the dark side of the heart . written on the wind

'the dark side of the heart' was a hallucinatory wet dream of a pimple faced twenty something who thought that having naked women cavort in bed while bad love poetry is recited over a droning soundtrack is good cinema. the storyline as it was sketched out had a droopy central character (definitely the film makers alter ego) who plunges into relationship after relationship with women hoping to find the one woman who can ‘fly’. yes its all very magic realism avant garde, desperate to be seen as ‘cinema'- making even peter greenaways pseudofreudian psychobabble of ‘the pillow book’ seem like tarkovsky. the one reassurance is that no matter what country it is, argentina or india, most men in their twenties have similar self centered silly delusions of grandeur about their pathetic failed love affairs.

‘written on the wind’ is the second douglas sirk film that we have seen. the first being the wonderful ‘all the heaven will allow’. rock hudson plays mitch - the overperforming perfect friend of a rich mans son called kyle. nothing kyle can do can ever be as good as mitch who excels in everything, academics, manliness; he even has the advantage of being born poor. kyle ends up being the drunk dilettante because it was the one thing he can do better than mitch- until he falls in love with lauren bacall – who makes a good man out of him. things get complicated when kyle learns that he cant be a father and when his sister plants suspicions in his head regarding mitch’s intentions. naturally a melodramatic and moving end follows. beautifully shot, wonderful characterizations – everyone seemed so human- and very touching. terrific.