Movie Review: Cheri

The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.

Director: Stephen Frears

Starring:

Michelle Pfeiffer as Lea de Lonval
Rubert Friend as Cheri

In a game of seduction, never fall in love.

The Review 

One thing that did not disappoint me about this movie was the music. Absolutely exquisite! Of course, it was a little while later, while I was listening to the score independently of the film when I realized that it made me think of circus tunes. Is the picture itself circus-like? In a few ways, undoubtedly.

There's one particular relationship our heroine (if you can call her that) comes in contact with that brings about circus motifs. It is an old friend of Mme Peloux who was herself, at some point or another a prostitute. We see her with a very, very young beau (he can't have been much older than 16) and their performance is altogether ridiculous. The lady is a freak who's lost her marbles. Lea (our heroine) is so appalled and disgusted by the perverted ex prostitute that she makes a hasty excuse and flees from Mme Peloux's. Her reaction is like that of a lady spectator who identifies so strongly with the bearded woman or the 400lb lady (two figures which no circus circa pre millenium would lack) that she cannot stand the sight of herself embodied in such a way.

Or perhaps Lea simply missed her own young beau so much that she had to flee from any reminders of their time together. Who knows... The film certainly doesn't make much of a show of putting those particular puzzle pieces together.

Cheri is a love story, filtered through talks of wealthy prostitutes. I expected very little from a movie of this sort, but in the end I was surprised. It had some moments of genuine charm. Though I'm afraid none of those moments came from Cheri himself. He was, I'm afraid, a generally disappointing character with very little to offer. Rupert Friend is not that charming. Indeed, I'm afraid no one would be charming enough for this role (not even Robert Pattinson). It becomes very obvious very early in the movie that only Lea herself could truly love him. No one else but the maker herself could understand him.

Did I find this worth watching? Yes. It has insight into human feature. Reminded me of Flaubert's writing, except that Mme Bovary had to hide who she really was from the world. These women do not, and they live well because of it.