"It always struck me as preposterous that people saw it as a suicide. I don't even think of them as dead. I just wasn't in any way prepared for people to say, 'God, they killed themselves? What kind of message is that?' I want to say, 'It's the message you came up with, not me.' To me, the ending was symbolic, not literal. I mean, come on, read a book. We did everything possible to make sure you didn't see a literal death. That you didn't see the car land, you didn't see a big puff of smoke come up out of the canyon. You were left with the image of them flying. They flew away, out of this world and into the mass unconscious. Women who are completely free from all the shackles that restrain them have no place in this world. The world is not big enough to support them. They will be brought down if they stay here. They weren't going to be brought down. So let them go. I loved that ending and I loved the imagery. After all they went through I didn't want anybody to be able to touch them." Screenwriter Callie Khouri on her film "Thelma & Louise"


While it is the 25th anniversary of the release of "Thelma & Louise", I've been thinking about it because of the film I reviewed this week, "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun". The lead character, Dani, "borrows" her employer's car for what she thinks will be a weekend of freedom on the coast of France. The car in question is a blue 1966 Ford Thunderbird, which happens to be the exact same car driven by Susan Sarandon's character in "Thelma & Louise".

"The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun" is based on a novel by Sebastien Japrisot (who also wrote "A Very Long Engagement"). In the novel, the Thunderbird is white. It seems possible that director Joann Sfar deliberately changed the color of the car to make an allusion to Callie Khouri's characters. Beyond the car, though, the two films have little in common. Sfar is more interested in presenting his female character as a sex object than as a complex human being. It's unfortunate because Sfar purports to be interested in moral questions; he just does not explore them in this film.

What looks to be an interesting film is just beginning production in England this summer. Annette Bening is playing actress Gloria Grahame, who starred in a number of film noirs in the 1940s and 1950s opposite actors like Robert Mitchum and Humphrey Bogart. Titled "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool", the movie is based on actor Peter Turner's memoir of his love affair and friendship with Grahame. Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Walters co-star.


Here's the latest article from the Drama Movies site at BellaOnline.com.

The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun Review
Danielle,a young secretary, "liberates" her boss's car and sets off for the French Riviera. The lark threatens to turn into a nightmare as she falls for an Italian thief and her grip on reality begins to slip.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art12002.asp

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