Kate Winslet
adds to her growing gallery of headstrong, idealistic women who pursue their feelings despite society's disapproval in the intelligent character study "Hideous Kinky." Her Julia is a single mother who fled London and is rambling around Morocco in 1972 in search of divine truth. What makes "Hideous Kinky" so unromantic is that Julia's two children, sensible
Bea (Bella Riza) and dreamy Lucy (Carrie Mullan)
trailing in their mother's irresponsible, feckless wake. Julia's loopy motives and seat-of-the-pants are maddening and as irresistible as the spectacle of Courtney Love on live TV. The film erases glamour from the color-drenched, vibrant Moroccan locale early on, zeroing in on the sadly comical disappointment of the trio, discovering the girls' father has sent the wrong Christmas package. This scene sums up the effects of Julia's admirable desire to be a good mother with crashing inability to deliver on her intentions. Soon afterwards, Julia falls in with a handsome street acrobat,
Bilal (Said Taghmaoui). The girls take to Bilal
immediately, and the four wanderers form a close-knit group that remains divided (Bilal's mysterious changes of heart, Julia's inability to respond to her children's needs). Julia travels with Bilal to
his home village, where Bilal confronts his past and struggles to understand Julia's life and his relationship with her and the children.
As Julia
forges on her reckless quest muddling forward trying to find relief from her emotional pain and more meaning to life than slaving in a dead-end job, she gets herself into an endless serious of tight spots,
exacerbated by poverty and her impractical nature. Julia's meandering finally comes home to roost with disastrous consequences. and she's unable to see a way out. Bilal, who's also on the run but
for different reasons, makes a fateful decision that's at once very sad and hopeful.
Winslet endows Julia – an unlikable character – with riveting willpower, spirit and a charming obliviousness
as she plunges into one ill-conceived adventure after another. You admire this character's stubborn search for meaning even as you shake your head at her stupidity. Ditsy as she may be, Julia is
a caring mother who fights like a lioness for her children. Her gutsy attitude and lack of self-pity keep her from being a repellent creature, especially when she challenges the hookers who snitch her
clothes and her furious outburst at Bea's caretaker.
First film for newcomers Carrie Mullan (Lucy) and Bella Riza (Bea) who deliver affecting, natural performances under the direction of Scottish
director Gillies MacKinnon (brother Billy penned the screenplay). Production design and costume work are very good, though a bit on the glamorous side. Superb photography and lighting by John de Borman
makes the most of the hot Moroccan light.
"Hideous Kinky" is a film of great visual appeal with a screenplay that is at times razor-sharp (Julia's tears) and flabby (lord, yet another long panning
shot of the landscape!) anchored by sensitive, complex performances by all four talented and gorgeous leads. Taghmaoui brings dignity and honor to his scruffy street hustler in an impassioned and
strong performance. His intensity and expressiveness are reminiscent of Antonio Banderas. Carrie Mullan's huge liquid eyes fringed with thick lashes bear a striking resemblance to Liz Taylor as a
girl, a feature captured to almost hypnotic effect in a scene where the girls tell each other fairy stories. Riza gives Bea a starchy, wise demeanor as a girl who dreams of being normal (shades of
Saffron from 'Absolutely Fabulous'!)
The movie is based on the book by the same name, authored by Esther Freud. She's the sister of designer Bella Freud, grandchildren of celebrated painter
Lucien Freud, and great-grandchildren of THE Freud. The sisters accompanied their mother on her own Moroccan journey, which accounts for the precisely drawn vignettes of hippie life on the road
(truffle paste, the sardines). Bizarre title is made of the girls' two favorite words, a code between themselves for a joyful experience that comes back to them from an unexpected voice.
"Hideous Kinky" is much like these stories and the girls' wordplay: based in reality, inconsistent yet engrossing in their imperfect and illogical story. Interesting to pair this character
study of an unconventional woman with another examination of a mother trying to find herself -- the genteel
"A Walk on the Moon." |
