Words and Pictures
What stands out first about Words and Pictures is the confidence with which Fred Schepisi establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Words and Pictures asks Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Words and Pictures is established with useful clarity: An art instructor and an English teacher form a rivalry that ends up with a competition at their school in which students decide whether words or pictures are more important. That direct approach lets Words and Pictures use its 1h 51m running time for character, atmosphere and consequence.
Words and Pictures relies heavily on Clive Owen, and the performance responds with enough specificity to carry changes in mood. The contribution of Juliette Binoche gives Words and Pictures a useful counterweight instead of merely echoing the lead. Bruce Davison makes the smaller exchanges in Words and Pictures count, often through timing rather than emphatic dialogue. Fred Schepisi understands that Words and Pictures becomes more persuasive when the cast can imply feelings before the script names them.
The central idea running through Words and Pictures concerns embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. Clive Owen gives that idea a human scale, allowing Words and Pictures to remain accessible even when its world becomes larger. By returning to an important relationship, Words and Pictures turns theme into a source of pressure rather than a message waiting to be delivered. The handling by Fred Schepisi lets Words and Pictures leave a little interpretive room, which gives its better scenes an afterlife.
The most useful technical choice in Words and Pictures is comic timing built around character, because it helps the audience understand both space and mood. Latitude Productions frames Words and Pictures through comic timing built around character without letting surface finish replace character. Drawing on its United States background, Words and Pictures uses well judged reactions to give familiar material a more specific texture. Cinematography, sound and editing meet effectively in Words and Pictures whenever a sequence must feel large without losing its human scale.
Words and Pictures is most involving when the screenplay allows English to complicate what initially appears to be a story about the central character. That shift gives Clive Owen a more specific problem to carry through Words and Pictures. Working from material credited to Gerald Di Pego, Words and Pictures reveals an important relationship at a measured pace instead of rushing toward its largest turn. The later pressure around a difficult choice shows why Words and Pictures benefits whenever cause and consequence remain visibly connected.
Words and Pictures benefits from Fred Schepisi being alive in individual scenes and uncertain between them about what each sequence needs to accomplish. Instead of making every beat equally loud, Fred Schepisi lets Words and Pictures create contrast between pressure and release. The cast and craft keep the experience watchable throughout Words and Pictures, with the strongest decisions feeling connected to character rather than display. It is still fair to say that Words and Pictures suffers because too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested, but the problem remains contained.
For comedy fans who respond to personality and timing, Words and Pictures is ultimately an uneven film with enough personality to remain interesting. Its most persuasive combination in Words and Pictures brings Clive Owen together with well judged reactions under the direction of Fred Schepisi. The fact that too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested prevents Words and Pictures from being entirely seamless. Even with that reservation, Words and Pictures has a clear point of view and enough genuine feeling to justify the journey.
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