Cast: Dennis Hopper, Amy Locane, Amy Irving, Gary Busey, Hal Holbrook, Julie Harris
Director: Bruno Barreto
Producers: Lisa M. Hansen and Paul Hertzberg
Screenplay: Ed Jones and Dale Herd based on the novel Farmer by Jim Harrison
Cinematography: Declan Quinn
Music: Bruce Broughton
U.S. Distributor: Fine Line Features
For the most part, Dennis Hopper is known as a psycho villain of the first order. Consider this resume: the off-the-wall sleazeball in Blue Velvet, the mad bomber in Speed, and the nutcase gang leader in Waterworld. It seems that when you want a really over-the-top bad guy, Hopper's the one to get. So it comes as something of a surprise to find him playing completely against type in Carried Away. Here, he's Joseph Svenden, a shy, insecure school teacher who probably couldn't kill anyone if pushed into it. Most amazing is that Hopper not only succeeds in the role, but thrives. Giving his best performance since 1991's Paris Trout, Hopper immerses himself in Joseph so completely that the actor's own personality, along with his considerable baggage, becomes submerged.
It's difficult to say what Carried Away is primarily about, because it deals with so many issues: how we view sexuality, how love compares to lust, and how everyone -- men and women -- have a tendency to become stale and complacent with the approach of late middle age. Joseph knows about this latter issue first-hand. At age 47, he's dissatisfied with his life, but doesn't know what to do about it. He's engaged to a woman, Rosealee Henson (Amy Irving), whom he has loved since high school, but something lifeless in their relationship keeps him from actually tying the knot. He hasn't found anything that he's truly good at -- he's a mediocre teacher and a worse farmer. He lives with his dying mother (Julie Harris) in the house where he has spent his entire life. Joseph is trapped, both in an infirm body (a childhood accident caused serious damage to one foot), and in his village.
Relief -- or at least a modicum of excitement -- arrives in the person of Catherine Wheeler (Amy Locane), a sexually precocious 17-year old with a killer body. Her parents move into one of Joseph's neighboring houses, and she becomes his student at the small two-classroom school where he teaches. In her own way, Catherine feels as trapped as Joseph. Her mother is a drunk and her father is more interested in shooting pheasants than caring for her. So, looking for an escape, she discovers her teacher, whom she clumsily seduces. An expert touch isn't needed, however. Joseph is quite willing, and, though he feels guilty at first, he gradually comes to view his relationship with Catherine as a liberating experience... until she begins to fantasize about marrying him.
At its heart, Carried Away is a love story. It's about Joseph and Rosealee, and how Catherine's presence in their lives invigorates their relationship. Through his affair with Catherine, Joseph discovers what it means to be alive. He wakes up. In his own words, he is "carried away", and, in a poignant, touching scene with Rosealee, he shows her the joys of letting go. "I want us to change," he says, "before we get too old and die."
In addition to Hopper's fine job, the principal supporting players are solid. Amy Irving (Crossing Delancey) bears all (literally and figuratively) in a performance of surprising emotional depth. Rosealee is a sad figure who, like Joseph, wants something that she doesn't understand and can't put into words. As Catherine, Amy Locane (Blue Sky) exudes not only sexuality, but vulnerability. Despite frequently appearing as the vixen temptress (like when she's imitating Lady Godiva), Locane offers us glimpses of the hurt, confused child carefully concealed beneath the brazen exterior. Gary Busey, as Catherine's father, is uncharacteristically restrained, and Hal Holbrook provides most of the comic relief as a small town doctor.
One of the things I found most refreshing about Carried Away is how little melodrama there is for such a potentially-controversial issue. When Joseph's relationship with Catherine comes into the open, as it surely must, we're not treated to histrionic displays by distraught parents and neighbors. In fact, director Bruno Barreto has a little fun with the audience concerning the reaction of Catherine's father. But, ultimately, the one who has the most difficulty coping with the thought of a 47-year old man sleeping with a 17-year old student is Joseph himself.
Although Catherine is developed as a real character with real problems, Carried Away isn't as much about her as it is about Joseph's reaction to her. This is, after all, his story. Although these two profess to love one another, they are both lying, perhaps as much to themselves as to each other. Their reasons for having sex are far more complex than simple "love", and Barreto's film has the courage to examine those reasons. Carried Away is erotic, but it's also thoughtful and intelligent, and, coupled with Hopper's extraordinary performance, that's reason enough to be carried away by this motion picture.
© 1996 James Berardinelli