Play It As It Lays was made during the ambivalent post 60s culture revolution and reflects that era with characters who don't seem to know what to do with their successful and frivolous lives of blank meaning. Indulgent and indulged, Tuesday Weld as Maria, is an angle face star whose marriage to a celebrated edgy director, Carter Lang (Adam Roarke) is over, but she is unable to cut to cord and move on. Her relationship with in the closet gay friend, BZ (Tony Perkins) is made all the more pathetic because he is a eunuch to her needy selfishness and his own kept situation in a sham marriage. He eventually commits suicide by an overdose of Seconol on her bed, while she watches and cradles his head on a pillow as he succumbs. Maria wanders from the set of her husband's film, to the motel where the cast is quartered, to Las Vegas casino high roller suites, to tennis courts of Hollywood, never finding a wherefore or why. She is a lost little girl in the reality of the film making business. Her nothing existence is a challenge to the distracted woman whose only response to life is "why not?" Maria is the supreme victim to her own situations, e.g., failed marriage to genius film director, young daughter in mental institution on shock treatments, and parents who didn't love her, all of which she is more than aware that she created and perhaps knowingly instigated their failure. The game is just to play whatever hand is dealt. Maria's questioning of the game only lead to her detachment in flashback bits which are meant to convey a European style of film making that is now taken for granted. With voice overs between Maria and various characters, as if interviews were taking place with her, some of the existential angst and pointlessness of her life are revealed.
Weld is one of the most underrated actresses of the era. The strength of this performance is in the understated quietness in her movement and in the flawless, cuteness of her face most often without makeup. Weld was one of the few actresses able to carry off the natural look as well. Best however is her partnership with Tony Perkins in a wonderful give and take performance between two colliding neurotics, one sublime, the other Gothic. They ying and yang with a tempo that is pleasure to watch. Perhaps the film is too subtle for contemporary audiences to fully appreciate today, but in hindsight of older audiences, this film becomes a marker of the lost notion of 60s freedom, youthful ideals grown up and onward, and the disillusionment with the post-flower power commercialism that ruled society of the volatile peace and love generation. With a great supporting cast performances by Tammy Grimes rounds out a film rarely seen, but when viewed, is worthy of all attention.
Weld is one of the most underrated actresses of the era. The strength of this performance is in the understated quietness in her movement and in the flawless, cuteness of her face most often without makeup. Weld was one of the few actresses able to carry off the natural look as well. Best however is her partnership with Tony Perkins in a wonderful give and take performance between two colliding neurotics, one sublime, the other Gothic. They ying and yang with a tempo that is pleasure to watch. Perhaps the film is too subtle for contemporary audiences to fully appreciate today, but in hindsight of older audiences, this film becomes a marker of the lost notion of 60s freedom, youthful ideals grown up and onward, and the disillusionment with the post-flower power commercialism that ruled society of the volatile peace and love generation. With a great supporting cast performances by Tammy Grimes rounds out a film rarely seen, but when viewed, is worthy of all attention.