Review Nine

When Rob Marshall decided to adapt the stage musical “Nine”, he was actually taking on the adaptation of an adaptation of an adaptation.

“Nine” is based on the 80’s Tony Award-Winning Broadway production of the same name, which was an adaptation of an Italian play by Mario Fratti, itself inspired by Federico Fellini’s immortal classic “8 ½”.

After a successful revival of the Broadway show a few years ago, the Weinstein Company decided to take this story back to the big screen, and to make it bigger than ever. Of course, after so many reinterpretations, it is no surprise that the substance of the movie has been diluted to nothing.

A lot of show and flashes and even consecrated names like Sophia Loren’s can’t disguise the void. Like the protagonist of the film, Guido, who loses himself in his larger-than-life project “Italia”, this was a far too big production that crushes almost any human element it could have had in it.

Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a renowned Italian director known for his genius as much as for the sex and beautiful women he showcases in his movies. He is also an avid womanizer who keeps his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard) at home while he flirts, cheats and has affairs.

As he tries to come up with the plot for his much-awaited new movie “Italia”, his life will be torn and tangled by all the influences and women around him –his current mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz), his leading actress Claudia Jenssen (Nicole Kidman), the sexy journalist on the prey Stephanie (Kate Hudson), his costume designer and guide Lilli La Fleur (Judi Dench), his mother (Sophia Loren), and all the moral analysis, public expectation and pressures from the outside world. Lost, his search for inspiration will be a search for his humanity, and an answer to the cunning question: of all the women who loved him, has he ever loved any of them?

The plot of “Nine” is a rather dysfunctional thing that only works as a character study. This movie revolves around Guido, and the scrutiny of his self-absorbed, susceptible and fantasist persona. For a director like Fellini, surrealist and idiosyncratic, a loose structure like this one is not only not off-putting but helps create the dream-like quality of his work (of course that has a lot to do with his brilliant delivery). And yet his movie still depends on one central thing: Guido, and how the audience connects to him. Now, in the case of “Nine”, the uneven plot is not compensated by exceptional form or the sublime visual style and storytelling one might hope for, given the freedom a musical allows. Even worse the character of Guido, who should at least carry the movie and win the hearts and minds of its audience, remains unapproachable and difficult to relate to. Guido’s problems are so overshadowed by his lack of direction and of any emotional capacity that we don’t really care about them – as we don’t really care about his movie.

It is not a matter of bad acting. Daniel Day-Lewis has proven numerous times that his performances can be portentous – but that is when the character suits him. Guido, a conflicted egomaniac who doesn’t know what he wants and is oblivious to the damage he causes on his way to get it, was not an easy character to sell to the audience. But the character didn’t need to be inaccessible: we, as viewers, have proven that we can like and root for criminals, thugs and even psycho-killers if they are appealing enough. A self-absorbed, lying womanizer can be a fascinating protagonist precisely because of his bad habits, if only he perpetrates them with a certain charm, confidence or magnetism that makes him as alluring to us as he is to the women around him. Raul Julia and Antonio Banderas both played the role on Broadway to great general acclaim. They are not better actors than Day-Lewis, but their success is probably explained because their Guido was more youthful and enchanting, likeable despite his bad choices and his apparent indifference. A role like this needs an actor who can be pardoned for his misdemeanors. Daniel Day-Lewis is a dramatic heavy-weight, and, despite his talent, he doesn’t have the pull for the audience that Guido needs to have. Marshall’s first choice of casting, Javier Bardem, would probably have suited those qualities better, drawing and enticing women despite his lack of feelings for them. Day-Lewis is too serious and withdrawn for that. His cheating, lying, and lack of any big redeeming actions only make us pity the girls who fall for him – and question why they love him in the first place.

While the right casting could have transformed Guido’s search for inspiration into something either poignant or just fun to watch (and in the case of a musical I would opt for the fun), our detachment from him in “Nine” makes us turn to other places for the enjoyment we were expecting, and for some amendment on Marshall’s part. That, given that Marshall was a choreographer and Broadway director, would have to be in the musical fragments. But “Nine” is even more disappointing in its musical parts than it is in its characters. Yes, a couple of numbers do have some interesting content that is translated into good lyrics, music and choreography. Penelope Cruz’s number is overtly sexual and perfectly defining for her character – although I would still have liked something more elaborate than her alone singing “Squeeze me”. And Marion Cotillard’s number has an emotional charge that the actress conveys with talent. But even those numbers are not extraordinary. Marshall’s last musical film, “Chicago”, might not have been a masterpiece. But the musical fragments, although not bold enough to not be justified as fantasy sequences – when will musicals dare to just have people sing again? – were at least fun and imaginative and relevant enough that they narrated entire scenes and offered us new insights into the characters. In “Nine”, all the numbers are tame and limited by the soundstage that is used as background. It is unexciting and a waste of the fantastic potential a musical film has – what other genre allows you to let your imagination loose and push your characters as far as you want from reality, while singing and dancing? And when lyrics like the ones for Kate Hudson’s song come out of the speakers, the experience becomes almost painful.

“Nine” does have a good group of female actors that try their best to elevate the quality of the whole. Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench or Sophia Loren are usually strong actresses independently, and their job in the movie is as good as it could be. But their work is damaged by the lack of development of their characters, and the fact that the casting as a whole is as incongruent and all over the place as the movie itself. Marion Cotillard’s character Luisa, who goes on a journey to face who Guido really is, is the most interesting in the movie.

The scene in the screening room, when she sees her husband talking to another actress exactly as he did to her, is genuinely painful. Penelope Cruz also does a good job as the mistress, although the character deserved much more exploration.

As it is barely limited to Cruz’s passionate and sexual appeal. And Judi Dench is perfect and strong as always. But the one who gets the worst cut is clearly Kate Hudson. Not only is her musical number cringing – and it is not because she lacks the ability –, but the character she plays is as easily forgettable as if they had eliminated the two scenes she has.

“Nine” could have been a great production, with talented actors, remarkable numbers, interesting characters and an overall engaging story. Instead, it is an empty package, with big names written on top of a bland, under-developed story.

Most of the characters are not interesting enough, and the visuals and style are rather predictable. But most disappointing of all is the waste of the freedom that the musical genre allows – particularly on film. Even though there is no limiting stage, the musical fragments are still as restricted as in a theater production – and not half as imaginative. It is a shame; with a better direction “Nine” could have been an electrifying experience. Instead, don’t be surprised if you see people walking out of the theater.