TRIUMPH OF LOVE
© 2002 Paramount Classics

Mania Grade: B
Reviewed Format: Limited Theatrical Release
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Mira Sorvino, Ben Kingsley, Fiona Shaw, Jay Rodan, Rachael Stirling
Writers: Claire Peploe, with Marilyn Goldin and Bernardo Bertolucci, based on the play LE TRIOMPHE DE L'AMOUR by Pierre Marivaux
Director: Claire Peploe
Distributor: Paramount Classics

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TRIUMPH OF LOVE

TRIUMPH OF LOVE, director Claire Peploe's film adaptation of Pierre Marivaux's romantic comedy LE TRIOMPHE DE L'AMOUR, first performed in 1732 Paris, is reminiscent of Kenneth Branagh's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Marivaux isn't Shakespeare, of course, and the plots are very different, but Peploe dives headlong into the material with a zest and an assurance that are reminiscent of Branagh's best work with the Bard.

A beautiful, fair-minded Princess (Mira Sorvino), aware that her father usurped his throne, is determined to make amends with the rightful heir, Prince Agis (Jay Rodan). It helps that the Princess has seen Agis swimming naked one look and she's now hopelessly in love, resolved to give him her hand, her heart and the throne. The problem (there's always a problem) is that Agis' guardians, the philosopher Hermocrates (Ben Kingsley) and his sister Leontine (Fiona Shaw), have raised Agis to deplore romantic love, suspect all women and particularly hate the Princess. The Princess therefore contrives to infiltrate Hermocrates' sanctuary, playing the role of the youth Phonicion to win Agis' friendship. However, the Princess must first gain leave to remain in Hermocrates' sanctuary. To win over Leontine, the Princess sets about wooing other women as Phonicion. Hermocrates in a rare twist for a character in this sort of fare immediately deduces that "Phonicion" is female. He's made of sterner stuff than the other two, but by adopting the persona of the philosopher-worshipping Aspasie, the Princess gets under Hermocrates' skin as well.

The storyline obviously has the potential to be both uproarious and really mean-spirited. Instead, it is neither. Peploe and her co-scenarists, Marilyn Goldin and Bernardo Bertolucci, are sympathetic to all of the characters, finding them funny and endearing in their eagerness to be loved rather than laughably pathetic, which might be the temptation for other filmmakers. They are rewarded by vivid performances, especially from Kingsley and Shaw, who not obliged to appear cartoonish revel in the freedom to play their characters full-on. Actors often talk in interviews about seeing their unlikable characters as heroic Kingsley and Shaw, backed by the text and their own choices, show us the logical, human inner workings of people who initially seem eccentric and egotistic. Sorvino is so delightful in all her incarnations that we readily understand why everyone she encounters adores and wants to believe her, even when common sense dictates otherwise. Rachael Stirling has charm and verse as the Princess' confidante and servant.

Peploe has made TRIUMPH visually beautiful in a manner that suggests the work of her producer (and spouse) Bertolucci. She also sets a frisky pace that makes the scenes bound along rather like the characters do on occasion and uses the camera wisely to give the piece as filmic a feel as possible.

TRIUMPH OF LOVE does feel like an opened-up stage play to some extent, primarily because plot, language and length of scenes (even those in which characters move together through lush Tuscan exteriors or from room to room in the fairytale-like castle) all are much more theatrical than cinematic. Peploe makes the curious choice to underscore this effect by cutting to an audience in a couple of places as a vision/hallucination of Leontine's and having the cast take a curtain call before applauding watchers at the end. This device smacks of unnecessary self-consciousness. TRIUMPH OF LOVE succeeds on its own terms no internal editorializing required.