A British film called Carrington, released last year, received good reviews in England, Australia and from the larger cities in the United States. To my knowledge it didn't make it to Tallahassee. Initially this seemed to be a bone of contention. but now, however, this deficit might be a bonus, since Carrington is on the video shelves, offering a rare treat for North Floridian movie-aholics - a video we haven't seen on the big screen.

        So when you're wandering aimlessly through a video store look out for Carrington. The movie is written and directed by Christopher Hampton and deals with an unusual relationship between two gifted people from the notorious "Bloomsbury group."

        One is a visual artist named Dora Carrington who so hated her given name that she insisted on being called by her family name. The other is an obnoxious writer named Lytton Strachey who professes an extreme dislike for the female body, yet admits that he had proposed marriage to Virginia Woolf only to be horrified that she should accept.

        So while the whole premise of the movie seems couched in the bizarre and unusual behaviors of artistes, there is also a simplicity of emotion that runs through the movie, make it particularly touching. The film follows a typical narrative style, and yet the obvious thread that lures in the audience involves the strangeness of human relationships. Why is one person attracted to another?

        Strachey is played with an overhandedly limp wrist and perfect egocentricism by Jonathan Pryce. In the recent film version of Evita, Pryce plaed Juan Person with almost as much emotion as a marble statue. In Carrington he is similarly retrained and enjoys more glib one liners than is comfortbale. The screenplay is taken from Strachey's biography and so many of his clever utterances in the film are actually from his journal entries. They are indeed his words, but not quite as off the cuff as they occur in the film.

        The dust jacket for the video says that Carrington is Emma Thompson in her finest role, and I could agree with this summation. All of Thompson's mannerisms which appeared so contrived in Sense and Sensibility find their perfect home in Carrington. Without resorting to pathos or melodrama, Thompson leads us gently through the life of Carrington to its logical end. Her portrayal of Carrington seems to accentuate the unbearable heaviness of her being with alarming clarity. So that looking back on the movie her life seems as obvious as unscrewing a light bulb.

        The music is brilliant and comes from the pen of Michael Nyman who catapulted to fame with his score for The Piano. The soundtrack bears the trademark Nyman sound, but also serves as an adequate indicator of the constant yearning of the unfulfiled protagonist.

        So if you're in the mood for something a little different keep Carrington on your video list. You won't be disappointed.

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