Potter's Yield

I've seen a few films by Sally Potter and I can't say I'm much of a fan. Now Jonathan Rosenbaum in the Chicago Reader calls her latest, Yes, a masterpiece. Should I check it out?

The film is her response to 9/11. The plot is about an affair between an Irish-American (Joan Allen) and a Lebanese cook (Simon Abkarian). But it's done in rhyming iambic pentameter. I'm not saying this is necessarily bad, but it sounds like a stunt.

Here's how Rosenbaum sees it (or hears it):

Differences in class parallel and overlap differences in culture, but her rhyming lines are clarifying, not vilifying. Consider these lines from three different parts of the film:

She (to He): You cannot look me in the face / And say I am your fall from grace.

He (wearily): From Elvis to Eminem, Warhol's art, / I know your stories, know your songs by heart. / But do you know mine? No, every time, / I make the effort, and I learn to rhyme / In your English. And do you know a word / Of my language, even one? Have you heard / That 'al-gebra' was an Arabic man? / You've read the Bible. Have you read the Koran?

Aunt: A great big dream that's fallen pretty flat / In all the other countries where they tried / It. They'll regret it. Communism died, / But what came in its place? A load of greed. / A life spent longing for things you don't need.

Now it's always tricky to read dialogue separated from the movie--the performance and context can change everything--but wow, this stuff looks bad. Forget the rhyming, the thought is pretty shallow.

The first line doesn't tell you much--it feels like an outtake from Jesus Christ Superstar. (Note, by the way, this isn't pentameter, but tetrameter.)

The second quotation is an all too common argument. Sure, someone from, say, Syria, is likely to know more about America than an American knows about Syria. (I'll ignore all the lies they're taught about us.) It's called partaking in world culture, and it mostly makes your life better. I know about French wines, Japanese toys, Hong Kong films, Mexican food, etc., because such cross-pollenization makes a culture more vibrant--it's no burden. Yes, one needs to know about who has power as well, but note all this talk about cultural imperialism is made by people who, while enjoying the best the world has to offer (including Sally Potter films), want people in little villages everywhere to stay ignorant. Right now, learning English is a great way to get around, both physically and via TV and the internet. Those who learn two or more languages growing up are doing what is only natural. Mostly you know about your own area, but knowing what's useful to you makes sense. Americans come from all over the world, and many know quite a bit about their original homelands, but are we expected to be expert on all? The day the average Syrian knows a lot more about, say, Finland than the average American does, that's the day this argument will impress me.

The last line, by the aunt, is the kind of thing Rosenbaum goes for, I guess, but it's an embarrassment. Not just that the argument is so bad--I'll take a system that offers copious goods and freedom, and as for creating meaning in my life, that's my job, not the job of a cultural commissar, thank you very much--but that it's so banal.

I think I'll give Yes a pass (unless I get a pass).