Customer Reviews

Disgrace

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

After having read J.M. Coetzee's complex, disturbing, shocking and controversial novel, one could not directly see how this story could be transformed into an appealing screenplay and still less into a convincing movie.
It's heavily charged with all kind of sexual contacts, unforced and forced ones (by someone who is in a dominating position) and even with pure rape. It deals also with the eventual outcome of those contacts, like pregnancy and parental love.
Moreover, the story unfolds against the violent background of open racism in a country known for its apartheid.

Steve Jacobs did a formidable job in turning the harsh and sometimes bitter and terrible realities into a moving, emotional and ultimately sublime movie, which matches the book.
The director was impressively helped by his cast and in the first place by John Malkovich, whose (physical! and mental) interpretation of the very uninviting character of a sexually driven university professor is certainly one of his most memorable. He was superbly seconded by Jessica Haines as his fiercely independent daughter as well as by the rest of the cast.

A must see for all movie lovers and for all admirers J. M. Coetzee's work.

An Academy Award Quality film that generates an exquisite level of emotional impact rarely seen outide of such modern classics as, "American Beauty" and "House of Sand and Fog." Without a doubt, Malkovich is convincing in his nuanced and powerful role as a scoundrel and Lothario--but with none of the histrionics or over-the-top acting for which he is perhaps best known. This is a painfully insightful and politically charged movie that will be much appreciated by discerning viewers.

Let me begin by saying this film may be one of the best of the past year. The performance by John Malkovich gives us another reason to extend to him a title of superb actor. And, probably no one else could fill his shoes in the film.

The film is taken from the book by Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. He won the Booker Prize for this novel. I have not read it and find I must. Coetzee is one of those authors you remember, and as far as I am concerned has not won the acclaim he deserves. The film takes place a few years after Apartheid. There is no longer the legal stigma of socializing or dating among the races. Malkovich is a professor of Romantic Poetry at the U of South Africa. He is arrogant, pig headed even, and thinks of no other except himself and his needs. He has an affair with a young student, and while it is not rape, she obviously does not enjoy it. He is found out and is asked to leave the university. He shows no regret except that he was found out.

Malkovich goes to visit his young daughter, Lucy, in the country. Here, things are simple, she raises dogs, and has a farm of flowers and veggies that Lucy tends. Lucy is a Lesbian and had a sig other who seems to have left. She also has a black man who lives on the farm and helps her out. Malkovich cannot understand this arrangement, the man walks in and watches television whenever he wants. Certainly things have changed. Lucy is very independent, and has her own way and manner of living. A horrible incident occurs and things will never be the same. However, life does go on, and the times and situations change and Malkovich has a new understanding of life such as it is. He asks for forgiveness from the family of the student of whom he had an affair. But, not all has changed and as we see, Malkovich, the Professor, retains his own way. Throughout this film questions keep rising, is this the right thing for Lucy to do. What would I do. What is happening to the Prof, Malkovich. How can things remain the same but be so different?

The acting is superb. Lucy is played by Jessica Haines with such a fine, free base of understanding. Her farm manager is an African named Petrus, played by Eriq Ebouaney. His acting shows us a man who is sure of his place. Other characters are sure footed and superb. In one instance Malkovich, whose job it is to help a vet attendant care for and put down animals that have no home, helps to put down a dog that he has shown great affection. I could not help but shed tears at this scene. Was Malkovich looking for some sort of atonement. The entire film has a feel of moral ambiguity. How do we place ourselves in surroundings and cultures new to us and find a place that is real and OK.

The final scene is perfect, this is just the way things are. Superb, superb, one of the year's best films.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 05-08-10

Being John Malkovich [HD DVD]

Dangerous Liaisons [VHS]

Based on the novel Disgrace: A Novel by J.M. Coetzee, this movie does a fairly good job of portraying the book. John Malkovich stars as the professor, David, who has serial affairs with women, the latest one being an imprudent one with one of his students. When she reports him to the Capetown university's administration, David pleads guilty and resigns from his position. He travels to a rural area in South Africa to stay with his daughter who is a lesbian and has just broken up with her partner. The movie very deftly shows the palpable awkwardness of the new apartheid and the painful aspects of a woman living alone.

The book more clearly discusses apartheid and its role in events that occur, while in the movie a lot is left up to the viewer's summation or prior knowledge of South African history. Though I think that John Malkovich is an excellent actor, I had a very hard time picturing him in this particular role. He just didn't seem to fit with the character that he portrayed. The woman who played his daughter does an excellent job.

It is difficult to give much of the plot details because of spoilers. However, I found the movie riveting. I recommend reading the novel first so as to have a better understanding of what is happening, and also for background information.

