Faithful (1996) – DVD

**½/**** Image B+ Sound B+
starring Cher, Chazz Palminteri, Ryan O'Neal
screenplay by Chazz Palminteri, based on his play
directed by Paul Mazursky

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Back when I lived in arts residence at York University, I decided I had a pretty good way of gauging who was serious about their vocation and who was not: the (pitifully small) former group spoke of things outside of themselves, and the (vast, limitless) latter group spoke about "relationships." But though I was pretty contemptuous of the relationships crowd, I had to admit it's very easy to read earth-shattering significance into one's romantic woes, containing as they do the confusing DNA of gender roles, as well as those roles' implied responsibilities and the unnecessary pain that they cause. Understanding this to a point, Faithful proves to be an unusually cogent relationship movie, rich with male/female cross-examination and genuine anguish over the gulf between the two genders. Still, it's just as narcissistic as anything my old student colleagues would cook up, and so the good bits must compete for attention with grandstanding and breast-beating that would be better off in another movie.

Cher plays Margaret, a rich but demoralized housewife who's essentially a prisoner of her massive house and possessions. Husband Jack (Ryan O'Neal) may or may not be shtupping a young co-worker, and in any event is so distant that he can barely be seen. But Margaret's outlook changes when hitman Tony (Chazz Palminteri) arrives under orders (maybe from her husband, maybe not) to kill her. You'd think that this would be yet another demoralizing setback (amongst other things), but it turns out that Tony is a neurotic blabbermouth who constantly misses chances to kill her. And he's no happier than she is–crushed under brutal macho codes and anguished over his role in his sister's death, he proves to be the male flipside to Margaret's female suffering. Thus she has a trump card to keep from getting killed: keep him talking; maybe they can become allies instead of enemies. Not bad for a day that started off with her contemplating suicide.

So: is this a serious drama, or just a relationship wank? In truth, it sits on the fence between the two, leaning perilously close to the latter side while being pulled back by the former. To the credit of Palminteri (who also wrote the script, based on his play), Faithful manages to draw a lot of attention to the horrible things that men do to women (and to themselves). Snatches of conversation have real potency and insight: there's Margaret recalling that a boyfriend once slept with a prettier girl, illustrating the cost of men's irrational attraction to trophy girls; and there's the spectacle of hysterical Tony clinging desperately to domineering maleness even as he falls apart at the seams. But as with classic relationship thinking, the proceedings are too self-contained to completely fulfil this promise. For both Margaret and Tony, the stakes are never higher than their own lives, never really suggesting the world beyond their personal walls–meaning that the film will nearly fall apart when the two-timing Jack arrives on the scene and shatters the tension of their two-hander tête-à-tête.

There are other problems–inconsistencies abound. One wonders why a professional killer would wait so long to kill his prey, or be oblivious to the security cameras that surround Margaret's property. And the script toys with the audience unnecessarily: one is never quite sure who ordered who to kill whom, which obscures the political nature of the plot machinations when it should be revealing them. But despite all these signs of relationship amateurism, the film manages to have moments of real power and drama. Part of this is due to Paul Mazursky's tense and subtle direction, while part of this is due to Palminteri's bravura performance. But mostly, it's the script's good nuggets of insight, which, if less than numerous, are more than satisfactory and make an uneven film worth waiting out.

THE DVD
New Line's Faithful DVD is more or less acceptable. No big marks for the 1.85:1, 16×9-enhanced transfer: the image is a little drab and tends to break up in areas of deep black, although the largely well-lit film still comes through with adequate sharpness. There are two Dolby Digital soundmixes, in 5.1 and 2.0 surround; alas, this is a dialogue-driven film that doesn't have enough going on to justify the 5.1 treatment, though one appreciates the use of surround channels during music cues. The disc's only extras: the film's trailer, plus trailers for National Lampoon's Senior Trip, Head Above Water, and Heart Condition.

91 minutes; R; 1.85:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, English Dolby Surround; CC; English, Spanish subtitles; DVD-5; Region One; New Line