Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a leading courtesan in early 20th century France, but is considering retirement. One of her retired colleagues (Kathy Bates) asks Lea to guide her son Cheri (Rupert Friend) into a healthier mode of relating to women, and this begins a love affair with lasting and unexpected effects. Leading up to the first World War, Lea and Cheri go through much together and apart as they deal with finances, their age difference, and the people around them.

CRITIQUE

In 1988, the film version of Choderlos De Laclos’ Dangerous Liaisons combined a scandalous story with talented actors and the assured direction of Stephen Frears. More than twenty years later, that film’s Michelle Pfeiffer teams up again with Frears for a similar period piece in this film. Opulently designed and steadily directed, Cheri offers an engaging and mature story with an unmissable lead performance.

Though many years have passed since the first collaboration between Pfeiffer and Frears, the director once again brings out a wonderful performance from the actress. More importantly, the themes explored in the story resonate deeply with the current state of Hollywood. Pfeiffer’s success here should throw into sharp relief the nonsense of the youth-obsessed state of the film and television industries. First of all, she looks ravishing, helped by the downright gorgeous costumes of Consolata Boyle. Also, the worldliness of Lea could only be captured by an actress with Pfeiffer’s experience. The fact that she is given ample support in the same regard by Bates should add still more to this aspect of the film.

Let’s not forget, though, that the title character of this film is the young man, who inhabits Lea’s life so profoundly, and Friend embodies him well, not afraid to touch on the slight ugliness or effeminacy Cheri is sometimes capable of. It is a mark of a great writer that the characters are this memorable, and Christopher Hampton’s (Dangerous Liaisons alumni) screenplay is in debt to the legendary French author of the source material, Colette.

In fact, the only incongruous note in the whole script comes at the end of the film. Though Frears thrillingly harkens back to Liaisons with the final shot, the actual story ending feels jarring compared to the drama-lite tone of the entire film leading up to it. Frears does subtlety in technique well, as he shows here when he allows shot variety and interesting transitions to be the most conspicuous of his tricks.

The direction, production values, and especially the lead performance of Cheri satisfy admirably as an adaptation and as collaboration between director and star.

THE VIDEO

Miramax presents Cheri in anamorphic widescreen. The gorgeous production values here are presented to best effect in it, in fact. Also as usual, the transfer is without flaws in color and picture.

THE AUDIO

The disc’s Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track is dependably great; the film sounds wonderful. There are no other language tracks on the disc, but there are French and Spanish subtitles offered.

THE EXTRAS

Deleted Scenes: Only two scenes are included here, and they are fairly inconsequential. The second one here, though, is a nice romantic interlude between Lea and Cheri and is worth watching once.

The Making of Cheri: Though short, at about ten minutes, this extra is a nice overview of the making of the film. There are the usual cast and crew interviews, but here they are often filled with interesting comments. The fact that Pfeiffer and Frears had worked together before is touched on, and we get a wonderful bit of discussion from the production designer. Definitely watch this featurette.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Cheri features sumptuous production design and direction, which highlights a lead performance that is equally triumphant. Many viewers, not just period drama fans, will be engaged by the story and actors and will want to at least rent this film. Frears and Pfeiffer prove that their work together should occur more often than every 21 years, and most audiences will be eager to see their next project after seeing Cheri.