Disgrace shows Africa's got issues

10 April 2012

Racism, sexism, animal rights ... Numerous heavy themes are explored in Steve Jacobs’s adaptation of JM Coetzee’s post-apartheid novel, but UK viewers may find themselves distracted by a different issue — when did John Malkovich turn into Victor Meldrew?

As David Lurie, a pouting, occasionally boss-eyed Cape Town professor whose disastrous seduction of an Indian student gets him fired, he looks ridiculous.

Luckily, everything (even Malkovich’s performance) improves in the second half. Lurie slinks off to his daughter Lucy’s flower farm, only to become embroiled in a savage battle for territory.

You don’t have to buy Coetzee’s vision of modern South Africa to be gripped. Lucy (superb newcomer Jessica Haines) is a liberal, pro-life lesbian: she can’t possibly be seen as representative of your average white.

Yet the excruciating dynamic between her and her black ex-servant, Petrus (Eriq Ebouaney), rings true. As the last shot lingers, you long to find out what happens next.

Disgrace
Cert: 15

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