{"id":4688,"date":"2012-12-21T22:27:07","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T06:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=4688"},"modified":"2012-12-21T22:27:07","modified_gmt":"2012-12-22T06:27:07","slug":"hyde-park-on-hudson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/hyde-park-on-hudson\/","title":{"rendered":"HYDE PARK ON HUDSON"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON, now playing at Landmark\u2019s Embarcadero and Clay<\/p>\n

Cinemas in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area, is a charmingly intimate look<\/p>\n

at President Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s life at his home in Hyde Park, New York.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The film focuses on Roosevelt\u2019s erotic relationship with his cousin Daisy Suckley,<\/p>\n

which only became public knowledge decades later when her letters (and some of his)<\/p>\n

were discovered under her deathbed. Roosevelt is played, with a touch lighter than<\/p>\n

air, by the great Bill Murray; Laura Linney\u2019s Daisy is a wallflower at first flattered by<\/p>\n

Roosevelt\u2019s attention and then angered by its limits. Both are completely believable and<\/p>\n

very affecting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The other focus is on the weekend in June 1939 when the King of England, George<\/p>\n

VI, and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), came to Hyde Park and<\/p>\n

were famously treated to an informal (for them) hot dog picnic. They are presented (by<\/p>\n

Samuel West and Olivia Colman) quite differently from the way we saw them in The<\/p>\n

King\u2019s Speech.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Olivia Williams is astonishing as Eleanor Roosevelt. She has her look, her manner,<\/p>\n

her physical presence, even her gait, to the life. The screenwriter Richard Nelson gave<\/p>\n

Eleanor almost nothing to do, which was a miscalculation. In her occasional few seconds<\/p>\n

of action Williams gives the best performance in the film. Also excellent in brief roles<\/p>\n

are Elizabeth Marvel as Roosevelt\u2019s secretary Missy LeHand, and Elizabeth Wilson as<\/p>\n

his gorgon of a mother. The costumes and production design are true to the period and<\/p>\n

beautifully enhance the presentation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The main interest of the film is the insight it gives into President Roosevelt\u2019s life, and<\/p>\n

by extension into his work. Nelson (who adapted his BBC radio play for this film), and<\/p>\n

Murray too, succeed admirably by their restraint. Some reviewers have criticized the<\/p>\n

film for not giving a rounded view of FDR, larger than life (as he could be) and booming<\/p>\n

out an inspirational message. But Roosevelt was a hugely complicated man, and Hyde<\/p>\n

Park on Hudson is not a biopic. A lot of the value of the film is precisely that it shows<\/p>\n

him in a way we are not familiar with \u2013 quiet, lonely, exasperated by the tensions in<\/p>\n

his household, needing intimacy but also moved as much by his own nature as by his<\/p>\n

circumstances toward extreme reserve in his emotional life. By keeping most of the<\/p>\n

action centered on small things, and by deliberately underplaying this publicly expansive<\/p>\n

figure, Nelson and Murray give us a better look at Roosevelt than most of us have ever<\/p>\n

seen before.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In particular, the film shows a lot about how Roosevelt\u2019s paralysis affected his life.<\/p>\n

We see him in his wheelchair, being carried when necessary, moving with difficulty<\/p>\n

by clinging to the side of his desk. During his lifetime the press scrupulously avoided<\/p>\n

showing any of this \u2013 there are only eight seconds of film in existence that show<\/p>\n

him (after polio) walking (with a brace and a strong man to lean on), and only two<\/p>\n

photographs (both taken by Suckley) showing him in a wheelchair. The film helps us<\/p>\n

understand this part of his life in a way difficult to access otherwise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The visit of the royal couple was not just a colorful episode, but a historically important<\/p>\n

event. In June 1939 war in Europe was recognized as inevitable, and Britain urgently<\/p>\n

needed American help to survive. But Roosevelt was constrained by the isolationist<\/p>\n

views of Congress and the electorate, and couldn\u2019t give the help he wanted to. Not<\/p>\n

only were Americans determined not to repeat the experience of World War I, a lot of<\/p>\n

them (especially the Irish) were actively hostile to Britain. The Mayor of Chicago said<\/p>\n

publicly that if he ever met the King he would punch him in the nose. The real point<\/p>\n

of the hot dog picnic was to humanize the British royals in American eyes and make<\/p>\n

them appear friendly and approachable, so it would become easier to help them. And<\/p>\n

Roosevelt did after this manage a lot of back door help (Lend-Lease, the Destroyers for<\/p>\n

Bases program) before Hitler solved that problem by declaring war on the United States<\/p>\n

after Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In keeping with the private focus of the film, close attention is given here to the<\/p>\n

personal relationship between the King and the President, which developed into a<\/p>\n

strategically important one. It is handled here with great sensitivity and insight.<\/p>\n

One false note is the character of the Queen, who is shown here shrewishly hectoring<\/p>\n

the King about his stammer and comparing him unflatteringly to his brother (the former<\/p>\n

Edward VIII).<\/p>\n

This is quite inconsistent with the historical record and all that is known about their<\/p>\n

relationship, and it mars the film\u2019s effectiveness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But on the whole, and in almost all its parts, Hyde Park on Hudson is a superbly<\/p>\n

crafted and beautifully presented look at a moment in time and an aspect of the life and<\/p>\n

personality of one of America\u2019s most important and compelling historical figures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  HYDE PARK ON HUDSON, now playing at Landmark\u2019s Embarcadero and Clay Cinemas in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area, is a charmingly intimate look at President Franklin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[837],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-joe-cillo"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"