In Praise of Penelope Cruz

 

"I think Philip Roth is a genius," said Penelope Cruz last week to Charlie Rose, explaining why she initiated a feature film project based upon the author's 2001 novella, "The Dying Animal." The revelation here is that this beautiful movie star has an acute literary intelligence, or am I betraying some sort of prejudice? Are people this gorgeous and talented also allowed to be this smart? The film is called "Elegy" and Cruz's performance should earn her a second Oscar nod. Opposite Sir Ben Kingsley in the role of Roth surrogate David Kepesh, Cruz plays a Consuela, a Cuban American graduate student who has an affair with her professor. Stretching his neurotic boundaries only so far with her open, generous love, she is ultimately subsumed in the larger story of his aging. Cruz's presence, however, is indelible, and not just because she bares her breasts. Director Isabel Coixet, who also made "The Secret Life of Words," starring Canadian actress Sarah Polley in an equally sensitive role, puts her own spin on the Philip Roth material. I cannot wait to see what this gifted Spanish director does next.  Penelope Cruz is flamboyant and passionate in Woody Allen's new movie, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," as the gun-wielding ex-wife of her off screen boyfriend, Javier Bardem. Nurtured in the camp hysterio-dramas of Pedro Almodovar, her comedic timing is impeccable. While her Spanish accent works well in "Elegy," in VCB, language becomes an inside joke. In a ménage a trios with Scarlett Johansson, Bardem tells Cruz as Marie Elena to talk English, so that Johansson's Cristina will understand, even when she is not present. It is a hilarious bit, subtitled to keep the audience on top of Marie Elena's vitriolic words, and shows Woody at his very funniest. Neither he nor Harvey Weinstein attended the special private screening in Southampton last night. But Weinstein did send his regrets via uber party planner Peggy Siegal, saying he was busy in London, on the set of the film of  "Nine." Daniel Day Lewis will play the role originated by Antonio Banderas on Broadway. And who are the women? Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, to mention a few. So far, the summer movie season has been like a repertory. Is it a joyful coincidence that we have double Cruz, Kingsley in "Elegy" and "The Wackness," and the fine Patricia Clarkson is Kepesh's longtime lover and host to Cristina and her friend Vicky in Barcelona? May summer never end.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura