LADYHAWKE. Directed by Richard Donner; written by Edward Khmara, Michael Thomas and Tom Mankiewicz; produced by Richard Donner and Lauren Shuler. Starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. Rated PG-13 (a little violence).
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Once upon a time there was a beautiful lady, a dashing knight and an evil bishop. The lady and the knight were very much in love. So the lady spurned the advances of the bishop, who was also in love with her. This so angered him that he had a spell cast upon the lovers to keep them from ever being happy.
The knight became a wolf every day at sunset, and returned to his human form at sunrise. The lady, meantime, became a hawk at daybreak and was a human being only after sunset. Awkward for lovemaking, not to mention conversation. But an intriguing idea for a movie.
Ladyhawke is an interesting movie. But the fairy tale part of the story is not really substantial enough to carry a full-length feature. And partly since the outcomes of fairy tales are never really in doubt, the last half hour or so of the movie is pretty dull.
The transformation idea gives us some beautiful images, like the lady Isabeau (Pfeiffer) changing form in mid-fall from a castle parapet. And the knight Navarre (Hauer) and Isabeau seeing each other as humans for just a second at sunrise.
But the best parts of the movie are about a petty thief named Philippe (Broderick), a minor character for most of the fairy tale, but the star of the movie. Ladyhawke injects some contemporary humor and less exalted sentiments into this serious tale, mostly through the character of Philippe. And the movie is pretty successful at blending the two very different forms of entertainment. For a while, at least.
Philippe makes the first half of the movie work because of his humor and his unabashed self-interest. After he begins to put Navarre's quest to end the curse ahead of his concern for his own skin, however, the movie starts to drag. He does the right thing, morally, by helping the lovers. But in terms of entertainment value, the earlier Philippe with his boasting and quick getaways is superior.
Broderick is quite good as Philippe, both as the cowardly but slippery pickpocket and eventually as a kind of squire for Navarre. Pfeiffer is so beautiful, especially in the flowing medieval gowns, that it's easy to see Isabeau as the focus of the story. But she isn't in it enough. Navarre is the lover the story follows more often, and he isn't as interesting. Part of the problem is Hauer, who is good as a villain (like in Blade Runner ) but is not dashing or charismatic enough for Navarre.
The costumes and scenery are wonderful. Real medieval towns and castles in Italy were used, and such authentic settings make it easy to get involved in the story at first. Some viewers might find the first sequence, in which Philippe escapes from a dreadful dungeon, a little too authentic. I suppose it's the gruesomeness of these scenes, plus another involving a wolf trap, that earns Ladyhawke its PG-13.
Those moviegoers not particularly fond of fairy tales will find the whole movie, and not just the last half, a bore. But I can recommend it (although somewhat lukewarmly) to others on the strength of its art direction and Broderick's character.
April 17, 1985