DRABLY DOMESTIC `SECRET AGENT'.Byline: Stephen Holden The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times It rains, and it rains, and it rains in Christopher Hampton's drably tasteful adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel, ``The Secret Agent.'' In almost every other shot, late-19th-century London resembles a giant soot-dusted mud puddle through which horse-drawn carriages slosh carrying dour-faced residents of the waterlogged wa·ter·logged adj. 1. Nautical Heavy and sluggish in the water because of flooding, as in the hold: a waterlogged ship. 2. city. When the screenplay reaches for high drama, the rain is augmented by thunder and lightning; sometimes a fatuously fat·u·ous adj. 1. Vacuously, smugly, and unconsciously foolish. See Synonyms at foolish. 2. Delusive; unreal: fatuous hopes. busy orchestral soundtrack by Philip Glass chimes in. This excess humidity doesn't contribute much to Hampton's curiously muted adaptation of Conrad's black satirical novel about spies, greedy anarchists and bumbling terrorists. The story follows the misfortunes of Verloc (Bob Hoskins), a cowardly, double-dealing agent provocateur who is pressed into committing an act of terrorism that goes horribly wrong. Although Verloc is a scummy creature who holds anarchist meetings in his pornography shop, then reports their activities to the police, Hoskins tries to lend the character a bizarre pathos. When he is bullied by his contact at the Russian Embassy into agreeing to blow up the clock at the Greenwich Observatory, Verloc cowers and sulks sulk intr.v. sulked, sulk·ing, sulks To be sullenly aloof or withdrawn, as in silent resentment or protest. n. like a beaten animal, and we are supposed to feel sorry for him. The act will be ``an attack upon time itself,'' crows his boss (Eddie Izzard), as well as on science, which the Russian dismisses as ``the fetish fetish (fĕt`ĭsh), inanimate object believed to possess some magical power. The fetish may be a natural thing, such as a stone, a feather, a shell, or the claw of an animal, or it may be artificial, such as carvings in wood. of the hour.'' The movie doesn't dwell on the absurd grandiosity of its characters and their destructive fantasies. And except for one remark about how the job of the police is to keep the city's have-nots from stealing from its haves, it has scarcely a political thought in its head. Hampton treats the novel as a period domestic drama about Verloc's marriage to Winnie (Patricia Arquette), a union held together by lies that is destined des·tine tr.v. des·tined, des·tin·ing, des·tines 1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic. 2. to explode like Verloc's bomb. Winnie has married Verloc because he has promised to take care of her mentally disabled mentally disabled See Cognitively impaired. brother, Stevie (Christian Bale). She earns her security by dispensing sexual favors to her husband, and the movie includes more than one love scene that suggests her indifference to his bumbling passion. The dissembling dis·sem·ble v. dis·sem·bled, dis·sem·bling, dis·sem·bles v.tr. 1. To disguise or conceal behind a false appearance. See Synonyms at disguise. 2. To make a false show of; feign. ends the moment that Stevie, to whom Verloc has given the explosive package to plant, is accidentally blown to bits when he trips and falls en route to the observatory. When Verloc callously advises Winnie to forget what happened, she realizes he never cared about her brother and lashes out lethally. But the movie, which imagines its principal characters as metaphorically ticking time bombs, never convincingly portrays their passions. Arquette's Winnie is as wan as Hoskins' Verloc is buttoned-up. THE FACTS The film: ``Joseph Conrad's the Secret Agent'' (R; violence, sexual situations and flashes of gore, including a severed head For the Australian electronic music group, see . A Severed Head is a satirical, sometimes farcical 1961 novel by Iris Murdoch. Primary themes include marriage, adultery, and incest within a group of civilized and educated people. ). The stars: Bob Hoskins, Patricia Arquette, Gerard Depardieu, Robin Williams, Christian Bale and Eddie Izzard. Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Christopher Hampton, based on the novel by Joseph Conrad. Produced by Norma Heyman. Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Running time: One hour, 34 minutes. Playing: Selected theaters. Our rating: Two Stars. |
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