What Maisie Knew

I'm fascinated by adaptations. What things were chosen for inclusion, bits left out, details changed - and why? That's the real question. Adaptations are part of our artistic culture; in the Early Middle Ages, performers would adapt scenes from the Bible. Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky is currently in production with his big-screen adaptation of Noah's ark. As we know from the recent Great Gatsby film, the Hunger Games trilogy, etc., people can be extremely sensitive about their adaptations. The more beloved a text, the louder the outcry. This may (partly) explain why Nancy Doyne and Caroll Cartwright chose a lesser-known, rarely adapted Henry James work for their most recent project.

(Note: I haven't read the book yet. I used Wikipedia.)

For the film, Doyne and Cartwright have updated James's 1897 novel What Maisie Knew to modern day, with modern names and values, giving the parents suitable careers, and providing what sounds like a happier resolution (than the novel's). Maisie's mother, Susanna, is an aging rock star, who can't seem to give enough attention to her marriage, her career, and her daughter. Beale, Maisie's father, has business prospects that keep sending him abroad, or providing him with excuses to cover his extramarital affairs. Maisie herself is a happy girl - excepting the times she hears her parents argue, having to fall asleep to the din, waking in the middle of the night to the doorbell after Susanna changes the locks to spite Beale. When they divorce, Susanna and Beale are forced to share custody of Maisie, shuffling her back and forth every ten days. Which, as difficult as this must be for Maisie, seems to be even more of a challenge for her parents. Unable to take responsibility themselves, Susanna and Beale rely on their new significant others (a sexy bartender for Susanna and Maisie's former nanny for Beale) to help keep control of the situation. Maisie, dear, sweet, sensitive, thoughtful Maisie, quietly goes where she's sent, waiting patiently, adrently loving each of her caretakers individually. Maisie tries to make the best of her bad situation. She gets two rooms, two sets of toys - and while it's seems less likely that her parents are trying to buy her love, it does seem that gifts and treats, intended as distractions, are all they are willing give.

The performances are what drive this film. What fun it must have been for Julianne Moore to play a rock star and mother. In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross, Moore says she found Susanna's inconsistency interesting - the duality of the character that she wanted to play. Party-like-a-rock-star mentality juxtaposed with a wholesome love of her daughter. Inspired by Courtney Love and Patti Smith - Moore is excellent, jealously craving both the spotlight and her daughter's affection. What's a woman to do? On the flip side, there's Steve Coogan's Beale, a detatched father figure who seems content to have his little girl around, but not particularly driven to keep her there. Driven to distraction, it seems, by his commitment to his job. After his divorce, after his remarriage to nanny Margo (Joanna Vanderham), he expects Margo and Susanna to look after Maisie. Both Susanna and Beale love Maisie and want custody - until it conflicts with their career opportunities.

As Maisie's secondary caretakers, Margo and Lincoln do what they can to avoid being caught in the middle. It's hard not to fall in love with Maisie; she's precocious, she loves animals, she's friendly and fun. Onata Aprile is a true find, her big, wet eyes taking in her surroundings, knowing and understanding more than she lets on. She's confident with Joanna Vanderham, which helps us think highly of Margo as a nanny - even if she does take up with Maisie's father rather quickly after the divorce. Lincoln, on the other hand, is a little harder to gauge. I wonder if the filmmakers banked on Alexander Skarsgård's popularity with the ladies to tip the scales in his favor. He's not my type, but the friendship that evolves between Lincoln and Maisie is one that will melt any hardened heart. Maisie's affection is something that Lincoln truly earns, simply by bearing the qualities that every little girl looks for in a man - reliability and respect. They're quite a sight, the tall bartender, whose every shirt bears a hole or a frayed seam, and the little bohemian girl.

What Maisie knows is what her priorities are, who her mother is, and what makes her happy. Old as the story is, this update of Henry James's novel still resonates, and if anything, proves that we as people have not changed so much - despite our technological advances. All the great works illuminate the feelings, hopes, and dreams that do not change through the ages. And so, it is not about the originality of the script, or the innovation of the storytelling, but it is the emotive qualities, the experience that make What Maisie Knew into something special.

Notes:
- Ladies, beware. Adorableness ahead: Skarsgård and Aprile.
- Shockya.com interview with Alexander Skarsgård and Onata Aprile, aka more adorableness.
- Mother roles have been very important to Julianne Moore's career. Noteworthy maternal performances include: Nine Months, The Hours, Far From Heaven, The Forgotten, Trust the Man, The Kids Are Alright, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.
- Did you know Alexander Skarsgård was in Zoolander? Skarsgård played "Meekus," one of Derek's model friends. HAHAHA.