Chromophobia (2005)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Martha Fiennes

Writer:

Martha Fiennes (written by)

Release Date:

10 March 2006 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Don't live your life in black and white.

Plot:

A bourgeois family slowly comes apart at the seams.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Stripper | Female Nudity | One Word Title | Man Boy Relationship

Cast

Ben Chaplin	...	Trent
Penélope Cruz	...	Gloria
Ralph Fiennes	...	Stephen Tulloch
Ian Holm	...	Edward Aylesbury
Rhys Ifans	...	Colin
Damian Lewis	...	Marcus Aylesbury
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Iona Aylesbury
Harriet Walter	...	Penelope Aylesbury
Anthony Higgins	...	Geoffrey Wharton
Archie Panjabi	...	Sarita
Michelle Gomez	...	Bushey
Clem Tibber	...	Orlando Aylesbury
Sasha Hailey	...	Eve
Christopher Simpson	...	Derek
Bronson Webb	...	Hendrix

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

UK | France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15

Filming Locations:

Douglas, Isle of Man

Company:

Isle of Man Film Commission

Quotes:

Iona Aylesbury: [on the phone] For the third time, yes... Well, perhaps you'd like to tell me whose dick I have to suck in order to... Clifford. Hello.

Shuffling multiple storyline Blair-era bourgeois critique

It's entirely likely that you may have been tempted to watch this film by the extraordinary line-up of acting talent. Well Ralph Fiennes is excellent as a very Anglican, contained gay art historian matching Ian Holm's suffer-no-fools High Court Judge. I was also impressed by Ben Chaplin's two-faced tabloid journo. The quality slips however with the central couple, Kristin Scott Thomas ideally cast as a sad, self-absorbed mother - but not acting too far beyond that - and Damian Lewis as her equally distracted husband, a sort of posh version of Egg from This Life. The heart of the ensemble is supposed to beat with Rhys Ifans, who I cannot bear unless he's playing some sort of monster (Hannibal Rising, Not Only But Always) opposite a neurotic and excessive Penelope Cruz.

The film they have to inhabit though is rather pale. It's dynamic is the culture, bureaucratic firewalls and general failures of the Blair administration. Go and see Notes On A Scandal instead for this subject matter. Here we have a lack of tension, be it dramatic or simply zippy dialogue to help us through. Presumably the title Chromophobia refers to the fear of a diverse cultural palette that is instigated by the litigiously minded administration targeted. It's a pity that the story is told with such a tourniquet as well. It also has the least well thought out soundtrack I've heard in a long time. 4/10