Cast: Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey, Kerry Armstrong, Rachael Blake, Vince Colosimo, Russell Dykstra, Daniella Farinacci, Glenn Robbins
Director: Ray Lawrence
Producer: Jan Chapman
Screenplay: Andrew Bovell, based on his play "Speaking in Tongues"
Cinematography: Mandy Walker
Music: Paul Kelly
U.S. Distributor: Lions Gate Pictures
For the briefest of moments, someone not paying attention might mistake Lantana for a mystery. After all, there is a body, a missing person, indications of foul play, and several police detectives. But don't be fooled - all of that is little more than a hook upon which the film's real meat can be hung. So there's a reason why Lantana can be considered an "unconventional murder mystery" - because it's not really a murder mystery at all. And, while the title sounds like some kind of new Latin dance, Lantana is actually an examination of human interaction. Employing a similar approach, but lacking the mastery of such films as Nashville, Short Cuts, and Magnolia, Lantana examines how the lives of various characters converge, diverge, and intersect over the course of a short period of time.
Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is an Australian cop whose marriage to Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) is in the doldrums. He claims to have become emotionally numb, while she laments that she's looking for a relationship that is "passionate, challenging, [and] honest." While Leon engages in an affair with Jane O'May (Rachael Blake), Sonja emotionally unburdens herself to her psychiatrist, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey), stating that she believes Leon is unfaithful. She goes on to say that she doesn't mind that he's sleeping with someone else - the betrayal is that he hasn't told her. That claim will be put to the test. Meanwhile, Valerie's own marriage is on uncertain ground. Her husband, John Knox (Geoffrey Rush), has been emotionally detached from her since the death of their daughter over a year ago. Valerie's means of dealing with the death was to write a book - a project John does not agree with. Also entering the story are Jane's estranged husband, Pete (Glenn Robbins), the O'Mays' next-door neighbors, Nik and Paula Daniels (Vince Colosimo and Daniella Farinacci), and Michael (Rusell Dyskstra), a gay patient of Valerie's whom she believes may be having an affair with John. Then, one night, one of these characters vanishes, another one witnesses something, and several of the others become suspects.
Those expecting all of the usual red herrings of a murder mystery will be disappointed. Lantana is about the intercourse between these characters, both before and after the disappearance. As events transpire, Leon is slowly shaken out of his state of emotional lethargy, while John is forced to confront his inner demons head-on. Characters who would never have otherwise met are forced into close contact with one another, yet, ultimately, we get the sense that they're ships passing in the night. The film's tone is somber - a stylistic choice that is highlighted by the many night scenes and Mandy Walker's evocative cinematography. One of Lantana's most memorable images is the one that opens the film - a long tracking shot through a tangle of undergrowth (with the sound of chirping insects amplified on the soundtrack), ending with an image of a broken body.
Lantana argues that inertia may be the natural state of the human condition. Sometimes, only a tragedy of significant magnitude has the power to shake us out of our state of slumber, and, in some cases, even that may not be enough. Being alive and living are not the same. Life and existence, while interrelated, are not synonymous. These are points that Lantana brings to the surface and embraces. Through their characters, director Ray Lawrence and writer Andrew Bovell show that many humans, once happiness has evaporated, move through life in a stupor - people so easily embrace comfortable routines, giving up any hope of leading dynamic lives and instead becoming reactive. What constitutes happiness - is it the presence of pleasure of the absence of pain? What is the strongest foundation for a lasting marriage - trust, love, familiarity, or grief? And why do people cheat when they love their spouse and feel little or nothing for their extramarital partners?
The film is powerfully acted, with nary a weak performance to be found. Anthony LaPaglia, who, despite being from Australia, often plays a hard-bitten New York cop, is at home in the role of a police officer whose job has rendered him emotionally inert. Barbara Hershey is in peak form as a self-sufficient psychologist whose outward calm hides an inner fragility. Geoffrey Rush shows that John's seeming indifference is camouflage for a deep pain. Kerry Armstrong (a familiar face to Australian TV viewers) is flawless as a middle-aged woman who doesn't want to leave her husband, but wants something more from her life than her current marriage is giving her. The other players, while arguably not having roles that are as complex or difficult, are equally solid.
Lantana is a fine motion picture that only shows hints of weakness in the area of plotting. Because the mystery is a plot device, its development and resolution come across as a little clunky and unconvincing. That's not a big problem, because we become so involved in the lives and interaction of the characters that the narrative is transformed into a distraction. So, ultimately, the achievement of sophomore director Lawrence is not what he has to add to the "whodunnit?" genre, but the observations he has to make about how people connect considering the emotional armor with which we gird ourselves.
© 2002 James Berardinelli