Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud
With Kerouac fans in cold sweats about the upcoming film version of On the Road, your friendly blogger has decided a rundown of admirable portrayals of writers on the big screen is in order. Without further ado:
Total Eclipse: A young Leo DiCaprio plays enfant terrible poet Arthur Rimbaud to David Thewlis’ Paul Verlaine. Neither of them speak French, but no bother; this is a debaucherous romp through late 19th century Paris, complete with absinthe, masturbation from windows, sodomy, domestic abuse…oh, and poetry.
Il Postino: This Italian film portrays Pablo Neruda’s exile in Italy. Philipe Noiret plays the jovial poet and Massimo Troisi steals the show with a breathtaking performance as Neruda’s postman. The landscapes are beautiful, the acting top-notch and the insights into poetry (especially one scene in which Neruda explains metaphor) deep.
Tom and Viv: Willem Dafoe gives a meticulous performance of American poet T.S. Eliot’s life in London with his first wife Vivian, played by Miranda Richardson, who proves to be less than stable. This is decidedly a period piece, but an enjoyable one, with an especially interesting scene depicting a group reading of “The Wasteland” when it was still known as “He Do the Police in Other Voices.”
The Source: Technically a documentary on the Beats, this film also features some interesting renditions of texts from Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs performed by Johnny Depp, John Turturro and Dennis Hopper.
If we are speaking of “non-fiction,” then the hands down favorite for me is “In a Dark Time” (1964) a short film full of Theodore Roethke reading his poetry and speaking about it. Unavailable generally but now available on youtube.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1951) – the duel where he composes a ballade while fighting is perhaps poetry’s greatest moment on film
l postino (1994)
The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997)
Henry Fool (1997)
Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Reuben, Reuben (1983)
Possession (2002)
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Thanks, Bruce. The Roethke video is new to me. There are some great John Berryman videos floating around the Internet, including this long interview with a debauched and brilliant Berryman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKUSR-yOgpA
And the following reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YUu3L-qGMI
See (hear) also this amazing half-century-old panel discussion…
Poetry And The Film: Amos Vogel, Maya Deren, Parker Tyler, Willard Maas & Dylan Thomas Sessions 1 & 2 At Cinema 16 (10/28/1953): http://www.ubu.com/sound/poetry-film.html