WORDS AND PICTURES
Starring Clive Owen, Juliette Binoche
Directed by Fred Schepisi
As an English teacher (Clive Owen) and art instructor (Juliette Binoche) mobilize their prep school students in a “words vs. pictures” throw down to determine which discipline is superior, Fred Schepisi’s romantic dramedy unwittingly proves the importance of music. Owen and Binoche conduct themselves with such dignity here that it’s often only Paul Grabowsky’s cloying score that lays bare just what contrived pap this actually is.
One can’t help but wonder exactly what these accomplished actors saw in Gerald Di Pego’s script that lured them to such middlebrow fare. On the page, their characters must have read as completely insufferable: an alcoholic who smugly insists on sharing the etymology of every word and an arthritic ice queen who inspires through admonishment. Both are unbecomingly pleased with themselves and devote the majority of their energies to reducing their teenaged acolytes into the equivalent of feuding frats.
It would seem that Schepisi is squarely in the word camp, if only because he hasn’t any idea of what to do with the camera other than train it on his leads and let them do the heavy lifting. Given that, it’s inevitable that the strain should eventually show. Owen can barely mask his disdain for the film’s inane title when it’s shoehorned into a climactic speech. Even more awkward is the unconvincing gaiety that he and Binoche must exude as Di Pego takes a page from Benedick and Beatrice’s begrudging acceptance of their mutual attraction in Much Ado About Nothing. Much like that storied pair, we come to understand what it means to “suffer love.”
