Beauty in Trouble

BEAUTY IN TROUBLE has three acts, a heroine, no antagonist, and a weak resolution. It takes us to interesting places in the company of decent people, and it certainly rates as a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. But there’s nothing propulsive about it. There’s no reason why we absolutely must see the next scene, or the one after that.

The film, a Czech production about a woman with two kids, a husband in jail, limited prospects, and maybe one last chance to provide a good life for her family, suffers from that lack of an antagonist. Sure, there are some jerks (and one man (who could’ve played Gollum without CGI) who would have made an estimable villain in a more formulaic picture), but the trouble in which our beauty finds herself seems more a general life trouble than actual peril. Granted, life troubles are serious and challenging. But hey, I’ve got life troubles of my own. Battle a giant spider or something.

See, Marcela’s a decent woman. She works in a travel agency. Her husband’s an auto mechanic. Or at least he was, until a flood wiped out the garage and he’s turned his place into a chop shop to make ends meet. Once he’s caught and imprisoned, however, Marcela’s got to figure out how she’s going to feed her kids. She’s moved everyone into Mom’s apartment, she’s barely getting by, and her stepfather’s losing patience. And he may be a lecher. But then a wealthy, handsome stranger shows up. He owns a Tuscan vineyard (but he doesn’t seem to ever actually work at it – it must be one of those ornamental vineyards). He’s nice to the kids. He takes pity on her and takes her in. Problem is, she still loves her husband.

And, y’know, that’s it. She makes decisions: some good, some bad. Life circumstances change. Some things get better and some worse. But nothing happens that makes this stuff any more interesting than the gossip I hear about friends and relatives all the time. Life is hard. Relationships are tough. It sucks that we often don’t have the money we need or want. Fine, fine, and (as I said) these are decent people and the scenery’s nice and I rocked along pleasantly for two hours. But there’s no magic of cinema here. There's no particularly compelling narrative. There’s no photography to make me say “Wow,” and simply filming Tuscany is cheating. I was joking about battling giant spiders, but c’mon: surprise and delight me, for Pete’s sake. Or at least, blow up a car.

So, BEAUTY IN TROUBLE. It’s at least as interesting as keeping up with your Facebook feed. But I’d have liked a little more.