FOR ROSEANNA *** Starring Jean Reno, Mercedes Ruehl and
Polly Walker. Directed by Paul Weiland. Written by Saul Turteltaub, Dick
Clement and Ian Le Frenais. Produced by Paul Trijbits, Alison Owen and
Dario Poloni. A Fine Line release. Comedy. Rated PG-13 for sexuality and
brief language. Running time: 99 min. Screened at the Santa Barbara fest.
Fine Line--which long had this on its
coming slate as "Roseanna's Grave"--considered retitling this "For the
Love of Roseanna" and then settled for "For Roseanna," probably hoping to
avoid the death-title boxoffice jinx. (Although the intermediate title
better captured the spirit of this light-hearted affair.) Although the
story seems a grave one--a dying wife ("The Fisher King's" Mercedes Ruehl)
wants to be assured of being laid to rest in the same cemetery as that of
her dead child--director Paul Weiland and his three scripters ensure that
"Roseanna's Grave" remains a comic affair. They do this by using a droll
scenario that wouldn't be out of place in foreign-language fare (set in an
Italian village, the film is in English): With the local graveyard almost
full, Roseanna's loving husband ("Mission: Impossible's" Jean Reno) begins
to stash bodies as townspeople die.
But the film
never crosses over to slapstick, and that's thanks in part to the
surprisingly genuine humanity of the key characters. Reno and Ruehl make
for a convincing married couple; though the spouses are accustomed to each
other's day-to-day presence, the two players make the audience see there
remains a deep romance between them. As Roseanna's single sister, who
shares the couple's home so as to be close to her sister and who Roseanna
sometimes envisions becoming her husband's wife after she's gone, Polly
Walker ("Restoration") does a fine job with the most intriguing part, in
that she must be loyal to her sister and yet sexual
simultaneously.
Given that Fine Line took this film
to ShowEast and is releasing it in two digital formats, the distributor
has aspirations to reaching beyond the art-house crowd to crossover
audiences. The lack of A-list stars and the overseas locale, which is more
realistic than splendid, will likely act as limiters. But the story is a
sunny one, despite the original title, and the wistfully happy ending is
sure to please audiences of any stripe.
-Kim Williamson
Starring Jean Reno, Mercedes Ruehl and
Polly Walker. Directed by Paul Weiland. Written by Saul Turteltaub, Dick
Clement and Ian Le Frenais. Produced by Paul Trijbits, Alison Owen and
Dario Poloni. A Fine Line release. Comedy. Rated PG-13 for sexuality and
brief language. Running time: 99 min. Screened at the Santa Barbara fest.
