Show ti r ss 1 t f df r 1 u 1 G. G i t Sophia Myles Isolde falls inlove with James Franco Tristan in Tristan Isolde The Arthurian legend tragically follows their relationship as Isolde is married to Tristan's father figure King Mark Rufus Sewell 1 A dashing tale of tragic love Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times Love stories come and go but few have the durability of Tristan Isolde Everyone from German Richard Wagner to Briton Richard Burton who starred in a 1981 1951 version called have been fascinated ed by this Dark Ages talc of star- star crossed passion and devotion that would not die Director Kev Kevin n Reynolds is x not exactly in Wagners Wagner's league 2 L. L but hes he's turned out a satisfactory 5 version of this story of manly c c men and fervent women This Tristan is a pleasantly old- old fashioned epic romance a bit ungainly but finally the equivalent equivalent lent of having one of those wonderful wonderful wonderful won won- adventure books illustrated ed by NC Wyeth or Howard Pyle come alive on the screen Reynolds has been attracted to the epic before often with dire results witness Rapa Nui and The Count of Monte Cri Cristo But in this case several factors seem to have helped him avoid going too far over the top Screenwriter Dean Georgaris Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate has done a convincing job with the script This more realistic pared Tristan does away with the pestilent dragon of the original legend as well as the love potion of Wagners Wagner's opera It also adds a apolitical apolitical political element by presenting the romance against the b backdrop backdrop back back- ck- ck drop of the weak and preyed preyed- upon tribes of Britain Jutes Angles Saxons and Celts among others yearning to unite against the regions region's Dark Ages dominant power Ireland This Tristan has also done well in casting lovers who really seem seem to care about each other Though he has a tendency to look and sullen a holdover perhaps from an earlier earli earli- er role as James Dean James Franco is appropriately handsome handsome handsome hand hand- some and dashing as the great warrior Tristan Even better is Sophia Myles soon to be seen in Terry Art School Confidential graceful and luminous as the Irish princess who is the other half of the love match Tristan Isolde introduces its protagonists as as' su survivors ivors of difficult childhoods Tristan's parents were killed in an Irish attack and he was raised as a son by Britain's powerful Lord Marke an especially effective Rufus Sewell 5 o'clock shadow and all Isolde's mother was felled by ill vapors leaving her at the mercy of her brutal father the Irish King David Patrick OHara O'Hara an early practitioner of royal who is not notI I above promoting a politically expedient match to a huge bruiser bruis bruis- er for his only child The fates however have different different different dif dif- dif dif- ferent ideas meet Cute-meet circumstances circumstances circumstances circum circum- stances conspire to place a seriously seriously seriously seri seri- wounded Tristan on a deserted Irish beach where Isolde finds him and secretly nurses him back to health without without without with with- out telling him of her royal sta sta- Naturally the pair fall in inlove inlove inlove love placing healing leaves on someone's wounds tends to do that to people but as one of them says we we both know it cannot be Still neither Tristan nor Isolde can foresee the way a complex web of events will create create create cre cre- ate the crisis of ardor versus duty that has made the story of their love a touchstone for genera genera- Tristan Isolde is not all Tristan Isolde Cont on Page 10 0 Tristan Isolde Cont from Page 8 love in fact it features large chunks of professionally professionally professionally pro pro- done action including fierce attacks clandestine ambushes and copious amounts of smiting enemies with mighty swords And the convincing look of the film the success of cinematographer Arthur Reinhart and production designer Mark Geraghty in making us feel were we're in a reasonable reasonable reasonable reason reason- able fantasy facsimile of Britain circa AD is also a plus Realism however goes only so far in Tristan Isolde The happy couple inexplicably inexplicably inexplicably inex inex- have access to a John Donne poem written a thousand years in the future and clunky lines of dialogue on the order of this is a dangerous game youre you're playing and the popular ever-popular God what have I done make frequent appearances This Tristan has its slightly silly moments but rather like those fondly remembered epics of Hollywood past its energy and entertainment value carry the day |