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Directed by:
Stephen Frears 
Written by:
Christopher Hampton , based on two novels by Colette
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| Released: |
2009 |
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| Genre: |
DRAMA
ROMANCE
COSTUME
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| Origin: |
UK/ France/ Germany |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
92 |
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MIXED Reviews
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| | | Like a passable bottle of champagne, Cheri fizzes and slides down quite easily but lacks real body and doesn't really hit the spot... Still impossibly beautiful as she approaches 50 - too much, in fact, for the role - Pfeiffer has elegance to spare. However, she's not quite up to the nuances of Hampton's dialogue or the inner feelings of a retired courtesan awakened by a spoiled, moody boy. (It's a role that may have been better attempted by Jessica Lange, one of the exec producers.) Friend, so good as the Germanic Prince Albert in The Young Victoria, cuts a suitably louche figure as Cheri. But his character lacks enough backgrounding and sufficient onscreen chemistry with Pfeiffer for the romance to drive the picture. | | | (Derek Elley, Variety) | | | | There’s a playful tone to Frears’s film – helped, surprisingly, by the sound of Frears’s own, deep, knowing voice on the film’s narration – and some of the scenes of the wider cast, especially those involving Bates, have an air of Oscar Wilde to them: characters trade in polite put-downs and subtle one-upmanship while maintaining an air of respectability. The frisson between Bates and Pfeiffer is entertaining, as is the aloof bitchiness with which Fred regularly addresses his mother. Friend turns out to be perfect as a vapid, beautiful wastrel, although he struggles in the film’s more heavy, more demanding scenes, especially towards the end when tragedy truly kicks in. Alexandre Desplat’s score is a little too evident and overbearing, but the costumes and sets tastefully reflect the colour and wealth of this social circle without dominating the eye or drowning the characters in frippery. It’s Pfeiffer who is the star and delivers the emotional core of Cheri, a film which threatens to float on the surface of emotions rather than fully ride them: she offers a brittle beauty and masks the vulnerability of her character with an outward strength that’s on the verge of crumbling. She brings a welcome tenderness and reality to the relationship between Lea and Fred – a relationship that begins by operating entirely on a superficial level and only later becomes deeper before either of them is even aware of it. The closing voiceover tells of the end of the belle epoque and the coming of the Great War, somehow suggesting that the intimacy of what we have just witnessed somehow mirrors at a personal level the passing of an entire age. Cheri never feels so significant, but neither is it solely a vapid confection: it's a cake with a heart. | | | (Dave Calhoun, Time Out) | | | Pfeiffer's performance is magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache. Unfortunately, the character of Cheri feels bland and colourless. A willowy, floppy-fringed Orlando Bloom-a-like, Friend is no match for Pfeiffer and unconvincing as an object of romantic, lustful obsession. A seasoned femme fatale such as Lea would eat him for petit dejeuner and be bored to tears by cocktail time. But if we overlook this key flaw, Cheri is a mostly undemanding pleasure, and very easy on the eye. Frears and his team shake off the stagey cobwebs that often clutter period drama by shooting in airy Art Nouveau interiors ablaze with silks, brocades and pearls. The film's palette is a pastel-heavy mix of lavender and sepia, eggshell blues and lightly rouged fleshtones, evoking the retro charm of colourised Victorian postcards. | | | (Stephen Dalton, Times) | | | Cheri is a film that will divide audiences. I really enjoyed it, but it is by no means a masterpiece. As a pairing Pfeiffer and Friend do have chemistry and either when bickering or in tender love scenes, it's clear their characters do have a genuine love for each other rather than just passing affection. Pfeiffer will walk away from this with most of the plaudits as her performance is mesmerising, and her delivery smart, tragic and elegant. As Cheri, Rupert Friend is given the hardest task of all, because his character is so unlikeable, plus the script doesn't give him much to do other than play spoilt and look moody - qualities which at first make it hard for the audience to empathise with. Friend does win you over, however, proving that with a little bit more on the page to work with he could be a rising talent. The script is, at times, very funny, though the use of a very droll narration is unnecessary and from a narrative point of view the story would have benefited greatly by showing a bit more of the time these two lovers spent together during there six years instead of focusing on the periods when they were apart. Special praise must also go to Kathy Bates, whose rivalry with both Lea and Cheri is engaging and fun. Bates' performance is a great contradiction to Pfeiffer's likable Lea and provides most of the film's humorous moments. | | | (Darren Amner, eyeforfilm.co.uk) | | |
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, Kathy Bates 
