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Three Into
Two
Won’t Go
Love, pain and the whole damn thing in a sun-kissed film version of Hemingway’s posthumous The Garden Of Eden
T
he popular notion of Ernest Hemingway is of a man’s man, a two-fisted slugger whose particular brand of machismo found its voice in a succession of classic novels. The Garden Of Eden
An atypical work for the author it also seems somewhat at odds with Irvin’s own track record, with films such as The Dogs Of War and Hamburger Hill to his name.
“I’ve been in and out of wars as a documentary director, I’ve seen a bit of violence and I’ve been in the odd battle. But I’ve been in bed with a woman a lot more times, so I should know more about that,” he adds with his trademark booming laugh.
There are, to be fair, other films on his CV that reflect less masculine viewpoints, films such as The Moon & The Stars and his 1993 drama Widow’s Peak. By coincidence the latter film was the last time Irvin worked with cinematographer Ashley Rowe, BSC, who is behind the camera here.
“I’d tried to work with Ashley again,” says Irvin. “I asked him to do several films but he was always busy. Luckily this time round we were reunited. I thought his lightness of touch and his temperament would be ideally suited to the challenges of this film. He’s not intrusive, but very adaptable. And apart from anything else, he is a brilliant cinematographer, as well as having a very special human quality, which I respect enormously. He’s a terrific collaborator.”
The feeling is evidently mutual, as the quietly-spoken Rowe clearly has an affinity with his director as well as
was something of an anomaly then, a talky tale of human relationships that seems quite the opposite of that rugged image.
It may be that Hemingway thought so too, as he did not finish the book before his death though he returned to it many times over the years. Published posthumously in 1986, it became a bestseller and has now been turned into a film, directed by John Irvin.
As an avowed Hemingway fan, Irvin seemed a natural to take on this latest adaptation of his work. “Hemingway was a huge influence,” he says, “not just in the way I thought about things, but in the way I worked. As a documentary director, I identified very strongly with him.”
The story introduces us to David and Catherine, newlyweds living in the south of France in the mid-1920s. Catherine (Mena Suvari) introduces a beautiful stranger Marita (Caterina Murino) to her husband (Jack Huston), and before long this deca- dent ménage a trois is riven with feel- ings of jealousy and guilt.
Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 33
Photo: Jack Huston and Mena Suvari as the newlyweds, David and Catherine, in The Garden Of Eden
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