***/**** Image A- Sound A Extras B
starring Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Trevor Morgan
screenplay by Jane Anderson, based on the novel by Terry Ryan
directed by Jane Anderson
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Writer-director Jane Anderson says of The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio in her DVD commentary, “There are no villains in this film.” This is a bit of a feat considering that said film is about real-life Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore), whose husband Kelly (Woody Harrelson) was a chronic, self-piteous alcoholic; so disastrous was his handling of the family finances that Evelyn was forced to keep their ten-child brood together by entering jingle-writing contests. But instead of painting Kelly as a monster, the film shows him to be merely a broken and disappointed man as confused by his assigned role of patriarch and provider as he is about the accident that claimed his singing career. Of course, it’s just as pointed in its reclamation of the stifled talents of its titular prizewinner, detailing how she managed to become a breadwinner and a commercial poet when her assigned role was to keep her head down and go unnoticed. Everybody may lose in this scenario, but Anderson is certain that the heart’s desire bursts through ironclad roles.
To be sure, she’s a little obvious in her evocation of the Fifties. Anderson gives us a mild, candy-coated hyperreality that reflects the advertising of the period rather than anyone living on the planet Earth at any time. (If Douglas Sirk had been a feminist rather than a Brechtian, this would be the kind of movie he’d make.) Were The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio charged with emotion, this might have made more sense, but Anderson is careful to minimize Kelly’s rages and emotional spasms with the happy veneer of the jingles Evelyn brilliantly pens. Such could serve as a riposte to the imposed mood of the family home, or it could represent either the domination of Evelyn’s sensibility or a sop to the studio–but whatever the reason, it dulls the impact of much of the inescapably dark material, keeping it from having the potency it ought to.
If the film fails as righteous indignation, though, it’s still somewhat incisive in terms of what my old professors would call a critique of the patriarchal order. The walls close in on Evelyn fairly quickly: not only does Kelly have total control over the household, but he also seems ill-suited for this power. The stress from his less-than-stellar life leads him to exercise his male privilege and drink like a maniac–and after a while, he starts deferring to his wife’s advertising wit as the cushion on which his bad behaviour can fall. Evelyn seems superhuman not to complain, but she’s painfully aware that complaining wouldn’t do any good. She simply soldiers on the only way she knows how, and in so doing paints a picture of the silent suffering wife as not-so-silent and powerfully active.
The movie is about what happens when patriarchy keeps people from collaborating. Kelly can’t publicly accept help, because that would mean he’s weak; Evelyn can’t bring home the bacon, because that would be blighting her husband’s position. The impossibility of the situations means that the two have to change places regardless–because there’s no way two functioning parents can fail to trade off at some point. Thus the only villain in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is the nightmare of the system, and how it fits square pegs into holes that aren’t even open. Viewed this way, the tortuous rescues of the heroine’s jingle triumphs is testament to someone being themselves out of the eye of the symbolic order–with her refusal to say die nothing short of miraculous under the circumstances.
THE DVD
DreamWorks’ disc does the film justice. The 1.85:1, 16×9-enhanced image has strong sharpness and a dialled-down saturation level that’s crucial for rendering the pastel colours of the ’50s and early-’60s. Meanwhile, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is loaded with interesting surround cues that lend the film a more vivid feel than loud blockbusters with fifty times the effects. Extras include two commentaries, the first with director Jane Anderson; once you get past her sounding uncannily like Joan Cusack, she proves genial and informative by providing a decent rundown of her artistic and thematic choices while saving a dig for the Catholic church. The second yakker, featuring Julianne Moore, is slightly less satisfying, with some obvious reiterations of what’s onscreen and love for her co-stars. That being said, there are choice bits of business about the actor’s process sprinkled throughout the track. A photo gallery highlights not the production but the real-life Ryan family, offering a stark lesson in movie real and reality itself. Trailers for Dreamer and Just Like Heaven begin on startup, while clips for Prime and Pride & Prejudice have a separate menu link.
99 minutes; PG-13; 1.85:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, English Dolby Surround; CC; English, French, Spanish subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; DreamWorks
