#599: MALLE, Louis: Vanya On 42nd Street (1994)

MALLE, Louis (United States)

Vanya On 42nd Street [1994]

Spine #599
Blu-ray

In the early nineties, theater director André Gregory mounted a series of spare, private performances of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in a crumbling Manhattan playhouse. This experiment in pure theater — featuring a remarkable cast of actors, including Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore, Brooke Smith, and George Gaynes — would have been lost to time had it not been captured on film, with subtle cinematic brilliance, by Louis Malle. Vanya on 42nd Street is as memorable and emotional a screen version of Chekhov's masterpiece as one could ever hope to see. This film, which turned out to be Malle's last, is a tribute to the playwright's devastating work as well as to the creative process itself.

119 minutes
Color

Stereo

1:66:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2012

Director/Writers

Based on Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

Adapted by David Mamet.

Louis Malle was 62 when he directed Vanya on 42nd Street.

Other Malle films in the Collection:

429: The Lovers (1958)
#335: Elevator To The Gallows (1958)
#570: Zazie Dans Le Métro (1960)
Eclipse Series 2: Vive Le Tour (1962)
#430: The Fire Within (1963)
Eclipse Series 2: Phantom India (1969)
Eclipse Series 2: Calcutta (1969)
#328: Murmur Of The Heart (1971)

Eclipse Series 2: Humain, Trop Humain (1973)
#329: Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
Eclipse Series 2: Place De La République (1974)

#571: Black Moon (1975)
#479: My Dinner With André (1981)
Eclipse Series 2: God's Country (1985)

Eclipse Series 2: . . . And The Pursuit Of Happiness (1986)
#330: Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)

The Film

First things first.

If you’ve never read or seen the play, it’s an easy read, online here.

André Gregory plays himself, a theatre director who’s been rehearsing an all-star cast for — literally — years, with only one promise: the play will never be performed for a regular audience!

If you’ve seen My Dinner With André (1981) {Spine #479}, you know all about Gregory.

Wallace Shawn is Uncle Vanya, a complex character who Chekhov has imbued with the most human of qualities — a bottomless passionate capacity for love; an intense distaste for the way his life has gone; an extreme measure of self-control, until it is no longer possible — in a word, a real human being. Shawn is, of course, a magnificent actor.

Julianne Moore is Yelena, the young bride to a much older man. All the younger men want her, and she herself is completely unhappy — but there it is. She remains faithful.

Larry Pine is Dr. Astrov. Chekhov was so far ahead of his time that he has given us a character who might well have been the first scientific climate change specialist. He charts the disaster of clear-cutting forests with water paints and has given up everything in life except for a walk in the dark woods.

Brooke Smith is a fantastic Sonya, broody, unhappy like the rest — but erotically alert at the slightest movement of Astrov, who she loves unrequitedly.

George Gaynes is old man Serebryakov, a professor, a scholar — magnetic enough to have attracted the young Yelena, but grumpy with old-person ailments, and oblivious to the day-to-day machinations of the people who put his food and vodka at the table.

**

A magnificent, unforgettable experience.

Film Rating (0-60):

57

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-page booklet featuring an essay by critic Steven Vineberg and a 1994 on-set report by film critic Amy Taubin.

Vineberg:

“Vanya on 42nd Street turned out to be Malle’s final film. His output was so varied that it doesn’t seem particularly strange that his swan song is so unlike the Renoiresque French movies he is best known for: Murmur of the Heart (1971) {Spine #328}, Lacombe, Lucien (1974) {Spine #329}, and Au revoir les enfants (1987) {Spine #330}. Of course, he made many pictures in America too, and his editing rhythms in Vanya are as precisely attuned to the relaxed, colloquial styles of the cast as Mamet’s language rhythms. The film is a triumphant cross-hatching of talents — Gregory’s and Malle’s, Chekhov’s and Mamet’s, and the actors’, whose poignant intimacy as a true Stanislavskian ensemble takes us straight to the heart of Chekhov’s vision of how human beings can interact on a stage (or on-screen) when there’s no theatrical self-consciousness to get in the way.”

Taubin:

“As Shawn shrills, ‘I could have been a Schopenhauer, I could have been the new Dostoyevsky,’ for the fifth time, one of the crew cracks, sotto voce, ‘It’s his “I coulda been a contender” speech.’ [Producer Fred] Berner had enthused earlier about the crew’s unusual respect for the production. ‘They tiptoe around like it’s a church in there.’ Not in the dank corner where I’m sitting with the three graces — makeup, costumes, and hair — whose method of coping with the cold, the damp, the dirt, and the boredom of doing nothing while the actors say the same lines over and over is to trade sarcasms while making elaborate plans for lunch. This is standard etiquette for movie sets. When the break comes, it’s none too soon for anyone. I leave planning to return. I’m curious about Smith’s performance as Sonya, and she has a scene right after lunch. But hitting the street, I get a breath of fresh Times Square air. When Times Square can clear your lungs, you worry about where you’ve been. I put Vanya on hold. Until it hits the big screen.”

Commentary

None.

Documentary

Featuring interviews with Gregory, Lynn Cohen (Maman), Gaynes, Moore, Pine, Shawn, Smith, and producer Berner.

A great doc, and wonderful tribute to the late director.

Trailer

Although the disc isn’t stuffed with extras, the doc and the booklet do nicely. The meat is all right there on the disc which contains this priceless piece of cinema.

Extras Rating (0-40):

36

57 + 36 =

93

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