The Dying Gaul
Studio: Strand Releasing
Rated: R
Website: http://www.thedyinggaul.com/
Release Date: 2005-12-16
Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard, Campbell Scott, Robin Bartlett, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Director: Craig Lucas
Screenwriter: Craig Lucas
Music Score: Steve Reich
WorkNameSort: Dying Gaul, The
It was only a matter of time before Campbell Scott, Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard shared the screen, given the unspoken rule that no film gets made these days without at least one of them in it. Their inevitable joint project is a bizarre love triangle starring a gay screenwriter (Sarsgaard), a homo-leaning Hollywood studio exec (Scott) and the latter’s unsuspecting wife (Clarkson). While the writer rises to boy-toy status in this power pair’s obscenely opulent abode, he’s still mourning the loss of his AIDS-stricken partner/agent. That plot thread sends writer/director Craig Lucas who penned Prelude to a Kiss and the pioneering yet nonetheless lousy Longtime Companion venturing dangerously close to the realm of bathos. But almost every time Gaul threatens to be overwhelmed by its maudlin tendencies and need to be “about” something, it’s rescued by its delicious sense of cruelty. Wifey is no doormat, and crossing her risks unleashing a latent talent for revenge and manipulation. Look past the occasional pretensions and overstated metaphors of this 1995 period piece and enjoy it for the tasty morsel of malice it really is: It’s that rare film in which the reaction “No, she didn’t!” applies to just about everybody.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2005.