Cousin Jessica

This evening, at Saviour Onassis's recommendation, I watched Cousin Bette, a 1998 movie starring Jessica Lange and Elizabeth Shue. It's set in Paris during the end of the July Monarchy--as SO said, "It's sorta like a Merchant-Ivory period piece, except with Elizabeth Shue."

My feelings were mixed: what I liked about it was that Jessica Lange plays a plain, self-sacrificing spinster who eventually becomes pissed off enough that she decides to exact vengeance from any and everyone who ever hurt her. What I didn't like about it was that Jessica Lange plays a plain, self-sacrificing spinster who eventually becomes pissed off enough that she decides to exact vengeance from any and everyone who ever hurt her.

Then there was Elizabeth Shue, who plays a 24-year-old actress/courtesan whom all the dirty old men of Paris want to sleep with. I like Elizabeth Shue and wouldn't mind seeing her in more movies, but she wasn't right for this part. She does a fair amount of singing but her voice is nothing special, and she just didn't exude raw sexuality the way she was supposed to.

Every so often you'll see a movie where the casting people put glasses on a super model and the audience is supposed to believe that none of the other characters can tell she's beautiful. The hair and makeup people stuck a brown wig on Jessica Lange, but that doesn't make her ugly; it just makes her a brunette. Jessica Lange is an amazing actress, naturally gifted and very well trained. She has this commanding presence and I would have been more likely to believe that she was some fabled courtesan who was just too beautiful, intelligent, talented and graceful ever to retire, while Elizabeth Shue was a dowdy, frumpy spinster who got tired of living in the shadows and finally sought revenge. Except that wouldn't have been entirely satisfying, because you just want Jessica Lange to triumph....

I don't know. It's worth watching just for Jessica's performance, but then, that's true of every movie she's ever been in. If you decide to check this out, let me know what you think.