The Designated Mourner (1997)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

David Hare

Writers:

Wallace Shawn (play)
Wallace Shawn (written by)

Release Date:

23 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Jack and Judy are husband and wife, and Howard is Judys father. They live in some fictional undemocratic and repressive country...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film | Based On Play

Cast

Mike Nichols	...	Jack
Miranda Richardson	...	Judy
David de Keyser	...	Howard (as David De Keyser)

MPAA:

Rated R for some language.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Quotes:

Jack: I guess I've always been a lowbrow at heart.

Pretentious? Yes. Sparse and visually dull? Yes. Fascinating? Yes.

"The Designated Mourner" is obviously not a cinema film in any meaningful sense. It is a play staged for cinema recording. Three characters and a table; that is the amount of it. None of the characters interact, instead directly addressing the camera. Perhaps this is boring, if visual stimulation is a requirement of cinema, but yet it seemed utterly compelling to me.

The performances from all three of the cast are riveting, but it is Nichols who raises this above the usual public-subsidised arty nonsense. He is quite simply revelatory. As a man whom most know for his directorial work, the depth of the performance is a great surprise. Very possibly his almost "non-acting" style could be attributed to the fact that he is not a professional *film* actor, but the naturalistic style he employs lends his character such a gravity. It is almost documentary in it's sincerity. Jack is a deeply flawed man, in many ways a reprehensible man, who merely assumes the intellectual values of those around him while in fact cultivating considerable distaste for his high-brow friends. He is, though, often a very funny man and it never becomes impossible to understand or empathise with him. His epiphany at the climax of the film, surrounded by cheap magazines and pornography, is completely heart-breaking. As the title of the film begins to make a terrible, Orwellian sense, we are left with nothing but this broken man, lamenting unavoidable actions in which he seems almost complicit.

This is certainly an important piece of work, if perhaps not an important *film*, if nothing else, it will give people who may never have the chance to see the play staged the opportunity to see it performed.