Tag: psychiatrist


Don Juan DeMarco

July 29th, 2013 — 6:51am

***Don Juan DeMarco

Don Juan DeMarco nf   – When we chose this film for our next Netflix choice, we thought it might be quite interesting to see two great actors of different generations interacting. We also heard that Brando played a psychiatrist, which is always of special interest to us. We encountered an extremely obese Brando (almost 70 years at the time) playing Dr. Jack Mickler, a psychiatrist working in an hospital in Queens,  New York 10 days away from retirement, who encounters Depp, 31 years old at the time but playing Don Juan De Marco , 21 years old on the verge of suicide, who believes he is the greatest lover in the world, having made love to over a  1000 women. The young masked lover relates his tale of growing up in Mexico and having fallen in love with his tutor at age 16 and then the circumstances which  led to his having to revenge his father’s death in a dual while defending his mother’s honor. He goes on to relate  the unusual story which this young lover of women has experienced in his short life. It is told with such intensity, sensitivity and almost believability that the good doctor reexamines his relationship with his wife (still beautiful Faye Dunaway) and their romance seems revitalized. The story was written and directed by Jeremy Leven who shared the writing credits with Lord Byron , who wrote the original Don Juan. The magic of this movie is both the empathy which Depp elicits for the tale of his life and the empathic feelings and identification which Brando conveys for his patient. The latter is in contrast to the psychiatric colleagues who are insisting on antipsychotic medication rather than hearing him out and understanding his story (which is something we do encounter from time to time  in well meaning colleagues in various mental health settings). In the end we had the pleasure of getting a taste of the subtlety that Brando could bring to a role as he performed in  the 35th of what was to be a 39 film magnificent career. At the same time we saw Depp in his 12th film appearance which thus far has included 49 movies in which he often takes on as he did in this one, a very unusual and unique character. (1994)

Comment » | 3 Stars, Drama, Romance

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