Sophie's Choice

CinemaSerf: Not long after the end of WWII, we meet "Stingo" (Peter MacNicol) who isn't exactly impressed when he encounters his new upstairs neighbours. "Nathan" (Kevin Kline) seems to be a bit of an noisy and brutish oaf towards his girlfriend "Sophie" (Meryl Streep). Luckily, next morning peace has broken out and they climb in his window to invite him on a seaside picnic. He's a budding writer, and what he clocks quite early is the volatility of "Nathan", a Jewish man who seems to have a great deal of emotional baggage. She, on the other hand, is much more considered and sedate - and that's the shield that he is determined to penetrate. Once he does and she begins to open up to him, we discover that she is an holocaust survivor and has had to make some horrendous decisions in her life just to stay alive. It's this latter, intimate and frightening, stage of the film that really showcases Streep's abilities to convey a palpable sense of fear. Sure, the accent isn't maybe the best but the scenes in the camp, the terrors and the anachronism of the commandant's relatively luxury home and happy family - where she ends up working in domestic service - being only yards from the scene of such brutality is also well, subtly, presented. Every now and again we come up for air - to their present day - to recalibrate the story and advance the more contemporaneous storyline before we dive deeper for some more of just what happened in Europe in the 1940s. It's another of those films where the victims of this villainy are the ones who want/need/have to forget whist others are fascinated by their experiences and want to know more. From that perspective, MacNicol plays his part - increasingly treading on the psychological eggshells - well, especially as the dynamic between them begins to shift. Kline doesn't disappoint, either. His annoyingly neurotic character isn't always the most likeable, but as a vital piece of this powerfully scripted jigsaw he adds a potent dimension to sentiments of guilt, grief, anger and regret that prevail as the story builds up an head of steam. It's a stylish, Gatsby-esque, looking production and brims with humanity, humility and some very dark humour on occasion, too. Not an easy watch, but stories like this never grow old.