Movie: Words and Pictures

Words and Pictures: a romantic comedy.  The story takes place at a New England prep school.  Clive Owen, as English teacher Jack Marcus, is the “words” and Juliette Binoche, as art teacher Dina Delsanto, is the “pictures”.  In his classroom, Jack declares war as to which is more important, words or pictures.  Jack is a published poet who has lost his creative spark and now has a problem with alcohol.  He has been teaching at the prep school for a few years but due to his alcohol consumption, his job is in jeopardy despite the fact that he is very popular with the students.  Delsanto is new to the school and she has a medical issue, rheumatoid arthritis.  The obvious analogy is to Spencer Tracy and Katherine  Hepburn, but for this type of film to work, there must be a certain chemistry between the lead actors and the storyline must contain crisp dialogue.  When the Tracy/Hepburn scenes do occur, Gerald DiPego’s script succeeds and there are enough of these scenes to make the film enjoyable.  Owen and Binoche are excellent actors.  The personalities they project at the beginning of the story make you wonder how they’ll manage to connect with each other.  Jack’s portrayed denial of his alcohol problem is realistic.  The downside to this film, directed by Fred Schepisi, is too many subplots.  The film could also have been more tightly edited.  Jack is divorced and has a college age son, but their story is never developed.  Although we never see the ex-wife, there are throwaway scenes with a female school trustee.  There is also a sub-story involving a male student (Adam DiMarco) harassing a female student (Valerie Tian) which has nothing to do with the primary tale.  In its 116 minutes, the film deals with a number of ideas, however, it is at its best when it directly involves Jack and Dina.  The elimination of at least one of the sub-stories would have resulted in a more enjoyable film.  Ultimately, this is a film whose parts are better than its whole.  There are, however, enough positive parts that you will be pleased to have seen the movie.