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By PAUL BRENNER
Edward Albee's dark comic-tragedies of imploding families catch theatergoers in
a shocked border zone of mixed responses -- as the alcoholic Claire declares in
Albee's "A Delicate Balance," "I never know when to applaud or cry." The same
response is felt for the American Film Theatre's version of Albee's "A Delicate
Balance" -- although the response refers to the AFT's thorough mishandling of
the play. The puzzling result is now on exhibit on the Kino Video DVD. Despite a
dream cast -- Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick, Kate Reid, Betsy
Blair, Joseph Cotten -- the play in director Tony Richardson's hands is a
disaster.
Richardson films the play in extended long takes that make the play look like
Edward Albee's version of "Rope." At least Hitchcock's film had some stylistic
pizzazz, but here Richardson catches the action in drips and drabs, sometimes
balancing an awkward zoom out with a potted plant or a pole lamp. Frequently,
Richardson misses major revelations of Albee's and relegates them to part of the
background angst. In the same way, Richardson ruins Scofield's epiphany to
Cotten by cutting up Scofield's monologue with reaction shots of a disengaged
Cotten (in perhaps the worse performance of his career -- and this includes
"Soylent Green" and "The Abominable Dr. Phibes"). At least Hepburn comes through
in her infrequent moments of clarity -- no one can ever top Hepburn's phrasing
of "my phew-den-tah!"
The special features include, among the usual AFT series extras, a recent
interview with Edward Albee (which is worth the whole DVD), an interview with
cinematographer David Watkin, the theatrical trailer, and an essay by Michael
Fiengold. |
