| BELOVED INFIDEL |
 1959 - USADirector: Henry King
- Reviewed by Jennifer
Ah yes, Beloved Infidel is just what I was looking for in a Gregory Peck movie. It's everything The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is not, and offers up such a tragically bittersweet story that I may never fully recover from it. Beloved Infidel depicts the love affair between Sheilah Graham (Deborah Kerr) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Peck), and recounts the last years of Fitzgerald's life and career. The film begins with Sheilah Graham's arrival in the United States. Hailing from England, Graham claims that she has descended from royalty, and boasts impressive social connections. Ostensibly in the States on a break from her fiance's annoying mother, she lands a job as a Hollywood gossip columnist. For a girl with so many connections, she sure seems lonely and insecure, but she writes a witty column, and occasionally gets in trouble for being too blunt—sounds like she would have fit right in at Moviepie! When Sheilah meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a party, it's love at first sight as two lost souls find kindred spirits in each other. I kept wondering what had become of his wife, Zelda, but we soon learn that she's in a sanitarium for the insane, and their daughter has been sent to a boarding school. To pay medical costs and tuition, Scott is working in Hollywood as a screenwriter. Everyone tells him he should be writing novels, but that takes time and clear thought—not much room for that when you're worried about your family and there are bills to pay. Soon Scott and Sheilah are inseparable. They provide encouragement and understanding to one another, and this emotional support allows them both to write more productively. Despite their happiness, all is not as it seems. Questions about Sheilah's childhood reveal that she was an orphan with no more than an elementary school education. To escape her past, she created a new identity and attempted to start anew. Scott understands Sheilah's secret, and loves her for who she really is. He introduces her to important books, and helps fill the gaps in her education. However, Scott is an alcoholic, and though he manages to stay sober for awhile, he goes right back to the bottle when he's fired as a screenwriter. He accompanies Sheilah to Chicago as she fights to save her own job, but embarrasses them both with his drunken behavior. Sheilah is shocked to see this side of him, but the people around them seem to expect it. In these drunken moments Scott can be unkind and mocking, loud and unwieldy, or downright pathetic. Things improve temporarily when he begins a new novel, but they slide out of control when his first chapters are rejected. After an explosive and violent fight, things become tentative between Scott and Sheilah. He does his best to win her back and stay sober, but at this point his health is somewhat compromised. Just when things begin to look up again, Scott dies unexpectedly. I knew this had to be coming, but the end still left me crying as though the whole thing had happened to me. The straightforward pace of the film prevents the audience's interest from waning, and allows the story to build to a moving finale. More importantly, Kerr and Peck prevent it from becoming sappy or sentimental. As Sheilah Graham, Kerr is clever and resilient, funny and vulnerable. She may not have Fitzgerald's status, but her faults can be mended, and her strong constitution will allow her to prevail. In the realm of American icons, it doesn't get much better than Gregory Peck as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and he is excellent in the role. He is somewhat silly and awkward in the scenes where Scott is drunk, yet it is oddly appropriate for a man who's natural dignity is compromised by forces beyond his control. Fitzgerald's charm and good nature are never far from the surface, and we never forget that he is a great creative mind who has simply past his prime and lost his immediate relevance to the literary world. How sad that most great artists are never fully appreciated until they're dead. |
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