Firelight

2/4

Starring: Sophie Marceau, Stephen Dillane, Dominique Belcourt, Lia Williams

Rated R for Sexuality and Brief Strong Language

I remember seeing the poster for this movie fourteen years ago (God, was it really that long?) at Plaza Frontenac, the local arthouse theater.  I knew almost nothing about it, but the title intrigued me.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said the whispery title to myself: Firelight.  The more I found out about it, the more I wanted to see it, and after fourteen years, I finally have.  Sad to say, the movie does not live up to my hopes.  Or the director’s probably.

Sometimes a single performance can save a movie.  It’s a rare and difficult thing, but it does happen.  French actress Sophie Marceau, almost, but not quite, does this.  Marceau is like Meryl Streep; she’s able to do wonders with just about any kind of script.  See the bizarre French horror movie, “Belphegor: The Phantom of the Louvre” for evidence; on second thought, that movie was crap, so just take my word for it.  This romantic melodrama has potential, but it was edited with a leaf shredder, which makes it struggle to retain a coherent plot.

In the early 19^th century, a woman named Elizabeth Laurier (Marceau) has made a deal that no one would make unless they absolutely had to.  Deeply in debt, she agrees to sleep with a rich man (Dillane) for three nights, carry his child, and give it to him upon its birth.  For both of them, it’s strictly business, but something neither of them intends occurs: they fall in love.  Unfortunately, after the three nights are up, they never see each other again.  But after she gives birth to the baby girl, Elizabeth’s motherly instinct kicks in.  She spends the next year searching for the girl, and when she finds her, she becomes her governess.  The rich man, whose name is Charles Godwin, is totally against the idea, and wants her to leave as soon as possible.  Her daughter is also not what she expected; little Louisa (Belcourt) is a snotty little brat who treats everyone but her father like dirt.

The performances are top notch.  Sophie Marceau is an exceptionally strong actress; she’s as talented as she is beautiful (and she’s willing to take her top off, something that many American actresses are skittish about), and Elizabeth is a character that plays to her strengths.  Marceau uses her eyes to good effect to convey her emotions (although there is one brief scene in which she fails to do so, but considering how good she is with the material she is given, I’ll assume that that was the fault of the director).  Still, Marceau is so good that I’m tempted to recommend the film, except that if I did, no one would take my recommendations seriously again.

Marceau is supported by a solid supporting cast, but this is her show.  Stephen Dillane is quite good as Charles, the man who both loves and fears Elizabeth.  He is married (his wife is comatose), but he loves her.  Lia Williams is the best performer in the cast next to Marceau.  She plays Constance, Charles’s loving sister-in-law, who would like nothing better than to marry Charles, but she knows that that’s against the law.  The weak link is young Dominique Belcourt.  She’s stiff and lacks polish; every word that comes out of her mouth seems like it was rehearsed.

The problem with the film is easy to identify: the editor is a hack.  What is on the screen is good stuff, but none of it is developed.  Ideas and themes are presented, but there’s no follow through.  Jump cuts and plot holes are everywhere; if there were a Razzie for Worst Editing Job, this film would take the cake.  It’s a shame, because this could have been a great melodrama had it been given the time to breathe (and had a different ending; this one is a cheat).

But the real sad thing is that the film is not available on a Region 1 DVD.  On a Region 2 DVD, it seems like it was filmed with a camcorder, robbing the film of a lot of its atmosphere.  But even on Blu Ray, I still couldn’t recommend the film.  Just FYI, people.