Jagged, pessimistic view of the denizens of Hollywood, circa 1972. Troubled movie actress, conflicted over her recent divorce from her director-husband, is finding herself slowly becoming alienated from her show business circle; unselfconscious--and still hopeful things will work themselves out--she's unable to reconnect the lost threads of her past, and begins feeling numb and catatonic. Joan Didion's novel, adapted by Didion with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, has been entrusted to director Frank Perry, and he digs right to the core of this material. It isn't just the bitchiness of the business that is wearing our heroine down, it's the blasé apathy with which the business is handled that strikes her both curious and sad. Tuesday Weld gives a deliberately low-key, thoughtful performance in the lead; her Maria Wyeth can be as tart in her repartee as her competitors (she's no shrinking violet), and yet the numbness she feels creeping in frightens her. Weld is reunited with her "Pretty Poison" co-star Anthony Perkins, excellent as a gay producer trapped in a business-marriage to a woman. The two share a quietly devastating scene in a motel room near the end that brings the narrative full circle while also showing the depth of feeling in the material (some may think the film superficial, but this is deceptive). The quicksilver editing may actually be too canny and clever, with many scenes seeming smug or half-finished (and usually ending on a rueful line or look). I think Perry means to shake the audience up with his herky-jerky structure, but perhaps the movie (with its feeling of an open wound) left too many viewers behind. A forgotten picture, it remains one of the most acidic portraits of lotus land ever captured on film. ***1/2 from ****
Review of Play It As It Lays
