Arts & Culture

A MODERN DON JUAN LAID BARE

by Paul Butler

Bill Murray and Jessica Lange in Broken Flowers

A television on the coffee table flickers with images from the 1934 Alexander Korda classic The Private Life of Don Juan, a film about a famous lover whose reputation has overtaken the realities of his life.

     Don Johnston is staring at the screen, but he's not really watching the movie.

     Don is in the process of being left by his most recent lover, Sherry. He seems vaguely unhappy about it, but also strangely numbed as he goes to the front door after her. He watches her walk some way down the path, then calls to her. She stops and turns around. There is a painful moment as the two of them lock eyes. He can't think of anything to say. She shrugs, turns and continues down the path, gets into her car and leaves.

     Don retreats to the settee of his opulent, yet featureless sitting room. He listens to music, watches TV, and sleeps until the next morning. Don's lack of emotion tips us off to the fact that he has said goodbye many times before.

     The first few scenes of Broken Flowers, a Grand Prix Cannes International Film Festival winner, present us with a character who has sleepwalked through his emotional life into middle age, holding back from commitment all the way. He seems oblivious to the emptiness of his life.

     Writer Director Jim Jarmusch enjoys observing drifters like Don and letting his films unfurl at their pace. In Dead Man (1995) set in the American West of the nineteenth century, Jarmusch follows the escape of an accountant who accidentally kills the son of the region's wealthiest industrialist. Like Don Johnston, William Blake (the protagonist of Dead Man) is symbolically named.

     Blake (Johnny Depp) wanders the American wilderness with the guidance of a Native American called Nobody whose mystical sayings are, unbeknownst to Blake, not from Aboriginal wisdom, but rather from the famous poet who shares Blake's name.

     In Broken Flowers, the journey is a quest rather than an escape. Don's search is prompted by an anonymous letter on pink notepaper. The note tells him of a shy and intense son of nineteen who may be looking for him. Don reacts to this startling news the way he reacts to everything, and it's difficult to see any actor other than Bill Murray pull it off; Murray's expression goes through only minute changes, the merest stirring on the surface which hints that --just conceivably-- there may be a long-dormant emotion hidden somewhere in the depths.

     Don has no family, but he treats his neighbor Winston's family like his own. He distractedly picks up toys for Winston's children and prevents things from falling off shelves as he wanders through their play area to Winston's computer den. Don and Winston (Jeffrey Wright) move with ease through each other's lives and are opposites on every axis. Winston is excitable while Don is deadpan, curious while Don is uninterested, and a family man while Don is a lifelong bachelor.

     Don has retired after making a fortune on computers. He can fix Winston's problems with a single keystroke. Winston, in return, offers advice to the reluctant Don regarding the mysterious letter. Something of an amateur sleuth, Winston works out a strategy through which Don might find out the identity of mother and son.

     So following Winston's plan, Don begins a cross-country journey turning up at the houses of the various women he was involved with around the time of the mystery son's conception. As he meets each one he searches for clues in their reactions to his sudden reappearance. He probes to find out whether they have sons and looks around to see if pink notepaper fits in with their decorating style.

     During the journey --on buses, planes, and in airports-- he begins to notice young people: a cool looking young guy in the shades, a troubled looking youth crouching by a pillar at the airport. There are hints that a paternal instinct may have become aroused.

     In terms of its plot, Broken Flowers is defiantly low key. Character, theme and the fine details that support these elements are always forefront. But the ending packs quite a punch and keeps you thinking for some time.

     Broken Flowers is a film that lingers.

Paul Butler is the author of novels Easton and the newly published Easton's Gold (Flanker Press). He lives in St.John's.