John Malkovich nails the role of a pompous Cape Town literature professor, David Lurie, who glibly spouts Byron and Wordsworth. And he certainly loves the ladies. He uses his status to initiate an affair with an attractive student, who becomes the reluctant recipient of Lurie's affections. She is a young coed; he's fifty-two. When the scandal breaks, Lurie gets booted out of his cushy faculty post and seeks refuge in his daughter Lucy's home.

Lucy lives in a remote region in the East Cape on a small plot of land. She raises dogs and sells flowers to scrape together a modest living. It seems Lurie and his daughter had long been separated; they scarcely know each other when the "disgraced" professor comes knocking. A big part of the film is how their relationship develops.

Turns out Lucy lives in an area that lacks law and order. Hooligans roam without check. This is post-apartheid South Africa at its worst. Horrible things happen in this film. It seems that people must protect themselves in this region; Lurie and his daughter are not good at self protection.

The film is also about how Lucy is trapped by forces beyond her control. She must accept bitter realities in order to survive. She also feels that she has carved out a life and is determined to stay. Perhaps a lot of money would help, but money is scarce, although the ex-professor can afford a trip to Cape Town where he pays a prostitute. So the arrogant Lurie must take a crash course in Life 101, South African style. He must get his hands dirty, in both a literal and figurative sense. He also finds romance in the arms of a woman who is quite a contrast to the aforementioned coed.

Jessica Haines most convincingly portrays Lucy. She acts in a completely natural manner; it's as if she is playing herself. She strikes no poses.

It's a great film, perhaps a bit overlong. The cinematography is stunning, capturing the pretty urban life of the comfortable in Cape Town, the grinding poverty of many South Africans, and the stark beauty of the remote rural area where Lucy lives.

Note: Major details of the film are given, but this review does not take away the viewer's own visceral experience.

Disgrace--the title of this film, is a title both direct and symbolic. It depicts a new South Africa, one that disallows apartheid, one that shows--through transparent subtlety--how black South Africans can "take back" their country. Of course, the acting of John Malkovich pushes this subtlety through the gauzy haze of old prejudices into a reverse and perverse form of new racism.

"Think of where we are" is spoken by all of the major characters in contexting various events. But this destructive racism committed by both sides is not the only theme in this transforming film that shows consequences of, not only behavior, but the thought processes behind that behavior.

The film opens by introducing the terrain of the major players: South Africa's veldt country. It's dry but can be cultivated through irrigation. Cultivated by irrigation. Into this landscape comes David Lurie, an English professor who recently lost his position because of his "lurid" activities. David was fired because of a sexual encounter with a beautiful young student. He arrives at his daughter's house in this landscape. She makes a living at growing flowers and vegetables in this soil. She is a planter. She also has a kennel of dogs (companions to people). And, most importantly in title context, Lucy is lesbian. The last major character, though minor in play time, is Petrus, a black South Africa reflective of the new success and power of his people. He lives in a shed and has free roam of the land and even the daughter's house. A new South African reality--at this point neither good nor bad, but David raises alarms at this freedom he sees.

Then comes the initiating incident, one that incites a new direction, raises horrible alarms: Lucy is raped by three black thugs, who kill all the dogs, steal her major possessions, and burn David by throwing gasoline over him and igniting it with the flick of a match. A new reality of South Africa--violent, hostile behavior by black South Africans who have not been educated or even trained for freedom. Their thoughts and behavior ooze from a rancid, bitter past--take what you can and destroy what you can.

On the other hand another breed of black South Africa has learned insinuation. He works on Lucy's land with a promise of obtaining his own land from her generous spirit. He is a hard worker, indeed. The viewer can see that in most of his scenes. However, that old worm in the apple has plans for more and insinuates himself toward that end.

It is Petrus behind Lucy's rape--through the actions of his wife's mentally deficient brother. The barren lesbian learns she is pregnant (irrigated) and makes a deal with Petrus: her land in exchange for protection, her baby to lock her into his family and thus protection. There's more--and that takes the viewer to the title again: disgrace. What is the disgrace in this tragic story--her rape, her acquiescence, David's own brutish behavior, a changing of the guard to right a wrong, thus a right to make a wrong?

"Disgrace" is a painful film to watch, but the viewer learns a little more about "the human condition," one reflecting growth, but unlike the healthy growth of Lucy's plants, to a propagated version. Is it better? Worse? Is it just Is?

The film is based on the novel of the same title by the South African writer J. M. Coetzee.

