Spoilers herein.
Sophia had a lot of good advice, and took a risky path. All is invested in the twin narratives of voice over and story-by-image rather than theater conventions.
What a voiceover! By the strong Ribisi. What images! This may confuse some who expect there to be a plot, to have action and explanations. None of that here. Nothing is explained and it is somewhat questionable what happens.
That's because Ms Coppola builds her narrative around Cecelia's diary. We see everything through a haze. Along the way, we encounter numerous unreliable witnesses. The psychiatrist -- strong here -- is DeVito who made a comedy of `Pale Fire,' for chrissakes (`Throw Momma from the Train'). The lover, who testifies, is institutionalized. TV reporters give twisted reports. The parents dissemble.
Presumably DeVito advised on the Nabokovizing of the narrative, so that we cannot know if the remembrance is true. (The `Lolita' references are continuous, including the casting of Dominique Swain's (`Lolita') sister as Bonnie.) It is, therefore, all about collecting photos from the trash and weaving a story around misty remembrances and fantasies (the nightly trysts on the roof). It works not because it rings true, but because its falseness rings true.
There's lots of moving back and forth in time and imagination, all done cinematically. Added in: the coconspirator with you, the narrator, is the Church -- the Virgin of the title originates with the surrogate mother, who exists only as a reinvention of history. Here, she is a card.
How great to see Woods as a peripheral force rather than the fulcrum of a film.
The removal of trees and the decay of the house probably figure more strongly in the book. .
Sophia had a lot of good advice, and took a risky path. All is invested in the twin narratives of voice over and story-by-image rather than theater conventions.
What a voiceover! By the strong Ribisi. What images! This may confuse some who expect there to be a plot, to have action and explanations. None of that here. Nothing is explained and it is somewhat questionable what happens.
That's because Ms Coppola builds her narrative around Cecelia's diary. We see everything through a haze. Along the way, we encounter numerous unreliable witnesses. The psychiatrist -- strong here -- is DeVito who made a comedy of `Pale Fire,' for chrissakes (`Throw Momma from the Train'). The lover, who testifies, is institutionalized. TV reporters give twisted reports. The parents dissemble.
Presumably DeVito advised on the Nabokovizing of the narrative, so that we cannot know if the remembrance is true. (The `Lolita' references are continuous, including the casting of Dominique Swain's (`Lolita') sister as Bonnie.) It is, therefore, all about collecting photos from the trash and weaving a story around misty remembrances and fantasies (the nightly trysts on the roof). It works not because it rings true, but because its falseness rings true.
There's lots of moving back and forth in time and imagination, all done cinematically. Added in: the coconspirator with you, the narrator, is the Church -- the Virgin of the title originates with the surrogate mother, who exists only as a reinvention of history. Here, she is a card.
How great to see Woods as a peripheral force rather than the fulcrum of a film.
The removal of trees and the decay of the house probably figure more strongly in the book. .