Dan's Papers - October 19, 2007 - The Door In The Floor

Dan's Papers They Made the Movies Here Film Festival of Fall 2007 gets off to a pounding start on Saturday October 20 with the emotionally charged and sexually impertinent, The Door in the Floor. The event takes place at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Main Street at 3 p.m. Your erstwhile humble host, Guy de Fraumeni (that's me) unfortunately can't make it back north, but Sarah Halsey and Art Center folks will be there with warmth and refreshments.

The Door In The Floor features remarkable performances by Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger and nifty East Hampton appearing as a cool, watery, misty watercolor transparent and veiled, layering lively brush strokes over the film's rollicking portrayal of weighty grief. Ms. Basinger and Mr. Bridges are a married couple living, for a number of years, with the loss of their teenage sons who had perished in a car accident. Even their young daughter has not filled the void. Basinger's role literally vibrates with burden. Bridges as a flamboyant artist and writer of children's books carries the weight differently. His crusty, paunchy character carries on with broad charm and humor, carousing with liquor and women and conniving manipulation. Behind the sweet smell of his success is the distinct aroma of a skunk. How about this. He asks his lovely fragile wife, for a trial separation. At the same time, he has invited an admiring male student to come and assist him for the summer with the tricky notion of allowing him to sleep with his wife. This was not done to save bedroom space and, amazingly, you still love him. This engaging movie is that well made.

The Door In The Floor is crafted with so much taste and restraint you might not think it's been adapted from the first part of a John Irving novel, the 1998, A Widow for One Year. Irving's wacky, oft times tear jerking works that cover pretty much the same themes, has been updated from the '50s and honed and trimmed of Irving's excesses. As written and directed by Tod Williams, the film (whose title comes from one of the artist's books) has been escalated to penetrating heights and afforded Jeff Bridges one of the best performances of the year. The Academy has nominated him four times in the past. He gives the film a purposeful life that runs on long past the closing credits.

The frisky Hamptons are inhabited by an equally vital cast. The idolizing student, soon soured of the artist's generous dollops of the milk of human kindness, is played by gawky Jon Foster. And, gawks he does. He gets to drive Jeff who's lost his license for drunk driving. The assistant delivers him, for instance, to the home of a socialite played with great satisfaction by Mimi Rogers. She is sketchily dressed that is to say nude as Jeff has been drawing her, but art isn't the only result. As the film rocks as a sex farce, the meshing of drama and comedy crunches with importance with its desperation. Skewed, odd roles include the proprietor of a framing shop, Donna Murphy, and the well-to-do model's gardener Louis Arcella. Their twisty lives corkscrew themselves into the allover scheme of the neatly symmetrical story line. Bridge's sensitive acting pulls the evenness of the plot into generous stretches of love and sadness elated by bravado laced with geniality. The question of his sons' deaths is hidden in the creases around his eyes. There is much more to be found in this quite wonderful film that has been unnoticed - hidden under the door in the floor.

Guy Jean de Fraumeni is the producer/writer/director of award winning European and American feature films. He has been a judge at Major Film and TV award competitions, including the Oscars, the Emmy's and various film festivals.