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Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
Penelope Cruz stars with real-life couple Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend in this frippery romanticizing the fight against fascism.
Sep 17, 2004 | If, during the '30s, MGM had hired leftist writers to dream up the sentimental tributes to wartime duty that the studio turned out during World War II, the result might be something like Australian writer-director John Duigan's "Head in the Clouds." That title is an apt description of where Duigan's own thoughts must have been when he made the movie.
"Head in the Clouds" is a tribute to the noble sacrifices made in the fight against fascism -- only here that fight encompasses the Spanish Civil War as well as World War II. The movie isn't offensive, like William Wyler's nauseating 1942 film "Mrs. Miniver." For the first hour it's plummy enough to be entertaining in its ludicrous fashion, the sort of thing you might hope to stumble across on cable when you're home sick and want to wallow in a little movie-ish luxury.
After a brief prologue, our story opens at Oxford in 1933. (We know it's Oxford because people say things like, "We're having a bit of a beano at the weekend.") Guy (Stuart Townsend) is the son of a Dublin police officer who was killed during the "troubles." One night in a show of chivalry, Guy gives shelter to Gilda Besse (Charlize Theron), daughter of a free-spirited American mother and a French champagne tycoon. (We have to take the movie's word that he's French because he's played by Steven Berkoff and, like every role Berkoff plays, appears to be a Nazi.) When the politically committed Guy admits, "I don't believe much in countries," and rich golden girl Gilda responds, "Neither do I," we know they're soul mates.
Romance blossoms and is then cut short as Gilda goes off to see the world and Guy, displaying the concern with the downtrodden that will keep him in shabby suits for most of the picture, goes to teach in London's East End. One night at the cinema, Guy spots Gilda as an extra in an American movie. Shortly after, a letter arrives from Gilda inviting Guy to visit her in Paris. There she has reinvented herself as a photographer whose commercial portraits finance her avant-garde work. (We know her photos are avant-garde because they feature poor people and prostitutes.)
"Head in the Clouds"
Written and directed by John Duigan
Starring Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Penelope Cruz
Gilda's assistant and sometime model is Mia (Penelope Cruz), the Spanish daughter of an anarchist coal miner whose dreams of becoming a dancer were ended by the thugs of Franco's army. Strengthened by her soulful, salt-of-the-earth limp, Mia has worked her way up from being a striptease artiste to having a meaningful career as a nurse.
Rekindling his romance with Gilda, Guy stays on in Paris and soon the two of them, Mia limping by their side, are a fixture in the City of Lights. Alliances between the three form and tangle.
