Two Careers Are Better Than One
and he's both, really. He slides in and out." However, this time Sting did not escape criticism for his on-screen performance: in some film circles he was referred to as Pinocchio, because of the woodenness of his performances. Later that year, though, Sting would get the chance to redeem himself.
Being cast in Plenty, a complex and unique story of a woman's dissatisfaction with her life after the excitement of working as a Resistance fighter during World War II, was a trial by fire for Sting, as the movie starred such acting heavyweights as John Gielgud and Meryl Streep, Sting playing opposite the latter in all of his scenes. He called being cast in the film "a privilege and an important landmark in my career." But he held his own, and while the film didn't do particularly well at the box office, it was critically praised—as was Sting's performance. "Plenty is the best work I've done," he said at the time. "It's the first chance I've had on screen to show a weak or sympathetic side."
1987 saw Sting opposite Kathleen Turner in Julia and Julia, an uneven tale of a woman who seems to move between two of the possible paths her life could have taken after a car accident. Sting's female fans were pleased to catch a glimpse of the star's rump, but otherwise the film had little to offer anyone. His star turn in the next year's Stormy Monday, though, was a different story. Stormy Monday, director Mike Figgis's first movie (he would later come to prominence for Leaving Las Vegas—which, incidentally, includes Sting music), is the highly atmospheric tale of a ruthless American businessman's efforts to buy up a section of Newcastle (where the picture was actually filmed) for development. Sting played Finney, the owner of a jazz club in the section in question who refuses to be pushed around. Sting's subtle yet strong portrayal of Finney was excellent and natural, as evidenced in a scene in which the business man (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and Finney meet alone on a bridge overlooking the Tyne to bargain. "It's as though the film was designed for me. The character I play in the film is someone who, as in all the parts I play, is not necessarily good or bad. He's a decent man who owns a jazz club and loves music, which shows he has a heart. But at
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