"Mrs. Harris"
It's important for an audience to relate to or at least like one character when watching a film. The HBO original Mrs. Harris gives us a look at the relationship (or lack thereof) between Jean Harris (Annette Benning) and Dr. Herman "Hy" Tarnower (Ben Kingsly.) Both of these characters are incredibly unlikable and we feel detached from feeling any sort of sympathy toward either of them. Some of you may recognize Dr. Tarnower as the creator of the immensely popular Scarsdale diet back in the early 1980's.
Mrs. Harris is one those films that drops us in the middle of the story right before the climax. A distraught Jean goes to her lover Hy's house on a dark and stormy night to confess her final love she has for him before attempting to kill herself. A struggle breaks out and Hy ends up shot and dying on his bed. Who pulled the trigger? The film then jumps to the murder trial at which we hear testimony from Jean, her friends, and Tarnower's family as they recount the tattered relationship the two of them had over the course of many years.
Despite some solid performances from Benning and Kingsly, Mrs. Harris is a troublesome film with characters and story that aren't worth caring about. The relationship Jean and Hy have comes to together rather quickly. Both of their intentions are unclear on what they want from each other. Hy is a womanizer and clearly takes advantage of the recently divorced and vulnerable Jean. Hy even goes as far to propose marriage to her, which he then later breaks off. They continue to have an open relationship even though the good doctor has moved on to some blonde tart who is much younger than Jean. Throughout the picture Jean brings up her prestigious degree in education and how much smarter she considers herself, especially when compared to Hy’s latest bimbo. If she's so smart then why the heck does she stay with this creep? Oh right, it's because Hy is the sole doctor who prescribes a number of uppers and downers for her.
Jean says she still loves Hy but the real reason is she loves his drugs. Smart women make poor choices. How very noir of the film, as the opening credits montage indicates to us. It's unclear what Mrs. Harris wants to be. What are we supposed to take away from this semi biographical pic? We can't feel sorry for Jean because there aren't any redemptive qualities to her character. She and Hy's relationship turns into dependency and nothing is ever progressed or resolved. We are left going circles. Just leave him!
Mrs. Harris is a conflicting film that leaves us out in the cold. The necessary connections to enjoy this film on some level are never made. The subject matter is hardly attention grabbing with plot points that aren't worth caring about. The film gives us the impression that Jean is an important person who has been walked all over her whole life and has real problems. Yes, this is a true story and Jean Harris was a real person. However, Mrs. Harris led such a depressing and tiresome life that it plays out more like a soap opera. The performances from the film's two leads are there but the story sure isn't. Benning and Kingsly have done far better work with much more engaging scripts. Mrs. Harris is much like the Scarsdale diet, a low intake in just about everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment