Starring: Cate Blanchett, Christina Ricci, Johnny Depp, John Turturro
Director: Sally Potter
Rated: M
The Man Who Cried is a survivor’s tale. And while the will to survive might come naturally to us, the skills to do so don’t.
The film opens in 1928. Four-year-old Fegele lives with her father and grandmother in rural Russia.
Her father leaves to find work in the USA. Shortly after, a pogrom destroys the family’s village and turns Fegele (Christina Ricci) into a refugee.
She is raised by a family in England.
By 1939 the stage lights of Paris beckon and Fegele meets Lola (Cate Blanchett), a fellow Russian and a colleague at the cabaret.
Lola falls in love with opera star, Dante Domino (John Turturro) while Fegele falls for a gypsy, Cesar (Johnny Depp).
War comes to Paris and the Jewish Fegele and Lola are on the move again, this time to the USA. Fegele discovers her father is still alive and goes in search of him.
This film charts how Fegele, through luck and quick learning, obtains the skills she needs to achieve the one desire she has: to see her father again. In her films Sally Potter always uses music to great effect.
The Jewish psalms, operatic arias and symphonic music reveal the scope of the story and the sweep of emotions on offer. This scope is also the film’s weakness.
Christina Ricci and Cate Blanchett (whose ability to do accents, this time Russian, mark her out as the Meryl Streep of her generation) give wonderful performances and their work on its own could be worth the admission ticket.
