Incisive Moreau Gets Lost in Fairy Tale of ‘Proprietor’

With “The Proprietor,” Ismail Merchant has created a beautiful film for Jeanne Moreau, only to get carried away with adoration for her just when clarity, specificity and common sense are most needed to anchor its flights of fancy.

As a result, Moreau’s incisive, reflective depiction of a famous novelist coming to terms with her past blurs into fairy tale, undercutting the impact of a film of admirable elegance and civility, attributes as beguiling as Moreau herself.

For decades, Moreau’s Adrienne Mark has lived in Manhattan, watching its quality of life become eroded by crime and just plain rudeness while seeing her own career dwindle. Consequently, when her mother’s apartment in Paris comes up for auction, she decides to sell all her considerable possessions in an attempt to buy it and to return to Paris after a 30-year absence. Mark has a special reason for wanting it back: As World War II wore on, Mark’s mother, who was Jewish and a famous couturier, placed the apartment in the name of her aristocratic Gentile lover. She ended up being taken by the Gestapo anyway, never to be seen again by her 11-year-old daughter.

In his second feature as a director, Merchant, of the famed Merchant Ivory team, and his writers Jean-Marie Besset and George Trow might have better cut back on Mark’s numerous devoted male admirers and the script’s romantic subplot to use precious screen time to tell us more about Mark herself. That would be better than reiterating that she’s one of the most famous women in the world; it’s just not enough that Moreau is.

Since her mother’s apartment came on the market only with the death of her mother’s lover--who apparently occupied it himself for more than half a century--you have to wonder why Mark, clearly courageous and outspoken, didn’t try sometime during all those decades to get it back from him. Or at the very least confront him, since she believes he betrayed her mother to the Gestapo.

Along the way Merchant does take some amusing potshots at the shopping mentality that has overtaken American life. A nervy, hilarious Sean Young as an American producer, a marketing whiz, is an exemplar of the Hollywood mentality at its crassest.

A man of worldly multicultural sophistication and a warm, embracing sensibility, Merchant establishes a loving friendship between Mark and her longtime housekeeper Milly (Nell Carter). But he can’t resist letting Carter sing, and sing again, to the detriment of the film’s serious tone. What really derails the movie, however, is that without the slightest hesitation Mark accepts a breathtaking gesture from Milly. It’s the kind of response one would expect of Scarlett O’Hara but hardly of a renowned socially conscious modern writer.

This is the moment that “The Proprietor” sails into never-never land. It’s unclear as to whether Merchant intended his film to evolve into a fairy tale as a way of commenting on how hard it is to resolve life’s longings and losses in a harsh, eternally bigoted world.

Typical of Merchant Ivory endeavors, “The Proprietor,” which has a sweeping romantic score by Richard Robbins, has exquisitely flawless settings and costumes, all given full justice by Larry Pizer’s superb camera work. Beautifully coiffed, Moreau is swathed in flowing Nino Cerruti gowns. Supporting her are a number of notable players, including Sam Waterston, Josh Hamilton, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Austin Pendleton. Moreau brings truth, passion and precision to Adrienne Mark’s every word and gesture, but “The Proprietor” is too much homage to Moreau and not enough movie.

* MPAA rating: R, for brief sexuality. Times guidelines: The film contains nothing unsuitable for mature older children.

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‘The Proprietor’

Jeanne Moreau: Adrienne Mark

Sean Young: Virginia Kelly/Francine

Sam Waterston: Harry Bancroft

Nell Carter: Milly

A Warner Bros. release of a Merchant Ivory Productions presentation of an Ognon Pictures and Fez Production Filmcilik production in association with Largo Entertainment, Canal Plus and Channel Four. Director Ismail Merchant. Producers Humbert Balsan, Donald Rosenfield. Executive producers Paul Bradley, Osman Eralp. Screenplay by Jean-Marie Besset and George Trow. Cinematographer Larry Pizer. Editor William Webb. Costumes Anne de Laugardiere. Costumes for Jeanne Moreau, Marc Tissot and Christopher Cazenove designed by Nino Cerruti. Music Richard Robbins. Production designers Bruno Santini (Paris), Kevin Thompson (New York). Art director Bernadette Saint-Loubert (Paris). Set decorators Patrick Colpaert (Paris), C. Ford Wheeler (New York). Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Westside Pavilion Cinemas, 10800 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 475-0202, and the Beverly Center Cineplex, Beverly Boulevard at La Cienega Boulevard, (310) 777-FILM #172.