Based on a stage-play by Noel Coward, director Eric Styles' "Relative Values" stars Jeanne Tripplehorn as Miranda, a Hollywood actress hoping to marry her way into a family lorded over by Lady Marshwood (Julie Andrews), a wealthy aristocrat.
Beneath its chirpy, comedic exterior, "Relative Values" is a fairly dour and depressing film. A satire of snobbery and class biases, it climaxes with Lady Marshwood successfully keeping her bloodline pure of lower-class upstarts. Hollywood's nouveau-riche may be treated like royalty, but they're no match for the real thing, who are masters at protecting their assets, human or otherwise.
Brisk and witty – the film's clever title contrasts the "relative" value of Miranda with the presumably "absolute" value of the Marshwoods – Styles' film finds actress Jeanne Tripplehorn in a rare leading role. Cursed by her immaculate looks, Tripplehorn's long been an underused actress. In "Values", she plays a caricature of 1950s prima donnas, a facade which Styles peals back to reveal a wounded girl beneath.
Interestingly, "Values" doesn't shy away from implicating the working classes in class snobbery as well. Indeed, Miranda is as abusive toward her sister, a servant, as Lady Marshwood is toward Miranda. This is fitting; society oft internalises the elitism of the ruling classes. Ironically, Styles' film does this as well, the scheming Lady Marshwood largely let off the proverbial hook. William Baldwin and Stephen Fry co-star.
7.5/10 – Worth one viewing. See "The Remains of the Day".
Beneath its chirpy, comedic exterior, "Relative Values" is a fairly dour and depressing film. A satire of snobbery and class biases, it climaxes with Lady Marshwood successfully keeping her bloodline pure of lower-class upstarts. Hollywood's nouveau-riche may be treated like royalty, but they're no match for the real thing, who are masters at protecting their assets, human or otherwise.
Brisk and witty – the film's clever title contrasts the "relative" value of Miranda with the presumably "absolute" value of the Marshwoods – Styles' film finds actress Jeanne Tripplehorn in a rare leading role. Cursed by her immaculate looks, Tripplehorn's long been an underused actress. In "Values", she plays a caricature of 1950s prima donnas, a facade which Styles peals back to reveal a wounded girl beneath.
Interestingly, "Values" doesn't shy away from implicating the working classes in class snobbery as well. Indeed, Miranda is as abusive toward her sister, a servant, as Lady Marshwood is toward Miranda. This is fitting; society oft internalises the elitism of the ruling classes. Ironically, Styles' film does this as well, the scheming Lady Marshwood largely let off the proverbial hook. William Baldwin and Stephen Fry co-star.
7.5/10 – Worth one viewing. See "The Remains of the Day".