I envied the theatergoer who might have stumbled upon the production and been surprised that the character—and the person with the male-sounding name playing him—was a female. Of course, the character would have been much younger. Here, she is supposed to be 40, but looks older; the effect of this is to make Albert’s courtship of the young servant played by Mia Wasikowska faintly ridiculous, but probably also to make Albert more pitiable as one who has wasted so many years. In any case, it is a heart-rending portrayal. The fine screenplay, by Close and novelist John Banville (from a novella by George Moore), gives shape to the lives of the working-class characters. The story depends on two coincidences, but the motivations of the characters are still very much believable.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Albert Nobbs (***1/2)
Taking on another identity can be a liberating act, but for Albert (Glenn Close), it’s a self-negating one. Close first played the role, a waiter in a Dublin hotel circa 1900, 30 years ago on the New York stage. In addition to touching on issues of class and gender, the story is about a life constrained, how the passage of years can render one unrecognizable, and how a chance occurrence can cause lasting change. The rest of the hotel staff regard Albert as a curiosity, or as a fixture. The humble waiter has retreated so far into an assumed identity that she’s almost forgotten herself. Albert simply works and saves, squirreling years of wages away in the hope of buying a small shop. It is only when a strangely sympathetic house painter discovers Albert’s identity that she imagines other possibilities for herself.
I envied the theatergoer who might have stumbled upon the production and been surprised that the character—and the person with the male-sounding name playing him—was a female. Of course, the character would have been much younger. Here, she is supposed to be 40, but looks older; the effect of this is to make Albert’s courtship of the young servant played by Mia Wasikowska faintly ridiculous, but probably also to make Albert more pitiable as one who has wasted so many years. In any case, it is a heart-rending portrayal. The fine screenplay, by Close and novelist John Banville (from a novella by George Moore), gives shape to the lives of the working-class characters. The story depends on two coincidences, but the motivations of the characters are still very much believable.
viewed 2/12/12 1:05 pm at Ritz 5 and reviewed ?–6/3/12
I envied the theatergoer who might have stumbled upon the production and been surprised that the character—and the person with the male-sounding name playing him—was a female. Of course, the character would have been much younger. Here, she is supposed to be 40, but looks older; the effect of this is to make Albert’s courtship of the young servant played by Mia Wasikowska faintly ridiculous, but probably also to make Albert more pitiable as one who has wasted so many years. In any case, it is a heart-rending portrayal. The fine screenplay, by Close and novelist John Banville (from a novella by George Moore), gives shape to the lives of the working-class characters. The story depends on two coincidences, but the motivations of the characters are still very much believable.
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