QUEEN OF THE DESERT
**
Director: Werner Herzog
Screenwriter: Werner Herzog
Principal cast:
Nicole Kidman
James Franco
Robert Pattinson
Damian Lewis
Jenny Agutter
Jay Abdo
Country: USA/Morocco
Classification: M
Runtime: 128 mins.
Australian release date: 2 June 2016
The German director Werner Herzog has created an impressive body of work over six decades, often about odd characters with unique talents for dealing with the difficult environments in which they find themselves. In his latest film, Queen Of The Desert, he once more brings this theme to the screen; however, unlike David Lean’s desert epic Lawrence Of Arabia, Herzog has delivered a limp, almost corny depiction of the life of the early 20th century explorer, writer, adventurer and archaeologist, Gertrude Lowthian Bell. Bell travelled extensively in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Arabia in the years leading up to and during the Great War, was a contemporary of T. E. Lawrence, and was highly influential in British Imperial policy-making of the day.
Nicole Kidman portrays Bell as a feisty personality who persists in getting her way at a time when women were still regarded as ‘the gentle sex.’ An early scene, set in County Durham, England, reveals a young woman who wants to get the hell out of her boring, privileged British existence so, through a family connection, travels to Teheran where she commences a life in pursuit of her passions. She falls head-over-heels for Consul Secretary Henry Cadogan (James Franco) but, when the affair ends tragically, she commences her travels into the desert and the heart of Bedouin territory. Bell managed to establish close relations with tribes across the region and her subsequent writings opened up the Arabian Desert to the rest of the world. Her prolific diaries, which were her communication with another suitor, Major Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis), were unique, as was her relationship with Lawrence (Robert Pattison).
This is an impressive story but unfortunately Herzog’s depiction is a mess. The Moroccan and Jordanian locations are breathtakingly beautiful but the miscast roles destroy the credibility of the yarn: James Franco’s British accent is all over the place and when Robert Pattinson first appeared on screen a muffled guffaw went through the preview audience - he looks supremely uncomfortable in his tea towel-like headgear. Lewis, on the other hand, manages to deliver, as does Bell’s guide, Fattuh, played by the Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo. US critic Roger Ebert once wrote, “in Herzog the line between fact and fiction is a shifting one. He cares not for accuracy but for effect, for a transcendent ecstasy.” True to form, the director has played fast and loose with the facts in Queen Of The Desert but, regrettably, there’s no hint of ecstasy in this outing.
Screenwriter: Werner Herzog
Principal cast:
Nicole Kidman
James Franco
Robert Pattinson
Damian Lewis
Jenny Agutter
Jay Abdo
Country: USA/Morocco
Classification: M
Runtime: 128 mins.
Australian release date: 2 June 2016
The German director Werner Herzog has created an impressive body of work over six decades, often about odd characters with unique talents for dealing with the difficult environments in which they find themselves. In his latest film, Queen Of The Desert, he once more brings this theme to the screen; however, unlike David Lean’s desert epic Lawrence Of Arabia, Herzog has delivered a limp, almost corny depiction of the life of the early 20th century explorer, writer, adventurer and archaeologist, Gertrude Lowthian Bell. Bell travelled extensively in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Arabia in the years leading up to and during the Great War, was a contemporary of T. E. Lawrence, and was highly influential in British Imperial policy-making of the day.
Nicole Kidman portrays Bell as a feisty personality who persists in getting her way at a time when women were still regarded as ‘the gentle sex.’ An early scene, set in County Durham, England, reveals a young woman who wants to get the hell out of her boring, privileged British existence so, through a family connection, travels to Teheran where she commences a life in pursuit of her passions. She falls head-over-heels for Consul Secretary Henry Cadogan (James Franco) but, when the affair ends tragically, she commences her travels into the desert and the heart of Bedouin territory. Bell managed to establish close relations with tribes across the region and her subsequent writings opened up the Arabian Desert to the rest of the world. Her prolific diaries, which were her communication with another suitor, Major Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis), were unique, as was her relationship with Lawrence (Robert Pattison).
This is an impressive story but unfortunately Herzog’s depiction is a mess. The Moroccan and Jordanian locations are breathtakingly beautiful but the miscast roles destroy the credibility of the yarn: James Franco’s British accent is all over the place and when Robert Pattinson first appeared on screen a muffled guffaw went through the preview audience - he looks supremely uncomfortable in his tea towel-like headgear. Lewis, on the other hand, manages to deliver, as does Bell’s guide, Fattuh, played by the Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo. US critic Roger Ebert once wrote, “in Herzog the line between fact and fiction is a shifting one. He cares not for accuracy but for effect, for a transcendent ecstasy.” True to form, the director has played fast and loose with the facts in Queen Of The Desert but, regrettably, there’s no hint of ecstasy in this outing.