STAGE BEAUTY

by Joe Barber on Oct.22, 2004, under Joe Barber's Movie Reviews

MOVIE REVIEW:”STAGE BEAUTY”

We often think that gender roles have been hoplessly confused in our often
topsy-turvy, confusing society. But, as the clever new period/romantic
comedy-drama “Stage Beauty” makes clear, that confusion has been with us for

quite a while.

Based on Jeffrey Hatcher’s play “The Complete Female Stage Beauty” (and
adapted for the screen by Hatcher), the film is set in England during the
Restoration period, shortly after Charles II has returned to the country
from a twenty-plud year exile and assumed the throne. During his father’s
time, Puritan forces convinced Charles’ father to ban women from the stage
for moral reasons. The result was the creation of a generation of male
actors who specialized in women’s roles.

Ned (Billy Crudup) is the top “female” star on the London stage. He’s so
believeable that rumors have spread far and wide that he’s a real woman.
Though he’s a star, he never quite satisfied with his work. His loyal
dresser Maria (Claire Danes) thinks the world of his skills and is inspired
by him. So much so that she’s begun acting herself-in secret, because
acting in public by females is still illegal. Fate takes a hand when word
of one of her shows leaks out and, under an assumed name and identity, she
is invited to a dinner with the King and his misstress Nell. Nell fancies
herself an actress; she performs in musical “amusements” for the King and
his guests at the palace.

Ned is also at the dinner, having heard about the new actress in town and
determined to discover just how big a threat she is to him. During a
lively conversation, Charles (well played by Rupert Evrett) decides to lift
the ban on actresses. Suddeny, Maria is the toast of the town. When she
auditions for a role at the theatre she and Ned work at, an angry and
jealous Ned refuses to work with her. Nell, also planning to audition, vows

revenge on Maria’s behalf and goads Charles into banning men from ever
playing women on stage again. Suddenly Ned is a man without a career.
Can he act as a man ? Will Maria transend the studired moves she borrowed
from Ned to trulyact as a woiman on stage ? Can they cross all the
boundries, expectations and roles in their pathes to find professional and
personal success?

Director Richard Eyre has done a wonderful job of keeping this subtle, multi

layered story flowing confidently towards its satisfying conclusion. He
gets a career making performance from Crudup. His Ned is a fascinating
combination of skill, ego, ambition and insecurity. He knows how to be a
“woman” on stage and is a man in real life but has no idea how to be a
complete human being. Danes delivers her most assured and adult performance

as Maria. She creates a passionate, creative woman who’s ahead of her time.

Eyre surrounds his two American stars with the cream of British film acting,

including Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Richard Griffiths and Edward Fox. Unlike
the recent “Vanity Fair”, where Reese Witherspoon sometimes seemed out of
place opposite the all-Brit supporting cast, Crudup and Danes combine
seamlessly with their fellow casat members. Eyer also does a fine job of
allowing the story’s sub-plots and observations to wash over the audience,
rather than clumsily shoving the various points in their faces.

A smart, witty and imaginative backstage romp, “Stage Beauty” is one of the
most satisfying films I’ve seen this year and one that deserves to be
cherished and remembered by audiences and celebrated at awards time.

MPAA RATING:R for profanity, brief nudity and sexual situations
JOE’S RATING: THREE AND A HALF STARS.