Mistitled,
The Man Who Cried is about a woman and two
men who cry at three poignant moments in the film, which already
impressed European audiences as Les larmes d'un homme before
cautiously opening at a few cinemas in Los Angeles. At the
center of the story is Fegele (played as a child by Claudia
Lander-Duke), who was born into a Yiddish-speaking rural community
in the Russian part of the Soviet Union. Although abandoned
as a child in 1927 by a father (played by Oleg Yankovsky)
bound for America, she hangs onto his picture in hopes that
they will be reunited some day. Soon, she herself departs
as the Soviets burn the village of Jews. Although preferring
to go to America, she arrives in England, where she is renamed
Susan at the port and then adopted by an austere English family.
A misfit at school, her beautiful singing voice is discovered
by a teacher (played by Alan David), and in 1939 Suzie (now
played by Christina Ricci) is recruited to play a role in
a Paris cabaret and subsequently becomes a regular in the
chorus of the Paris Opera. While in Paris (where much of the
movie is filmed), she is befriended by Lola (played by Cate
Blanchett), a Russian émigré who is also a cabaret performer
and member of the opera chorus. Lola moves into her small
apartment, which is run by Madame Goldstein (played by Miriam
Karlin). While Lola tries to play up to fascist-sympathizing
prima donna opera star Dante Dominio (played by John Turturro),
Susan is impressed with the quiet sensuality of César (played
by Johnny Depp), a gypsy who rides a white horse to give the
operas a more visually striking appearance, thus pandering
to the demands of Paris audiences. Dante objects to performing
in a circus after the horse defecates on stage, even going
so far as to object to the presence of a gypsy in the cast,
but Suzie comes to César’s defense, one of her few spoken
lines; indeed, the communitarian atmosphere of gypsies reminds
her of the stetl of her early years in the Soviet Union. In
contrast, flamboyant Lola navigates herself into the high
life of Paris, that is, until dumped by César after he became
bored with having sex with her. In due course, the Nazis march
into Paris, round up Jews, including Mrs. Goldstein, and terrorize
the gypsy encampment. Holding a British passport, Suzie is
not suspected of being a Jew until betrayed by Dante in retaliation
for her preference for César. Thereupon, Lola buys two tickets
for them to sail to America together. When César says goodbye
to Suzie, he becomes the first man who cries in the film,
but he insists that she must leave or suffer the same fate
as Madame Goldstein. After the ship sets sail, it is bombed,
leaving Suzie in the water surrounded by fire (a scene that
strangely begins the film), but Suzie is rescued and lands
in New York. Her search for her father leads her to Hollywood,
where her father has become a film executive. But he is now
on his deathbed. She then goes to the hospital to see her
father, they both cry, and the film ends. Directed and written
by Sally Potter, The Man Who Cried continues
the trend in recent Hollywood films of describing the fate
of Jews under the Nazis, this time focusing on conditions
in France, but the mistreatment of gypsies is also highlighted.
Opera lovers will enjoy hearing many arias lip-synched by
John Turturro. MH
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