Yes, Poor Things  has all the hallmarks of a huge twist on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein but one that works brilliantly. Based on the book by Alasdair Gray and adapted by Tony McNamara,  Yorgos Lanthimos has conjured up something highly original. It is stunning to look at, the sets have that strange surreal look of a fantasy land, courtesy of all sorts of visual  techniques of which CGI is only one. The women's costumes are outrageous, whilst the men's seemed oppositely formal. The colour is staggering, I'm glad I watched it one one of Cineworld's biggest screens. 

I have to mention Willem Dafoe's make up, you cannot take your eyes away from the horrible things his father did. I thought this was the best I had ever seen him. Mark Ruffalo's part is not sympathetic for an actor, however he throws himself into the role and succeeds because of that. But it is Emma Stone's performance that is a classic and will surely sweep the boards at award ceremonies. She captures her infant's brain as it develops quickly and surely. Wendy Ide in The Guardian says "Stone's virtuoso use of her body - the way it inhabits the space, the way she gradually masters her gangling, string-like limbs, the guilelessly open play of emotions on her face - is one of the most crucial elements of our experience of Bella's journey". 

The story may not have held up for well over the two hours, but who cares when there is so much to look at. This is where the director shines. All with that experimental score from Jerskin Fendrix. There are things in Wendy Ide's review that I had missed. Maybe a film to see more than once.