Mary Reilly
by Stephen Frears
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DVD details
Actor: George Cole, John Malkovich, Julia Roberts, Kathy Staff, Michael GambonDirector: Stephen Frears
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
Producer: Iain Smith
Producer: Lynn Pleshette
Producer: Nancy Graham Tanen
Producer: Ned Tanen
Producer: Norma Heyman
Writer: Christopher Hampton
Writer: Valerie Martin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); Portuguese (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-09-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Mary Reilly
DVD Review: Not-so Pretty Woman
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw this movie in the theatres when it first came out in 1996, and have to admit that at the time, it didn't leave much of an impression. I'm a reader of classic literature, and was familiar enough with Robert Louis Stevenson's original masterpiece, though I have never read the modern adaptation by Valerie Martin, on which this movie is largely based. I'm not one of the purists who gets bent out of shape if a movie deviates all that much from a written source, provided the source is fictional, and the movie well-done in it's own right. I actually appreciated the twist of telling the classic Jeckyll-Hyde story from the viewpoint of a woman, as this was particularly absent in Stevenson's original work.
I picked up a copy of the DVD the other day (not sure why), and after watching this little-known, atmospheric movie again the other night, have decided that it's better the second time around. Maybe that's the better way to judge most movies after all: some clearly blow you away with the first viewing, but many films like that, when viewed again after the distance of many years, lose their luster- "Mary Reilly" is the other way around for me. Watching it again after 12 years, I appreciated many aspects of the movie that just slipped by me the first time.
For one, while much has been made of the "miscasting" of Julia Roberts, and her on-again, off-again Irish accent in this film, I think it's actually one of her better acting performances. I'm not a fan of Robert's, mainly because the bulk of her movies involve precious little serious acting: most of the time she is just asked to look pretty. "Mary Reilly" (where she is a house servant to the troubled Dr. Jeckyll- John Malkovich- in 1885 London) is the only movie of hers I have seen where her body is not primarily on display. Wearing period attire throughout the film, and with generally no makeup to embellish her face (which actually looks somewhat scarred and even haggard in many scenes), she manages to convey Mary's conflicting emotions very well.....she clearly has a fondness for Dr. Jeckyll, and conveys both fear and paradoxical attraction to the malevolent Hyde without being given all that much to say. Some real acting going on here, and while some just call this miscasting, I appreciated a side of this actress that I've not seen on display before. Her 50:50 success with the Irish accent didn't bother me as much as it apparently did for many other reviewers: at least she tried. Odd that no one gets on Malkovich (a superb actor, particularly in menacing roles like Hyde) for NEVER attempting the same. What bothered me more about Malkovich's character was not the lack of any attempt to make Hyde physically much different from Jeckyll (which many thought was hilariously thin), but the fact that Hyde's voice was NO different than Jeckyll's, other than being given more disturbing things to say. In any event, kudos to Julia Roberts for going "outside-the-box" in this role. Perhaps her role in "Michael Collins" came close to this, with a similarly subdued performance, including the accent.
The main theme of the movie is of course well-known to fans of Stevenson's work, and my only complaint here is I wish the screenwriters had gone a little deeper with Malkovich's character, and given him a few more lines and a little more screen time by himself, to explore the timeless theme of good and evil within the heart of every man. A little less time dwelling on Julia Roberts face, and a little more with glimpses into Jeckyll's torment would have worked better.
The costumes and sets to recreate Victorian London were well-done, though the squalor of the back streets and the forboding atmospheric fog were only given a small role in the film- and at times the interior lighting effects were at odds with the candle-light era: a bit too bright at times, when darkness, fog, and obscurity would not only have been more realistic, but more effective.
The musical score, which totally escaped my attention the first time I saw this film, adds nicely to the tension leading up to Mary's discovery of Jeckyll's secret. It's an understated soundtrack, so you won't find yourself humming bars from it months later- but it clearly adds to the atmosphere of the film, and never detracts from a scene.
The pacing of the movie is deliberately slow, and the violence brief, never gratuitous, and largely implied. But, at 108 minutes, I never felt the movie dragged unnecessarily. Just about right.
I give "Mary Reilly" 3 stars overall. My measure of a movie's worth is whether I would watch it more than once, and whether it holds it's entertainment value after a number of years. In this respect, "Mary Reilly" comfortably measures up. Not a classic, but worth viewing.
I'll take it over "Pretty Woman" anyday. Well, if I'm in the mood, anyway.....
Description of Mary Reilly
AN INNOCENT IRISH HOUSEMAID FINDS HERSELF ENMESHED IN A LOVETRIANGLE BETWEEN HER KINDLY EMPLOYER, DR. JEKYLL, AND HIS BRUTALALTER-EGO, MR. HYDE. SPECIAL FEATURES: LANGUAGES: ENGLISH,FRENCH, SPANISH, AND PORTUGUESE. SUBTITLES IN ENGLISH, FRENCH,SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, CHINES, KOREAN AND THAI, AND MUCH MORE.Stephen Frears reunites with the production talents who made the tempting Dangerous Liaisons for this new look at the infamous Dr. Jekyll (a deft John Malkovich). Instead of being in the laboratory where the good doctor unlocks his evil twin, we stay in the mansion overlooking the lab. An inquisitive, proper maid, Mary Reilly (Julia Roberts) slowly becomes Dr. Jekyll's confidant. Rather than a horror story, the film is a spooky mystery that keeps us in the dark, and what a wonderful dark Frears and his designers have fashioned. Roberts carries the movie, digging deep for her best dramatic work to date. Though some may wish she'd show more passion, she holds her emotions appropriately in check. The movie faced considerable, well-documented troubles, including the reshooting of several scenes months after the initial production. This probably affected the finale, which has little impact and nearly ruins a good thing. --Doug Thomas
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