(Canada, 113 min.)
Dir. Don McKellar, Writ. Michael Dowse and Ken Scott
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Taylor Kitsch, Gordon Pinsent,
Liane Balaban, Mark Critch, Mary Walsh.
 |
| Brendan
Gleeson plays Murray French, Taylor Kitsch plays Dr. Paul Lewis and Gordon Pinsent plays Simon in The Grand Seduction, an eOne Films release |
There is nothing especially new about one nation remaking a
successful film from another. It’s a staple of the global business of filmmaking
with spaghetti westerns and samurai films enjoying continuity, and with Asian
blockbusters becoming Hollywood Oscar winners. It is, however, a rarity--aside
from Hollywood redundancies--for countries to remake their own hits. Don
McKellar’s The Grand Seduction is therefore
a notable novelty if only because this Canuck flick revisits the 2003 Quebecois
hit La grande seduction (aka Seducing Dr. Lewis). This take on The Grand Seduction barely changes a
thing from the original film besides the language of its delivery, but anyone
who has seen the charming comedy by Jean-François Pouliot knows that more of
the same isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The Grand Seduction is a thoroughly enjoyable, if completely unnecessary, return to the seduction of Dr. Lewis by the citizens of a small seaside town. This time, instead of whisking viewers to Sainte-Marie-La-Mauderne en français, The Grand Seduction offers a sprightly trip to the fictional harbour of Tickle Head, Newfoundland. Tickle Head, like Sainte-Marie-La-Mauderne, is in the midst of an employment drought since opportunities to make ends meet with cod aren’t biting. That’s bad news for a fishing town and a good reason for why the folks of Tickle Head need to bring in a petroleum processing plant and create jobs for their harbour.
The main hiccup in the deal is that the oil company insists
the town have a resident doctor. Hence, when a former resident who left town to
work at the airport in St John’s busts Dr. Paul Lewis (Lone Survivor’s Taylor
Kitsch) for cocaine possession, Tickle Head gets a temporary doctor. The
residents of Tickle Head therefore have thirty days to seduce the
uber-metropolitan Dr. Lewis into seeing the quaint harbour as the ideal
place to live.
The task falls on down-and-out fisherman/welfare cheque
careerist Murray French (Brendan Gleeson) to lead the charade. The Grand Seduction translates La grande seduction’s dance with Dr.
Lewis almost verbatim as the residents pretend to prefer cricket to hockey and
eavesdrop on the good doctor’s telephone conversations. The laughs come just as
easily the second time around, though, even if one anticipates each familiar
turn of events. The fishing expedition in which the locals help Dr. Lewis catch
a frozen fish, for example, is just as uproarious here as it is in the original
film. Ditto the farcical tempo of the harbour’s skit as the residents scuttle back
and forth to deceive the authorities that the town is more populous than the census
papers say.
Some laughs are bigger this time around, especially thanks
to the casting of Gordon Pinsent (Away
from Her) as Murray’s
cantankerous friend and partner-in-crime, Simon. Pinsent (a winner of a worthy,
if premature, Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor earlier this
year) steals every scene of the film with a bumbling mix of wry sarcasm and
old-stock crankiness. Pinsent’s weathered face and dry delivery are highlights
of The Grand Seduction’s slapstick
side, but he also gives the film an especially tangible hint of local
character.
Other local Newfoundland fixtures, such as Mary Walsh and
Mark Critch, work alongside Pinsent to give The
Grand Seduction its humble humour. Gleeson, on the other hand, feels
perfectly at home playing the shrewdly simple Murray, for the Irish actor
commands the film with a performance of subtle heart and humour. A somewhat
stiff performance by Liane Balaban, however, as Kathleen, the standoffish object of Dr.
Lewis’s affection, doesn't really work, but her soggy crankiness makes Kitsch a charming outsider by comparison and Dr. Lewis
ultimately shines as the most amiable (re: Newfoundland-ish) of the bunch.
The film is peppered with small town charm and character,
for the colourful supporting players make this take on The Grand Seduction feel as if it plays a world apart from its francophone
predecessor. It’s easy to be swept in by the harbour’s seductiveness, for DP
Douglas Koch uses the natural warmth
of the sunlight on the water to highlight the picturesque seaside as a
refreshing escape. The score by Maxime Barzel, Paul-Étienne Côté, and
Francois-Pierre Lue adds a distinctly East Coast character to The Grand Seduction and the Celtic vibes
of the soundtrack are especially engaging.
The folksy presentation of Tickle Head at times teeters upon
being patronizing to the otherworldly quaintness of the Newfoundlanders, but
McKellar’s direction firmly invests The
Grand Seduction with nostalgia for a time and place where people know their
neighbours and belong to a community. The simplicity of the film is half its
appeal. The adaptation by Michael Dowse (The
F-Word) and Ken Scott (Starbuck)
accentuates the back-to-basics air of the harbour and emphasizes the kinship
of community, which ultimately makes Tickle Head’s plight of economic hardship
resonate somewhat stronger than it does in the original film.
Little changes as Dr. Lewis makes his way from one province
to the next, but this return to The Grand
Seduction feels fresh nevertheless thanks to the added timeliness of the
story and the richly inviting setting. The broad scope and genial humour also
makes this story an especially worthwhile one to revisit and bring to a wider
Canadian audience, although the first Seduction
had its own notable measure of national and international success. McKellar’s
feel-good crowd-pleaser should play well from coast to coast: This return to The Grand Seduction is just as good as the
original.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
The Grand Seduction opens in theatres May 30th from eOne
Films.
