EDITH KURZWEIL
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nightmares about her childhood rapes began to recu r. Since in bo th fil ms
the fa thers' sexual perversions are treated w ith ino rdi nate understanding
and even humo r, and as whodunits that g radually arrive at th eir climax,
they are rive ting.
Max Fi scher Oason Schwa rtzman), the pro tagoni st of
Rushmore,
is a
bespectacl ed kn ow - it-all fi ftee n-yea r-old who mani pulates hi s fa ther, hi s
teachers, and fe llow students, and even manages to bamboozle the steel
mogul and Rushmo re benefacto r (Bill Murray) w ith w hom he gets
embroil ed in a contes t fo r the beautiful teacher (Olivia Williams). T hi s is
a hilari ous, improbabl e fa ntasy about th e tro ubl es of a talented boy w ho
accompli shes everything he sets o ut to do, except pass hi s courses o r sedu ce
the teacher.
If las t year's jury was correct in cla iming that it inadvertentl y had cho–
sen films about fa mili es, thi s yea r's crop actually embraces fa mily situ ations,
their secrets and sea rches, as well as fri endships that substitute fo r th e nur–
turing of famili es. Fo r exampl e, in
LateA llgllst, Early September,
a number of
friends regroup after th eir ailing mutual fri end Adri en (Franc;:ois C luzet)
has di ed. In thi s French produ cti on inOated egos and changing entangle–
ments in love relations are juxtaposed, as the characters pursue their fairly
self-centered lives. Mathi eu Amah·ic, w ho plays Adri en's bes t but mos t
competitive fi·iend, is the pro totype of the fo rty-ish man who never quite
grows up. (Thi s quali ty is eviden t as wel l in
The Illterlliew,
the blac k-and–
white sho rt w here he plays an eage r young repo rter whose interview with
hi s cheri shed Ava Gardne r ends up as a fi asco.) T hi s French creati o n and ,
in a mo re sustain ed way,
A II I IIIIIII
Ta le
play up the sensuo us quali ty of the
season in the lush countryside, whi ch is parti cularly evocative in the fa ll.
The sto ry, howeve r, deals w ith the soul -sea rching o f two middl e-aged
friends. O ne o f them , Isabell e (Mar ie Riviere), is happily ma rried and
schemes to make th e o th er o ne, the divorced 45-year-o ld vintner, Magali
(Beatrice R omand), fa ll fo r a lonely, pl easan t businessman she has located
by plac ing an ad in th e persona l column of the local newspaper.
Complica ti ons make fo r suspense in thi s deli ghtful and fa irly pat romance.
In
The Dreal/llife
(if
A Il<~els,
ano ther French production, the romanti c
adventures of the two fri ends, Marie (N atac ha R egni er) and Isa (Elodi e
Bouchez), are bo tched . But thi s primar ily is a tale of the relationshi p that
develops betwee n two working-class kids, and their emo ti onal lives-as
they become fri en dly w ith two night cl ub bo un cers and Ma rie ge ts entan–
gled with th eir young boss (Grego ire Coli n), whom she meets w hen he
saves her from being jail ed by buying her the j acket she is caught steali ng.
This involvement ultimately engenders the rift between the two room–
mates, and leads Mar ie-who cannot ex trica te herself from that doomed
love affair-to commit suicide. Isa , on the other hand , who is at first
