"Deception" -- Movie Review

 

On the opening weekend of Lincoln Center’s French Film Festival, I attended a screening of the drama “Deception” (“Tromperie”), directed and co-written by Arnaud Desplechin. 

Synopsis

A novelist cheats on his wife with a much younger woman who herself is married and with a son. 

Story

Philip (Denis Podalydès) is a successful American author living in London during the 1980’s.  Despite being married for a long time (or perhaps because of it), he engages in a romantic relationship with a young woman in her early 30’s (Léa Seydoux), who is similarly disillusioned with her own marriage; experiencing no love from her husband, she merely stays together for the sake of their young son.  When Philip leaves home to head to his office, he uses it as a place for his trysts rather than to work on his next book.  Between moments of intense passion, the two engage in various intellectual discussions. 

Although in fact working on a new novel, Philip is too distracted by his lover to devote much of his time and attention to actually writing.  There is quite a bit going on in his life right now and he only seems to be sabotaging himself – perhaps intentionally so because he doesn’t really want to work on the book at this particular time.  Most of his energy is spent on making love to his paramour and he has very little left for anyone or anything.  Even his wife doesn’t get much of his time and their dinners together are mostly conducted in silence.  The only communication they have is when she accuses him of cheating on her.  

Eventually, Philip and his younger lover come to a point where their liaisons are losing steam.  Their time together becomes increasingly infrequent and even when they do get together, they are mostly engaged in discussions rather than spending time in bed.  As their passion fades and they stop seeing each other, Philip reflects on their past and begins his new project:  writing about how they both deceived their spouse.  Once the book is published and gains increasing notoriety, what will her reaction be when she learns that their private moments are now shared with the public?

 Review

“Deception” is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by author Philip Roth.  Over the years, attempts have been made to adapt Roth’s work into films; he has historically been a difficult writer to adapt to the screen and many of the motion pictures that have attempted this haven’t been terribly successful.  Noted director Arnaud Desplechin takes his turn at this – and it is with great hubris that it is attempted.  With the character of Philip being so self-centered, he hardly makes for a sympathetic protagonist and it is not long before the viewer loses interest in this meandering tale that doesn’t really go anywhere.      

The self-absorbed nature of the characters combined with the interior life of the main character result in a film that is ultimately impossible to grab an audience either emotionally or intellectually.  How you feel about the movie may depend on how you feel about Roth, this book or his work in general.  If you find none of these particularly interesting, then it’s quite likely that “Deception” as a motion picture will be even less interesting.  There’s very little about either the lead characters or the picture itself that is either appealing or worth recommending.  It may be better to just read a book (but not necessarily this one). 

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Arnaud Desplechin.  He said that it was his intention to remain faithful to the Roth book; however, Desplechin admits to having changed the order of some of the scenes in the book.  One of the reasons why he did this was because he intentionally didn’t want the audience to know when the lovers were together or not.  Desplechin confessed that after finishing his studies in film school, he had no voice as a filmmaker.  It wasn’t until he was 25 years old that he finally read Roth’s “Portnoy’s Complaint” and realized he was using himself as the source material for his own work.  Desplechin alluded to Hitchcock’s advice of never trying to adapt a novel to the screen; that it was better to adapt a short story than a novel.