Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012)

HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN  (2012)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Philip Kaufman
    Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen, David Strathairn,
    Molly Parker, Tony Shalhoub, Parker Posey,
    Joan Chen, Anthony Brandon Wong, Peter Coyote,
    Santiago Cabrera, Diane Baker, Robert Duvall
That would be Ernest Hemingway (of course) and his third wife, the journalist Martha Gellhorn. The movie tracks their relationship from their first meeting at a bar in Key West to the Spanish Civil War, Cuba, Finland, China, and finally Europe late in World War Two. It's not hard to see why Hemingway (Clive Owen) would be attracted to Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman). As he remarks to a drinking buddy after that first encounter in Key West, "Her legs begin at her shoulders." She can match him drink for drink and sometimes word for word, and she's fearless in places and situations where she's repeatedly told women just don't go. She's got balls and she can write, and in Hemingway's macho universe, that means she's not just a romantic partner, she's competition. You know that sooner or later they'll clash, and they do. Hemingway scholars won't learn anything new here, but you do get a good sense of the history the two of them shared, and the makeup and cinematography are exceptional. When you see the old man in Idaho late in the film, you're no longer looking at Owen as Hemingway, you're looking at Hemingway, the effect is that convincing. Molly Parker plays second wife Pauline and Parker Posey plays fourth wife Mary, but you don't learn much about either of them, and it's not their story, anyway. The great Hemingway movie is still waiting to be made, and it's a life that would require a miniseries, at least. This is like a middle chapter in a story that should be much longer - it's over two-and-a-half hours as it is - and if it's not as complete or insightful as some might like, it'll do till something better comes along.