SIESTA. Directed by Mary Lambert, written by Patricia Louisianna Knop; produced by Gary Kurfirst for Lorimar. Starring Ellen Barkin. Rated R (a lot of nudity; language, violence).
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Siesta is decidedly off-beat, more than a little confusing, and not exactly fast-paced. But it offers a tantalizing little metaphysical mystery, and a complex and hypnotic performance by its star. For those who like their movie entertainment, at least occasionally, more than a little out of the mainstream, then Siesta makes for an interesting evening at the cinema.
Claire (Barkin) is a daredevil. Formerly, we learn, with a circus, she now statges spectacular stunts like jumping out of airplanes without parachutes. (Since we never actually see one of these stunts completed, it's not clear how this is accomplished.)
But a letter from an old lover in Spain makes her drop everything just a few days before a big July 4th show and take off for Europe. After this, chronologically anyway, things are pretty unclear, mainly due to the movie's back-and-forth, flashback/"realtime" style. But piecing the events together from the movie's hints is part of the entertainment value of Siesta.
Of course, this non-narrative approach to what is already a bizarre story won't appeal to all moviegoers. And Siesta has some other problems, too. Like the casting of Augustin (Gabriel Byrne), Claire's Spanish flame. He's good-looking enough, I suppose, but seems much too bland and unexciting to exert the hold he has over the sexy and independent Claire.
Most of the rest of the cast is unremarkable, too. Isabella Rossellini as Augustin's new wife doesn't get to do too much but look outraged. Julian Sand, as a mysterious artist, is interesting, but nothing to write home about. Alexi Sayle, on the other hand, plays a sleazy cab-driver so well that the audience's collective flesh begins to crawl the moment he appears on the screen.
And Barkin is remarkable here, in what is really a one-woman show. Claire has our sympathy, but is not completely understandable or likeable. She can be sexy, frightened, defiant or vulnerable by turns or in combination. Barkin is an interesting actress anyway, and Siesta is a tour-de-force for her.
February 10, 1988