THE CRYING GAME: NOT JUST A MARKETING TRIUMPH
When Neil Jordan's THE CRYING GAME was released in November of 1992, few expectations were aroused. After all, there were no major names in the cast (the one American, Forest Whitaker, was a well-respected actor, but not a face). After making a splash in 1986 with MONA LISA, Jordan had made the flop comedies HIGH SPIRITS and WE'RE NO ANGELS, and the well-regarded but little scene THE MIRACLE. The movie had been a flop in Britain when released there. And while it was well-regarded at the Toronto Film Festival, this was back before that made a huge difference to a film. But a funny thing happened. The film received ecstatic reviews, with critics falling over themselves trying to praise the film without giving away the major plot twist of the film. Capitalizing on this, Miramax, the film's distributor, ran an ad campaign imploring other reviewers, and filmgoers, not to give away the plot twist. The film grossed over $60 million in the U.S., the highest of any independent film at the time. And it went on to earn six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Stephen Rea), and Supporting Actor (Jaye Davidson), and it won Best Screenplay for Jordan.
Of course, if all this happened now, you'd want the film to be bad, just to confirm to yourself that you can't be so easily manipulated. But THE CRYING GAME is not just a marketing triumph. It's a bold and romantic movie, and rare for any film these days, keeps you guessing every step of the way. Pauline Kael once charged that Jordan tells the same story here that he did in MONA LISA and THE MIRACLE, and while that's true, it works exceptionally well here.
The story starts in Ireland, where Jody (Whitaker), a British soldier, is captured by IRA members looking to exchange him with an IRA prisoner. It's typical of Jordan's approach that the scene, which starts out with Jody walking with his girlfriend Jude (Miranda Richardson), who turns out to be with the IRA, is done not with the action-heavy violence of your typical American thriller, but quickly and cleanly.
Once captured, Jody is held with a cape over his head, and is told not to talk to anyone. However, he's loquacious by nature, and soon strikes up a cautious friendship with Fergus (Stephen Rea), the man guarding him. As one reviewer, noted, this reverses the Stockholm Syndrome, where the kidnap victim identifies with his kidnappers. Here, it's Fergus who finds himself connecting with his prisoner (he even has to help him go to the bathroom, since Jody's hands are tied behind his back). They also tell each other stories, or close to them; Jody tells the old tale about the scorpion who gets a frog to take him across the river, only to sting him, so they'll both drown, and when asked why, replies, "It's in my nature." Fergus repeats the old (Biblical?) quote about putting away childish things when you become a man. Both are central to the movie.
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