Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 16-March-08
Spoiler Rating: Low

The Sun Also Rises (1957)

You may guess my opinion of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises when I tell you that I watched the movie, slept on it, and began writing this review before remembering that I had read the book less than a decade ago. I only remembered this because the name of a character sounded familiar and I felt a strange, lingering affection for the title, which strikes me as both poetic and funny.

It is funny because the hero is an American named Jake Barnes who suffered a wound during World War I that left him impotent. (He is played in the film by Tyrone Power, who for some reason graces a fifth of the DVDs I have rented during the past 18 months.) His inability to get an erection is all the more devastating because he craves the gorgeous Lady Brett Ashley (Ava Gardner) and she loves him passionately in return. This pretty much sums up the story. They begin in a state of tortured resignation and end in a state of tortured micro-hope. If the sun falls but rises again, might also ...?

The movie's two-hour-plus running time is spent on scenes of Euro-profligacy made bearable by the cast. The in-love non-lovers start out drinking in Paris and end up drinking in Pamplona, Spain, where of course they take in the bullfights. They are accompanied by Jake's easygoing fishing pal (Eddie Albert), an acquaintance of Jake's from the war who follows Brett like a puppy (Mel Ferrer), and Brett's broke and boozy fiancé (Errol Flynn). Old movie buffs get a thrill seeing Power and Flynn together, a bit thick around the middle but still wielding a legendary glow. (Though not old, both stars would be dead of heart attacks within two years.) Flynn would most certainly have won an Oscar had today's standards held sway in the fifties, one of those You-Ought-to-Have-Won-Before-And-We're-Glad-You're-Still-Kickin' trophies often awarded in the Supporting Actor category.

The picture as a whole puts me in mind of that "Would You Rather" game. You know, Would you rather be married to the woman you love without intercourse or pal around with her as she picks up other men? It also makes me feel bad that Dr. Ruth wasn't on the radio between World Wars. Watching Jake and Brett wallowing in pain and skirting important conversations about cunnilingus and sex toys, I wonder if they couldn't have forged their future without relying on blind hope and alcohol. But "The Sun Also Rises" is merely a spectacle, and when the screen goes dark it merits no more thought.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.