Novelist-turned-filmmaker Paul Auster's second film as director is a fable that draws inspiration from sources as diverse as Adolfo Bioy Casares' novel The Invention of Morel, Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Oval Portrait" and Albert Brooks' THE MUSE (1999).
After finishing his years-in-the-making fourth novel, Martin Frost (David Thewlis) borrows a friend's isolated country home and retreats into the luxury of doing nothing. But when an idea strikes he digs an old manual typewriter out of the closet and pursues it. After all, he's a writer -- that's what he does, and how exhausting could a little short story be? But with inspiration comes an extremely odd distraction: Martin awakens the next day to find a strange woman asleep beside him, a woman who says her name is Claire Martin (Irene Jacob) what an odd coincidence. Claire further claims to be the niece of Martin's absent host, a philosophy major looking for peace and quiet while she writs her thesis. She won't be any bother, she swears with a seductive smile. The dubious Martin is smitten in no time flat, and who wouldn't be? She's smart, sexy, funny, unpredictable and French. But as Martin's new story progresses, Claire begins looking poorly. And by the time he puts the finishing touches on the piece, she's in serious decline and he's figured out those cryptic hints about her real identity: Claire is his muse, and the cosmic rules of inspiration boil down to a cruel can't/must. For Martin's story to live Claire must die, or vice versa.
Like Auster's directing debut, LULU ON THE BRIDGE (1999), the film's principle concern is the nature of the creative process, a thorny subject generally of more interesting to writers than readers, moviemakers rather than moviegoers. Like Brooks, he couches the inner turmoil in darkly comic form (much of it spelled out in voice-over delivered by Auster himself); unfortunately, it's more queasy than funny and undermined by strangely off-kilter performances from all four leads – a second couple, aspiring pulp writer and practicing plumber Jim (Michael Imperioli) and his muse, Anna (Auster's daughter, Sophie), make an 11th-hour appearance for further muddy the allegorical waters. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
