Stream Selected Films of Michelle Pfeiffer

Ladyhawke 1985 Directed by Richard Donner. An appealing, old fashioned fantasy with a young Matthew Broderick playing bumbling innocence.  Medieval France. Phillipe Gaston, a thief known as “The Mouse” (Broderick) is rescued by former guardsman Etienne Navarre (Rutger Hauer) when freeing other prisoners. Followed by a hawk, the two becomes companions. Navarre asks for Gaston’s help in killing the corrupt Bishop (John Wood). The thief refuses and runs, but is again captured by guards. Again, with the help of the hawk, Navarre rescues him.

The hawk turns out to be Narvarre’s love, Isabeau of Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) enchanted by the bishop to be hawk by day, woman at night while Navarre is condemned to be a man by day, a wolf by night. Gaston commits to helping break the spell. Rent on Amazon Prime.

The Russia House 1990 Directed by Fred Schepisi. Screenplay by Tom Stoppard based on John Le Carre’s novel. A post-glasnost spy film with solid story and good acting, optimistic in its personal vs. political outcome. At a writers’ retreat outside Moscow, American publisher Bartholomew “Barley” Scott-Blair (Sean Connery) is overheard by Soviet agent “Dante” (Klaus Maria Brandauer) touting diplomatic peace. Dante asks Baley whether he’ll step up when the time comes. Sometime later, unable to find Barley at a trade show, Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer) asks publisher Nicky Landau (Nicholas Woodeson) to give him a manuscript that turns out to detail Russian nuclear capability. The time has come.

Unable to resist a look, Landau discovers its content and promptly delivers it to British government authorities who track down Barley on vacation and question him. When he returns to Moscow, Barley meets and gets involved with Katya. The CIA and M16 conscript him as an intermediary. All are in danger as things are negotiated. Pfeiffer’s Russian accent was applauded. Rent on Amazon Prime.

Frankie and Johnny 1991 adapted by Terrence McNally from his own play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair du Lune. Directed by Garry Marshall. Not one of either star’s best work, but cautiously optimistic and touching. Emotionally wounded Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a waitress at New York’s Apollo Café owned by the benevolent Nick (Hector Elizondo). When he gets out of prison, Johnny (Al Pacino) becomes the restaurant’s short order cook. Recognizing another lonely soul, Johnny repeatedly asks Frankie out and is repeatedly rejected.

Johnny manages to be at a works party where she is, walks her home, spends the night, and immediately tells Frankie he loves her. She’s wary and backs up for multiple reasons which are gradually ameliorated by Johnny’s patience and honesty. With Nathan Lane and  Kate Nelligan. The title is a reference to the traditional pop song “Frankie and Johnny” in which a jealous woman kills her lover. Rent on Amazon Prime.

Wolf 1994 A romantic horror film directed by Mike Nichols. Bitten by a wolf he accidentally strikes with his car, New York editor Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) starts to show aggressive tendencies, acquires enhanced smell and hearing, and no longer needs his glasses. He serendipitously meets Laura Alden (Michelle Pfeiffer), his boss’s daughter, and suffers his first (well filmed) transformation into part/wolf from her house. When Will wakes by a stream having gutted a deer, he can’t wrap his mind around what’s happening. Laura gives it even less credence.

Provoked by smarmy associate Stewart Swinton (James Spader), who has stolen Will’s job and bedded his wife (Kate Nelligan), Will bites him. Now there are two men evolving under the moon. Tell me how easy it is to picture both these actors as werewolves. Laura and Will manage to fall in fast love despite accumulated bodies. Stewart comes after Will, Laura gets between them. There’s a nifty ending.

“Wolf is both more and less than a traditional werewolf movie. Less, because it doesn’t provide the frankly vulgar thrills and excesses some audience members are going to be hoping for. And more, because Nicholson and his director, Mike Nichols, are halfway serious about exploring what might happen if a New York book editor did become a werewolf.” (Roger Ebert) With Christopher Plummer, Richard Jenkins, David Hyde Pierce. Rent on Amazon Prime.

I Am Sam 2002 Directed by Jessie Nelson. A terrific surprise. Penn is simply marvelous, Pfeiffer and Fanning excellent, the piece well directed. The story is manipulative, but so what? Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) has intellectual disabilities rendering him age seven in adulthood. We meet on the day of his daughter’s birth as he rushes from his bussing job at Starbucks. AS they leave the hospital, the baby’s mother walks off. Taking care of his child alone is overwhelming. Fortunately agoraphobic neighbor Annie (Dianne Wiest) babysits.

A group of equally disabled men provide a loose-knit support group surrounding the child, Lucy Diamond Dawson (Dakota Fanning), named for “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” The film is scored with familiar Beatles’ songs. The men use apt lyrics to explain things when concepts fail them. Sam is loving and intuitive. Father-daughter relationship is immeasurably close even as Lucy’s understanding and abilities outpace her dad’s and her peers tease. A series of unfortunate circumstances put the two in the court’s cross hairs and Child Custody takes Lucy.

Sam desperately needs a good lawyer. How he manages to secure high-powered Rita Harrison Williams (Michelle Pfeiffer), experiencing her own personal turmoil, is effectively conceived. In the course of several trials, separation, possible foster adoption, and Lucy’s determination, Sam grows and adjusts while, inspired, Rita rebuilds her own life. Co-writers researched issues facing adults with intellectual disabilities by visiting the non-profit organization L.A. GOAL (Greater Opportunities for the Advanced Living). They subsequently cast two actors with disabilities. Also with Laura Dern. Rent on Amazon Prime.

Cheri 2009  Based on the French novel by Collette. Directed by Stephen Frears. Michelle Pfeiffer at the height of her beauty and Rupert Friend. Belle Epoque Paris. At the behest of her friend, Charlotte (Kathy Bates), Léa (Pfeiffer) agrees to seduce Charlotte’s spoiled son Fred, nicknamed Chéri (dear or darling), away from a friend his mother feels is a bad influence. Both the women are wealthy, retired courtesans.

The young man is then coerced into marriage with pretty, but boring Edmée (Felicity Jones). Though Léa makes him promise to be good to his new wife, she discovers deep feelings for Fred while he’s honeymooning…and vice versa. Upon return, Fred intends to juggle both women. Charlotte reconnoiters. Everyone lies about his/her true feelings.

Jealous of a fabricated liaison, Chéri breaks into Léa’s home and declares himself. They make passionate love…and detailed plans. In the harsh light of morning, Léa has doubts and sends him packing. Narration tells how long the young man’s love held him in thrall. Deftly executed. Pfeiffer is excellent. Cinematography makes one want to move in. Rent on Amazon Prime.

Top photo: Bigstock

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