Canadian Film Review: Better Than Chocolate (1999)

* * *
Director: Anne Wheeler
Starring: Karyn Dwyer, Christina Cox, Wendy Crewson

Better Than Chocolate is one of those movies that, for some reason, just always seems to be on TV (at least where I live). I must admit, it is not without its charms. Sure, it relies on a fair amount of cliches to move its story forward, but it's also very funny and, in the end, quite sweet. Basically, it's just nice to see a story that centers on a same-sex couple that doesn't end in tragedy.

Set in Vancouver, the film centers on Maggie (Karyn Dwyer) and Kim (Christina Cox) who meet and swiftly move in together. Sure, it makes sense to a degree since Kim is between residences and living out of her van but, still, that counts as lesbian cliche #1. Maggie and Kim enjoy a brief period free of angst and then are surprised by the sudden arrival of Maggie's mother, Lila (Wendy Crewson) and brother Paul (Kevin Mundy), who are unaware that Maggie is gay. Maggie quickly motherproofs her life, explaining Kim away as her roommate and hiding all the sex toys in her house. This deception puts a strain on Maggie's relationship with Kim, but the two carry on as best they can while being careful not to reveal the truth to Lila, who is so deluded that they probably don't need to be as careful as they are.

The film's subplot involves Maggie's work at a gay bookstore owned by Frances (Anne-Marie MacDonald). The store is in the midst of a censorship crisis (based on the real-life tribulations of Vancouver's Little Sister's store) involving Canada Custom's refusal to allow "obscene" material over the border. This part of the story is a bit more substantive than the romantic plot, though it gets far less screentime. The film does, however, manage to make its point in the time devoted to this part of the story and it does so without becoming too heavy handed. Some of the funniest parts of the film come out of this plot thread, many of them courtesy of MacDonald and her ability to turn a phrase.

There are also other subplots involving Paul's budding relationship with Maggie's bisexual coworker Carla (Marya Delver), whose sexuality Maggie compares to the tornado in The Wizard of Oz "sweeping up everything in [her] path!"; and Lila's friendship with Judy (Peter Outerbridge), a pre-op transexual, though clueless Lila doesn't realize that until Judy literally spells it out for her. Oh, and also, Judy is in love with Frances and struggling to deal with her parents' complete disavowal of her ever since her decision to transition. There's a lot going on storywise with this film.

Written by Peggy Thompson, the film juggles its various plots easily and gives the story a nice sense of balance. The main characters are, of course, Maggie and Kim but by weaving in the subplots of so many other characters, all of them from different walks of life and with different takes on gender and sexuality, the film is allowed to take on a "community" rather than "individual" feeling. Some might dismiss this group characters as a shallow cross-section of a community, but I think that each character brings something unique and valuable to the story. It helps that all of them are so well-played by their respective actors. This is one of those films where the supporting cast ends up being more memorable than the leading players, by which I mean no disrespect to Dwyer and Cox. Maggie and Kim are essentially the straight characters (for lack of a better term) anchoring the story while everyone else spins around them with the force of their various quirks. That's not always a strategy that works, but it does here.

Though Better Than Chocolate touches occassionally on heavy subjects, it is ultimately a light film. It's light in a good way, though, and it's a thoroughly engaging piece of work that I highly recommend if you're in the mood for something less intense.

Canadian Film Review: I've Heard The Mermaids Singing (1987)

* * *
Director: Patricia Rozema
Starring: Sheila McCarthy, Paule Baillargeon, Ann-Marie MacDonald

I’ve Heard The Mermaids Singing is a gracefully directed film about the frustrated ambitions of an artist. Made in 1987, the film is not ageing particularly well, though at its core there is still something about it that resonates. Alternately whimsical and heartbreaking, with a generous dose of fantasy, it’s a nicely balanced film about the agony of making art.

The film centres on Polly (Sheila McCarthy), a temporary secretary who spends her free time taking photographs. She has an active imagination, which is likely her saving grace. Her fantasies are exciting and make her feel alive – feelings that she tries to translate into her photos. Her life outside of her fantasy world is dull and unfulfilling; she’s a second rate temp constantly being berated for her lack of organization. Her feelings about her job begin to take a turn, however, when she begins working at an art gallery run by Gabrielle (Paule Baillargeon), whom Polly refers to reverentially as “the Curator.”

Polly sees Gabrielle through a lens of hero worship that begins to manifest itself as a crush, feelings that are exacerbated by the sudden arrival of Gabrielle’s ex (and future) lover, Mary (Ann-Marie MacDonald). Polly discovers that Gabrielle has a series of paintings in her apartment that she’s never shown to anyone. Hoping perhaps to secure a more permanent place in Gabrielle’s life by giving her the confidence to be an artist, Polly takes one of the paintings and shows it to a critic, who thinks it’s marvellous and spreads the word about Gabrielle’s unique and amazing talent. Watching as Gabrielle is celebrated by the art world, Polly gets an idea to send her photos to the gallery anonymously. Gabrielle looks at them briefly and declares that they show no promise. Polly is crushed, but not as crushed as she’ll be when she discovers a secret about Gabrielle’s paintings.

The story is related to us after the fact in the form of a video confession by Polly. The flashback scenes are intercut with Polly’s fantasies, which keeps the overall tone of the film relatively light. The story is serious but at the same time the film doesn’t take itself too seriously. There is a distinct mocking of “art speak” in the way that Gabrielle and the critic discuss various pieces, and the film offers a gently defiant view of the role of artistic criticism. When Mary sees one of Polly’s photos and Polly repeats Gabrielle’s view that it’s no good, Mary asks why she has to look at it in terms of “good” or “bad” when what she should be asking herself is whether or not she likes it. Whether Polly’s photos are good or bad isn’t really the point; the point is that taking them makes her happy and that they express something about her. Just because someone else doesn’t like them, doesn’t mean they weren’t worth taking in the first place.

As Polly, McCarthy renders an effective and engaging performance. She allows Polly to be without pretence and to wear her heart on her sleeve, and the contrast between her and the more reserved Gabrielle makes her vulnerability seem all the more intense and striking. The way she just seems to deflate when Gabrielle renders her verdict on her photos is really heartbreaking because McCarthy makes it clear that Polly wouldn’t mind if other people didn’t like it, but she wants validation from Gabrielle so badly.

The intensity of relationships between women is a consistent theme in writer/director Patricia Rozema’s work, as is the theme of artistry. White Room is about a singer who provides the voice but has another woman act as the persona (whether literally or figuratively is open to some interpretation); When Night Is Falling is about a relationship between two women, one of whom is a performance artist; Mansfield Park is less an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel than a film about Austen herself, and the relationship between Fanny and Mary Crawford is given an ambiguous treatment. The aesthetic Rozema works with in Mermaids and the issues that she explores flow through her body of work, though her films differ radically from each other. This film, her feature length debut, shows an artist very much in tune with her voice and the end product is a film that is very strong.