Sister My Sister
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C+
A murder
set in 1932 France is the basis for Sister My Sister (1994), a film about
the events, strains and complications that let to the ugly events. It turns out that things began ugly, as the
wealthy Madame Danzard (Julie Walters in a effectively, subtly evil, grating
performance) makes the life of her daughter (Sophie Thursfeld) and two
newly-hired maids (Joely Richardson and Jodhi May) miserable by her constant
nagging, and abuse. That is often
verbal, but gets humiliatingly physical.
That does
not make the results so surprising and only because it is women from an earlier
time do the expected events take so long.
Originally released (reportedly) at 102 minutes, this cut is 85 minutes
and is not bad for what is here. The
performances are strong and believable, thanks in part to women behind the
scenes. Wendy Kesselman wrote the screenplay,
while Nancy Meckler directed. Had this
been handled by men, this would not be the same film. The character study
elements would not work as well.
The full
frame 1.33 X 1 image is on the soft side and looks a generation down, shot by
Ashley Rowe, another woman bringing another unique aspect to the film. The space feels warm, yet empty in the
Danzard house throughout. This is
probably something to see in 35mm. The
sound was a Dolby SR theatrical analog release and is presented here in Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds that try to duplicate the SR and a
5.1 remix with some more bass sound. The
problem is that this is a low-budget, dialogue-=based film, so the sound is
only going to be so dynamic, but this is good for what it is. The few extras include brief biography looks
at the four actresses and trailers for this and four other Koch DVD releases.
The
relationship between the sisters is at least semi-incestual, but more
complicated, desperate and unfortunate than that. This is a very brave thing to try to portray
on film and it is a success enough. Sister My Sister is one of the rare
films by women about women that occasionally gets made and deserves to be seen.
- Nicholas Sheffo
