Review

Review Date: 15-September-02
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Lantana (2001)

Where romantic comedies leave off (with the ecstatic revelation that love is mutual and the search is over), adult dramas begin (with the very serious question, After the honeymoon is over, how do they make it last?). The moody Australian picture "Lantana" examines the answers to this question by offering up a sometimes gripping but strangely languid mix of melancholy, hope, gender stereotyping, common sense wisdom, and murder-mystery-type intrigue.

The opening scene, which slowly pans into the dark and sinister interior of a flowered shrub (a lantana, I assume), suggests the Garden of Eden and its inhabitants, and this idea is maintained throughout "Lantana," as the ways in which men and women love, need, betray, and misunderstand each other are detailed. The movie involves the momentous experiences and interconnections of four primary couples. Leon and Sonja (Anthony LaPaglia and Kerry Armstrong) have two teen sons and a seemingly successful life, but at the beginning of the film Leon is shown engaging in his first adulterous act and Sonja is shown complaining to a psychologist about her unhappy marriage. Leon's lover is Jane (Rachael Blake), who has separated from an apparently sweet and devoted husband named Pete because she's not madly in love with him. Sonja's shrink, Valerie (Barbara Hershey), is herself having marital troubles and suspects her husband John (Geoffrey Rush) of having a homosexual affair. Finally, Jane is jealous of the happiness of her neighbors, Paula and Nik (Daniella Farinacci and Vince Colosimo), who appear to have found the secret to keeping the home fires burning, despite being low on money and laden with children. Rounding out the large cast are Claudia, Leon's partner (they're cops), who is looking for a love of her own, and Patrick, a homosexual client of Valerie's who is having an affair with a married man.

The first half of the movie introduces the trials and tribulations of these characters; the second half turns to mystery and suspense as Valerie goes missing and both her husband and Nik are suspected by Leon and Claudia, who investigate the case. Valerie's disappearance forces all of the primary characters to address their own problems and highlights the reason why it's important for people who love each other to work on staying together: you just never know when the love you've been abusing or neglecting will vanish, leaving you with nothing but regret.

There's a lot of weighty stuff in this picture, and the actors render their characters with exceeding and nonwavering grimness, which gives "Lantana" a slightly soap opera-ish feel. (Kerry Armstrong is the one exception; she portrays Sonja as a woman who, though in pain, still maintains some degree of hope and spirit). Director Ray Lawrence also seems to take the story --- and his telling of it --- very seriously, which adds a bit of pomposity to the starkness of the film. Still, enough mystery is generated by the desperate situations of the characters, particularly in the second half, to keep one's interest. Which couples are going to stay together, and which will fall apart? Is John really having an affair with Patrick, or some other man? What happened to Valerie? These questions are posed well enough to make you anticipate the answers.

Throughout all of the other questions runs the original idea of men and women. "Lantana" offers the standard reasons why men and women gradually lose their mutual confidence and stop helping each other through life: women are emotional and want to know what men are thinking, but men are unable to express their feelings (Pete to Leon: "Don't you ever want to cry sometimes?" Leon: "Yeah, but you don't, do you?"); when the chips are down, women pursue counseling or other modes of empowerment, while their husbands get closed off and turn to affairs. But the movie adds another layer to these common excuses for marital distress: the culprit isn't just gender, but also the expectations of marriage, of having someone reliant on you, upon whom you are supposed to rely. Although Leon cannot talk honestly with Sonja, his partner in life, he has a very forthright and open relationship with Claudia, his partner at work. In addition, Patrick says he offers respite to his married lover, a place where he can go to escape, not necessarily his wife, but the serious demands of marriage. It's as if the very fact that you are supposed to confide in your spouse makes it harder to do so, since so much is riding on that confidence and association.

But the fear and resistance that come with commitment must be mastered if a couple is to survive and personal happiness achieved. In the end, "Lantana" illustrates that love is not enough to keep two people together; there must also be ongoing communication, trust, companionship, persistence, and a bit of luck. The four main couples represent varying levels of these accomplishments, along with the accompanying results. Jane and Pete are estranged because, although they have friendly affection, the underlying passion is missing; Valerie and John are beyond saving because their original bond has been too seriously eroded by their daughter's death; Leon and Sonja have some hope because they are still in love and can repair a loss of communication and trust; and Paula and Nik enjoy passion, friendship, and faith in each other, and are therefore rock solid. The movie hints that while these characters are experiencing challenges in their day-to-day lives (e.g., work stress, financial problems), their ability to deal with these hardships is directly linked to the state of their relationships. Where love exists, the effort to maintain the other necessities of a marriage is worthwhile.

"Lantana" feels a bit like an after school special for adults; it focuses on a specific danger that people come across at a particular time of life, and suggests ways to avoid getting in trouble when your time comes. (Don't give in to peer pressure, just say no to drugs, and never stop talking to and relying on your spouse, no matter how hard or painful it is.) If you're in the right mood though (serious and, pensive), you might just find the movie's message and its gloomy mystery insightful and entertaining.

Copyright © 2002 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.