Plenty
by Fred Schepisi
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles Dance, John Gielgud, Meryl Streep, Sting, Tracey UllmanDirector: Fred Schepisi
Brand: STREEP,MERYL
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 129 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-16
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Movie Reviews of Plenty
Movie Review: Plenty but not wholly good
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this film again the other day, and was reminded of what I thought when it first came out: it's difficult.
First, the good: the acting is excellent, and so is the dialogue, making it one of those British films (Australian director and US lead apart) that are a pleasure to watch. The opening sequence is masterful in conveying the deadly danger of the whole SOE enterprise, of the brutal and near surreal situation of stormtroopers in a picturesque French town, of the fear, isolation and bravery of the SOE operatives. The moment where Lazar bicycles away from Suzanne giving a mock-theatrical wave is especially moving, capturing the heroism while juxtaposing it with the wobbly bicyle to underline that these are understated heroics performed on a secret stage, which no one but the protagonists may ever know about.
The difficult part lies in the themes of the work. The title Plenty, and the bookmarking of the first and last scenes in France - the first showing heroism, the latter a flashback of Suzanne at the end of the war rapturously foreseeing "Days and days like this" to come - clearly imply a drama about whether the idealism and bravery of those who fought did indeed translate into a land of plenty for the victors.
But as the central protagonist and vehicle for all this, Suzanne is quite simply the wrong character. After a shaky post-war start, she quickly progresses to a fairly comfortable status, in a land which does seem to have a fair bit, if not quite plenty. With talent, a rich and kind boyfriend, a good job in advertising, a lively and liberated best girlfriend, and so on, she can enjoy the jazz clubs, the slightly tatty bonhomie of the coronation, and much besides, if she wanted. Even her girlfriend, who doesn't hesitate to diss her boss and get fired, seems to be doing just fine, able to dabble bohemianly in painting and writing and still afford a holiday in Morocco. Could be worse, basically.
Whereas, in fact, Suzanne drifts into excessive and indulgent nostalgia, selfishness, and a madness which seems less caused by whatever miseries and hypocrises exist in post-war Britain than by personal mental illness.
As regards the nostalgia, we would be all to willing to accept that the heroism of the war-period means that such a person is just too big for ordinary life afterwards. But Hare himself makes it not so simple. Obviously Suzanne is brave, otherwise she wouldn't be in the SOE. But in the opening sequence in France, it is Suzanne who is pictured as scared to the point of nearly getting herself and Lazar captured, and then shown moaning that she's only a courier and shouldn't have to do this sort of thing. And later on in the film when interviewed by the BBC and asked if she thinks about the past often, she coolly and dishonestly denies it.
The selfishness is substantial. Although she has moments of generosity, she is more frequently cruel, indifferent to her husband and a man she chooses as her sperm donor, and indeed to pretty much anyone else who crosses her path. There seems to be no sense to this other than that she thinks she is fundamentally superior to others, and their subsequent grief is just their bad luck - ironically, precisely the arrogant attitude of those she fought against in the war. And because of what we have seen in regard to her weakness for nostalgia, not at all justifiable.
And the madness, as mentioned, seems to come from within rather than from any real problem with post-war Britain. The one seriously shameful event of that period, Suez, was something widely recognised at the time as having been an appalling blunder. This is acknowledged by Hare in his treatment of the Gielgud-played diplomat who resigns in disgust. In the powerful scene that deals with Suzanne's reaction, we have the impression that she almost as delighted as disgusted, at this further opportunity to despise the world around her.
So on this basis, it is very hard to see whether Hare was getting at some great global meaningfulness (conceivably, that Suzanne herself represents post-war Britain) (but then that would imply that Brock the husband is the US, and as far as I know the UK never brought the US to its knees) which in the end doesn't quite jump out of the script, or whether he was just a little confused as to whether he was writing a psychological character examination or a heavy-duty allegorical portrait of post-war Britain.
Be all that as it may, I would still recommend this film. It is moving and well made, and even if the excellent set-pieces somehow don't add up to the integrated whole one would like, individually those pieces are of an exceptionally high quality.
Oddly enough, the film's one glaring failure (to anyone familiar with the UK, at any rate), Meryl Streep's efforts to produce an upper-class English accent, mirrors the film as a whole: you know from the start that she's got it wrong, but when you listen to the words one by one you are hard-pushed to pin down the problem. Basically, on a syllable by syllable basis, it seems right. But take a step back and you know it isn't, quite.
Summary of Plenty
A British woman returns home from her work as a resistance fighter in France during the War. Her unconventional and strong-willed behavior soon begins to disrupt the lives of those around her.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 16-APR-2002
Media Type: DVD
David Hare's Broadway play--about political idealism and the way some people always need to be fighting for a cause--was credibly transferred to the screen by director Fred Schepisi from Hare's screenplay. Meryl Streep (in the midst of a streak of movies that required accents) plays a British woman who fought for the French Resistance during World War?II. When she returns to normal life in post-war England and marries a diplomat, she becomes something of a terror--speaking her mind when, of course, diplomacy dictates otherwise. Did she leave the best part of herself in France, where life was more meaningful and immediate? Hare's comment on Great Britain's post-war slide into Thatcherism, this film features a tough-minded (and not particularly likable) performance by Streep, who is actually quite good. It's a hard movie to embrace, but a well-made one nonetheless. --Marshall Fine
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