Film Details:
Penelope (U)
Comedy(2006)
89mins UK
Director: Mark Palansky
Starring: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Richard E Grant, Peter Dinklage, Reese Witherspoon

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LondonNet Film Review
Penelope

In Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice, Jessica famously declares, "Love is blind and lovers cannot see/The pretty follies that themselves commit..."

Alas, Love has perfect 20-20 vision in Penelope, a modern-day fairy-tale about a young woman's futile search for enduring romance in an image-obsessed world where her unsightly facial abnormality brands her a freak. "For seven years, I've been watching them run," laments the eponymous recluse (Christina Ricci) after the latest batch of potential suitors catch sight of her porcine nose - a family curse - and run for the hills via the first floor window.

Screenwriter Leslie Caveny propels the depressed heroine on a magical journey of self-acceptance, at the end of which she realises that, in order to be loved by someone else, she must first love herself. A session on a therapist's couch would undoubtedly be a quicker solution though considerably less fun. Born into the wealthy Wilhern family with a piggish countenance, Penelope has been hidden from the cruel outside world by her well-to-do socialite mother Jessica (Catherine O'Hara) and despairing father Franklin (Richard E. Grant). Jessica is haunted by the words of the hag who invoked the curse - "When one of your own kind claims this daughter as their own, till death do they part, will the curse be broken!" - and she joins forces with Aunt Wanda (Ronni Ancona) to find an upper class bachelor to lead Penelope down the aisle and break the spell.

Unfortunately, all likely candidates, who sign a non-disclosure agreement, are repulsed by Penelope's appearance. Invariably, she comfort eats to cope with constant rejection. "Now you're going to make a pig of yourself?" snipes Jessica. That's already been done for me!" retorts Penelope sadly. When tabloid reporter Mr Lemon (Peter Dinklage), who has been trying to get a photograph of Penelope for years, learns of her whereabouts from would-be suitor Edward Vanderman Jr (Simon Woods), he hires down-on-his-luck blue blood Max (James McAvoy) to pose as a suitor and capture her grotesque likeness on hidden camera. Max accepts, to clear his gambling debts, but the plan hits a snag when he develops feelings for poor Penelope.

Filmed on location in London, Mark Palansky's love story conceals few surprises as Ricci's resourceful young woman ventures out of the home that has become her prison, hiding her face behind a large scarf so she can mingle freely with outsiders. "Are you hiding from the law or a bad nose job?" asks a motorcycle courier, Annie (Reese Witherspoon), who becomes Penelope's friend, introducing her to the excitement of everyday life. The truth emerges and Penelope endures trial by tabloid before the inevitable reversal of fortune as nay sayers begin to see Penelope for the kind and gentle soul she is ("Pig Latin banned from schools" declares one newspaper headline).

Ricci is adorable in the underwritten central role, showing pluck and courage in the face of derision and intolerance. The romance with McAvoy is a little tepid while Dinklage, O'Hara and Grant are caricatures, mouthpieces for screenwriter Caveny as she vents her spleen against a society which values beauty above originality and wit ("You are not your nose. You are someone else inside!") It's just a shame that there isn't more originality and wit in her script.

- Sam Cannon

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