By Elyse Sommer
Since I saw and reviewed Tessa Thompson in Rebecca Wilson's
terrific film adaptation of Nella Larson's 1939 novel Passing (http://www.curtainup.com/passingmovie.html), any film she's in
moves straight to the top of my must-see list. For some,
her starring role in the multi-season Westworld series might be a draw.
Thompson's now starring in a romance with a strong whiff of
the golden era of happy-ever-after Hollywood movies, which was more
of a drawback than a draw for contemporary film producers. As
they saw Eugene Ashe's love story, its focus on the
personal made it seem irrelevant, especially since the
romance's time frame paralleled the late '50s and early '60s
when the civil rights movement reached its peak -- a peak that has
been given new urgency by the current civil rights protests triggered by the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings.
Yet, important as it is to right unresolved racist attitudes and actions,
pandemic-wary-and-weary theater and movie goers are hungry
for an occasional escape from more gritty, painfully true
staged or screened narratives.
Fortunately, Sylvie's Love (available for streaming on Amazon Prime) has blossomed into life despite
all those producers' turn-downs. Unlike so many plays and
movies nowadays, it provides audiences with a
beautifully acted, smartly crafted, enjoyable diversion. It's easy to fall in love with Sylvie and Robert, and root
for their often star-crossed love to end happily ever after.
Unlike Tessa Thompson, her co-star Nnamdi Asomugha came to acting
more recently. As Eugene Ashe was a musician before, so Asomugha
was previously an athlete. Ashe's musicianship has greatly enriched the film and imbues it with a picture of the period's change in music as well as society generally. It also
inspired Asomugha to learn how to play the saxophone to actually deliver
the jazzy musical numbers.
Per the title, this is essentially Sylvie's story and
Thompson does full justice to it. But thanks to her co-star,
the superb ensemble cast and the savvy production team,
Sylvie's Love is truly a triumph of collaborative excellence.
Best of all, Mr. Ashe clearly wants you to enjoy the visual
glitz of the movies made during the Hollywood studios' glory days. But his creation of that world, with its
beautiful clothes, elegant sets and happy-ending romance, is more than a lightweight entertainment. Those producers who
thought it was incumbent on Black filmmakers to only tell more political stories got it all
wrong.
Sylvie's Love does have a story that should apply a
corrective brush to the fault line tarnishing those movies.
While families like his own were prospering and living
the American dream like the actors in those movies, the
culture of the time did not cast Black people. And so, Ashe filled in the blank in that part of the Golden Era romantic
canvas with Sylvie and Robert, who at the time of that
Hollywood studio culture would have been strictly on the outside looking in -- or perhaps offered roles as servants.
Now we get a chance to see them experiencing the same
emotions, dreaming the same dreams and being too influenced
by the cultural mores of the times to always make the right
moves towards that happy ending. Thus Sylvie, raised in an
upwardly mobile social environment with its own debutante
balls for meeting prosperous husbands, makes the safe choice. The male attitude about supporting a wife almost
sabotages that ultimate happy ending. Seeing only people who
don't look like you admitted into a world you yearn to be
part of may not be as horrid an example of racism as the
deadly actions against Black people, but it is an injustice that needs to be corrected. Eugene Ashe's correction. manages
to be at once joyful and tearful.
Bravo!
If you missed Tessa Thompson in the darker
and more race-conscious Passing, it's
still available on Netflix. I re-watched it after seeing her as the luminous Sylvie and I was bowled all over again.
