Everything about this debut feature is a little strange, from its awkward title to its bizarre linkage of themes. A story of teenage angst crossed with Holocaust drama, "I Love You, I Love You Not" is sort of "My So-Called Life" with a soupcon of "Schindler's List" thrown in. It would take tremendous skill and subtlety to pull that off, and that just doesn't happen here.
Adapted by Wendy Kesselman from her own play, the film all-too-readily reveals its theatrical origins in over-the-top dialogue and emotionalism. It concerns Daisy (Claire Danes), a sensitive young girl attending a posh Manhattan prep school. Daisy is the kind of literary sort who agonizes over the poetry she's writing for English class while despairing over her unrequited love for the cutest boy in school, Ethan (Jude Law), who doesn't seem to know she exists. Daisy's only solace comes from Nana (Jeanne Moreau), her beloved grandmother, a Holocaust survivor whose experiences have instilled in Daisy a deep appreciation for life.
Eventually, Ethan comes to his senses and takes up with Daisy, who is soon excitedly reading "Tropic of Capricorn", no doubt to pick up some tips. Trading deep kisses with herself in a mirror, she's in the throes of full adolescent passion. But the relationship enters rocky waters thanks to peer pressure exerted on the shallow Ethan by his friends, who regard Daisy as a weird, bookish nerd.
Interspersed with all this are various scenes in which the characters deal with remnants of the Holocaust: a survivor lectures Daisy's class about her experiences, revealing her tattoo, and Nana keeps having flashbacks to her personal horrors, particularly involving one young Nazi officer (an uncredited bit by Robert Sean Leonard).
Kesselman's effort to link the lessons of the Holocaust with Daisy's present-day emotional traumas simply doesn't work, and matters are not aided by first-time helmer Billy Hopkins' often-awkward direction. The performances by everyone involved are quite fine -- Hopkins is a very successful casting director, after all -- with Moreau and Danes as luminous as ever and Law offering a multifaceted portrait of a school stud. But the film is a misfire that, despite its undoubted good intentions, is nearly offensive in its injudicious appropriation of the Holocaust.
I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU NOT
Cinepix Film Properties
Director Billy Hopkins
Screenplay Wendy Kesselman,
adapted from her play
Producers Joe Caracciolo Jr.,
John Fiedler, Mark Tarlov
Executive producers Cameron McCracken,
Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
Director of photography Maryse Alberti
Editors Paul Karasick,
Jim Clark
Color/stereo
Cast:
Daisy Claire Danes
Nana Jeanne Moreau
Ethan Jude Law
Mr. Gilman Jerry Tanklow
Jane Carrie Slaza
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Adapted by Wendy Kesselman from her own play, the film all-too-readily reveals its theatrical origins in over-the-top dialogue and emotionalism. It concerns Daisy (Claire Danes), a sensitive young girl attending a posh Manhattan prep school. Daisy is the kind of literary sort who agonizes over the poetry she's writing for English class while despairing over her unrequited love for the cutest boy in school, Ethan (Jude Law), who doesn't seem to know she exists. Daisy's only solace comes from Nana (Jeanne Moreau), her beloved grandmother, a Holocaust survivor whose experiences have instilled in Daisy a deep appreciation for life.
Eventually, Ethan comes to his senses and takes up with Daisy, who is soon excitedly reading "Tropic of Capricorn", no doubt to pick up some tips. Trading deep kisses with herself in a mirror, she's in the throes of full adolescent passion. But the relationship enters rocky waters thanks to peer pressure exerted on the shallow Ethan by his friends, who regard Daisy as a weird, bookish nerd.
Interspersed with all this are various scenes in which the characters deal with remnants of the Holocaust: a survivor lectures Daisy's class about her experiences, revealing her tattoo, and Nana keeps having flashbacks to her personal horrors, particularly involving one young Nazi officer (an uncredited bit by Robert Sean Leonard).
Kesselman's effort to link the lessons of the Holocaust with Daisy's present-day emotional traumas simply doesn't work, and matters are not aided by first-time helmer Billy Hopkins' often-awkward direction. The performances by everyone involved are quite fine -- Hopkins is a very successful casting director, after all -- with Moreau and Danes as luminous as ever and Law offering a multifaceted portrait of a school stud. But the film is a misfire that, despite its undoubted good intentions, is nearly offensive in its injudicious appropriation of the Holocaust.
I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU NOT
Cinepix Film Properties
Director Billy Hopkins
Screenplay Wendy Kesselman,
adapted from her play
Producers Joe Caracciolo Jr.,
John Fiedler, Mark Tarlov
Executive producers Cameron McCracken,
Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein
Director of photography Maryse Alberti
Editors Paul Karasick,
Jim Clark
Color/stereo
Cast:
Daisy Claire Danes
Nana Jeanne Moreau
Ethan Jude Law
Mr. Gilman Jerry Tanklow
Jane Carrie Slaza
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/31/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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