Despite a stiffness that has guided his performances for the last twenty years, John Malkovich anchors this tale of a South African professor who must transcend his arrogance towards his surroundings following his firing for an affair with a student (Antoinette Engel, expressing the oppression of unwanted love well) and a tragedy that befalls the daughter (Natalie Becker, with perhaps the most nuanced performance in the film) he goes to stay with in the countryside. Malkovich's dilemma also serves as a metaphor for the white man's place in the new South Africa, and the eeriness of his relationship to the countryside is well conveyed. A quiet, moving film, especially for those of us who have given up on life among general society and look for new meaning in solitude.

"Disgrace" is a fine, literate adaptation of the novel by Nobel Prize winning author, J. M. Coetzee. The novel is a beautiful near-masterpiece, so I hoped that the film would be strong. John Malkovich heads the cast, playing a lecherous professor (David Lurie) at a university in Cape Town. When he isn't soliciting call girls, he's seducing co-eds. After his most recent relationship with a student turns bad, he decides to leave town for awhile and visit his daughter, Lucy (Jessica Haines), who lives in a remote rural area. Things take an unexpected turn, causing David and Lucy to both examine their lives and make some surprising choices.

The film explores a number of issues, including the lingering affects of Apartheid in South Africa as well as forgiveness and how we use each other to fulfill our emotional needs. However, it is most definitely not a heavy-handed morality play; "Disgrace" is subtle and nuanced. The movie's understated tone sometimes belies the emotionally explosive issues upon which it touches, which makes it that much more powerful. Instead of catharsis, we are offered a cerebral examination of these problems. Malkovich is perfectly cast here, and along with a fine South African accent he does a splendid job of capturing the many facets of the characters, from leering lothario to exquisite tenderness. The rest of the cast is also very good, and I think that the film benefits from consisting primarily relatively unknown actors. The film didn't receive much attention when it was released and was criminally overlooked during awards season. Don't let that prevent you from discovering this wonderful, thoughtful film.

The DVD is a bit light on extras, consisting of brief interviews with the cast and crew and an un-narrated behind-the-scenes peak at the filming. Make sure, though, that you watch the end credits and pay attention to the song lyrics.

Malkovich is a great actor, however, this movie drug on and on, with no apparent point except that the man portrayed is a sick individual. It left me screaming for him to do SOMETHING right, either turn his life around, or exact revenge upon the brutal rapists in the movie. I was waiting for some sort of ending to justify what was a waste of time.

David Lurie, performed with agonizing acuity by John Malkovich, is a scholar of English Romantic poetry at a University in Cape Town, an admirer particularly of Byron, about whose life in Italy he's fitfully trying to compose an opera. Our first look at Lurie in the film finds him lecturing, as bored with and contemptuous of his students as they are of him. Oh no, another burnt-out professor, another victim of mid-life self-disgust! Ah, but Lurie is also a sexual predator -- Lord Byron's Don Juan, Mozart's Don Giovanni -- who forces himself upon a mixed-race student and is quite properly bounced out of the university. Malkovich's Lurie is insufferable, a narcissist so arrogant in manner that one hopes to see him disgraced. How much reality can such a smug jerk bear, you ask. Can Don Juan survive his own futility and insignificance? But Lurie has a daughter (the mother divorced him years ago and lives in Holland) whom he apparently loves and who seemingly accepts his love despite her restrained scorn for his disgraceful behavior. The daughter is a Lesbian, but her partner has left her. She lives on a remote farm, with a market garden and a dog kennel, and now-jobless Lurie goes there for emotional refuge, like a dog licking its wounds. It's a dangerous place, rural South African, but the daughter is as profoundly committed to "finding a way to live in intolerable times" as other South African writers have depicted themselves to be. Bad stuff happens predictably; the daughter is raped, Lurie beaten and set aflame, all the dogs shot, and life is supposed to ignore its own yesterdays and accommodate its griefs on account of their inevitability. After the hideous violations of humanity called History in South Africa, Justice can only be unjust.

"Disgrace" is essentially a double vision of Don Juan in Hell. David Lurie's struggle to "find a way to live" with his intolerable humiliation is inseparable from White South Africa's struggle to "find a way to live" with the results of its cultural rape of Black South Africa over centuries of history. The two themes are stunningly well intermingled in this complex and excruciating film. And how should we take the ending? The daughter is pregnant from the rape, Lurie can't persuade her to have an abortion, he flees from her farm in despair, and then he returns on her terms. Hey, I've told too much of the script, haven't I? But at least I can leave you to formulate your own interpretations.

This is an Australian production, based on a novel by J.M. Coetzee. Malkovich is the only internationally know actor in it, but the rest of the cast is supremely skillful. I haven't seen a more powerful movie in years.