Merci... Dr. Rey! (2004) (AKA Merci
Docteur Rey, Dr. Rey!)
Convoluted, silly, pointless and
meandering, "Merci, Dr. Rey" wants desperately to
be a slapstick comedy in the tradition of the French
farce. It fails miserably. This is the kind of broad,
kitschy, elitist goofiness that should bring plenty
of chuckles, and it does, but it's so lifeless and
so messy that we never really truly enjoy the film.
It's nearly impossible to penetrate its in-joke, aren't-we-clever
facade. And the plot is so tangled up in red herrings
and twistiness, that it simply wrings the life out
of the piece.
Dianne Wiest is having a hoot as
an ageing diva, but she's the only one, really. We
certainly don't like her. She's silly, contrived and
annoying. I think what ruins her character most is
that she is this wealthy, cosmopolitan, successful
opera singer, one who has certainly moved in artistic
circles for many years, and her grown son still hasn't
come out as a homosexual to her. Granted, she's a
nosy bitch and perhaps he doesn't want his privacy
invaded any more than it already has been, AND, events
reveal that perhaps she wouldn't be too fond of gay
people, but all of this is explored so tangential
that it never really gels and her character and the
story suffer for it.
The film wants us to have fun with
its wacky farcical conventions that have a character
appear to be mentally deranged and apparently thinking
she's Vanessa Redgrave, then giving us a valid reason
for her to think she's Vanessa Redgrave and then,
ultimately, having Vanessa Redgrave show up and inadvertently
poke fun of her. Sadly, it's not fun at all.
The film is produced by Merchant/Ivory
but one gets the impression that they just slapped
their name on it after it was made. This is actually
the debut film of director Andrew Litvak and one gets
the impression the well-know filmmaking duo had little
more to do here then use their names to hopefully
help sell tickets. The film has that sophisticated
comedic feel the duo have never had much success with
("Slaves of New York") and is half in French and half
in English, so the audience who is bilingual can feel
culturally elite. In that sense and many other ways
this film is like Merchant/Ivory's last film "Le Divorce."
To wit: It's main similarity to that film is that
it doesn't work, it isn't really all that funny, and
it probably will bomb at the box office.
Notes:
In English and French with subtitles.
Also with Jane Birkin, Stanislas
Merhar, Simon Callow and Jerry Hall.
The film played Cannes in 2003 and
opened in France in December 2003. Although the film
has been picked up for U.S. release, no date has been
set yet.
Viewed at Agliff in September 2004.
