What do glamorous movie stars do when their beauty fades and the roles dry up? Well they agree to lend their support to some small indie movie that need a boost, but sadly they usually need a decent script and some better production values to not only succeed but also help the big star retain some sort of dignity.The Star in this case is Miss Claudia Cardinale who dazzled us with her stunning beauty, and some acting too, in Fellini’s ‘8 ½,’ Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon A Time in The West’ and Visconti’s ‘The Leopard’. And the movie in question which should probably have never been made is ‘The String’: an incoherent mess about a gay man trying to get it on with the family’s handyman whilst dealing with his overbearing mother who still thinks he is straight.
The ‘string’ is symbolic of the fierce ties his aging mother uses to try to keep a firm grasp on her grown up architect son but with such a clumsy story line it ends up literally all getting tied up in knots.
The Handyman played by Salim Kechiouche (did I mention its all set in Tunisia?) and is so hot to look at which is good, because with poor lighting and shoddy camerawork, poor Ms. Claudinale looks anything but that. The rather cruel Director takes one to many close up shots, and sadly it aint pretty. She is after all the best thing about this tepid movie (besides Salim, but that goes without saying) and she, and we deserved better.
Totally missable.
★★
