Monday, September 26, 2005

Pauline Kael

“The role of the ignorant Sally, a back-country girl from Saskatchewan who hopes to work her way to Monte Carlo, is essentially that of Gabrielle in The Petrified Forest, and, for once, Susan Sarandon’s googly-eyed, slightly stupefied look seems perfect. She doesn’t rattle off her lines in her usual manner; she seems to respond to the freshness and lilt of the dialogue. In Malle’s last film, Pretty Baby, she was mysteriously beautiful when she was posing nude for photographs, but she gave an inexplicably petulant and vapid performance; she did so much ruminating she was cowlike. Susan Sarandon has come through in strange circumstances, though; the permutations of her rattle provided the sprightliest momentsof The Other Side of Midnight. Maybe she seems so skillful here because this is the best part she’s ever had on the screen. Her double takes are very delicate; she keeps you tuned in to her feelings all the time….

“The casting is superb, and each time a performer reappears you look forward to what he’s going to do this time….”

Pauline Kael
The New Yorker, April 6, 1981
Taking It All In, pp. 176-177

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home