it 's almost amusing to watch 21-year old christina ricci get drastically overshadowed in sally potter 's follow - up to 1997 's the tango lesson , the man who cried .
the gen - y actress , with her cold stare and big , black eyes , has appeared in an impressive range of films ; but she does n't even come close to being the bold heroine the film , set against the historical backdrop of world war 2 , requires her to be .
ricci , whose character is shockingly silent and blank , showing only the occasional smile or hint of concern , shares most of her scenes with the astounding cate blanchett : quite an amusing sight to behold .
blanchett 's lola , a paris dwelling dancer who befriends the aspiring singer suzie , is bold , interesting and layered ?
everything our heroine lacks .
co - star of the upcoming lord of the rings trilogy , blanchett has a good seven inches on ricci , sports twice the makeup and dons a flashy wardrobe .
the actress inhabits the role ?
as she always so remarkably does ?
with a fervor and life that makes you want her to hold the screen as the film 's lead rather than her dull companion .
important historical events involving hitler and his nazis scatter themselves across the film ; these landmarks serve as the film 's little conflict .
obviously , the tables are turned in the life of suzie by these events , whose jewish origin is unknown among her parisian colleagues .
the man who cried has many aspirations , none of which come full circle by the film 's close .
there are forced messages here and there
: " go forward ; always go forward , " lola preaches to suzie ; there 's romance between suzie and a fellow target of hitler 's nazis , the gypsy cesar ( johnny depp , who , like ricci , barely gets to speak ) ; lola struggles with her character that desires above all things wealth and men who have it ; and at the core of all these devices lies suzie 's desire to travel to america , where her father journeyed after leaving her and her mother years ago .
the film 's main problem is that potter is n't skilled enough to tell the epic - sized story of suzie .
the time period 's instability , the conflicting social classes , the prejudice against suzie from all those around her in her new life : serving as both writer and director , potter throws in some of each , but hardly an inch of depth is to be found in any .
by the time the sigh - inducing climax hits , the believability and complete absence of focus leave one ready to leave the theater .
the film 's falling action is weirdly unsatisfying and unlikely ; are we really meant to believe any of this could happen ?
contrastingly , in its moving final scene , the man who cried strikes a note that is made effective in its ties to the emotional beginning of the film .
although it 's apparent that potter ca n't grasp what she reaches , i 'm puzzled as to why she reaches for so much in the first place .
ricci 's suzie is meant to be the film 's core : from the extended flashback at the film 's beginning to the quickly drawn ending , everything seen in the film , in some way , relates to her .
so why then does potter spend so much time on subplots involving other individuals ?
the character of suzie is too present for the man who cried to work as an ensemble , but not present enough for the film to be ricci 's .
the almost constant lack of flow and one - note tone with which potter depicts the man who cried are somewhat improved upon by sacha vierny 's beautiful cinematography that renders the film 's various locations wonderfully .
also worthy of note are lindy hemming 's costumes that help to depict the area quite nicely .
and then there 's the music .
from minute one to minute ninety - seven , there 's hardly a moment when the wavering , skilled voice of an opera singer or the rhythms of the gypsy music do n't undercut the action ; the notes stricken both overwhelm ( particularly john turturro , portraying fictional opera singer dante dominio , whose money and reputation catch lola 's interest ) and accompany ( oftentimes ,
the perfect chords are captured to undermine the state of the film 's characters and reinforce that state ) .
potter obviously cares much about each and every musical note ; unfortunately , the same effort is n't given towards ( almost ) everything else .
shockingly silent and blank there are forced messages here and there weirdly unsatisfying and unlikely she does n't even come close to being the bold heroine the film hardly an inch of depth is to be found the film 's main problem dull the almost constant lack of flow and one - note tone