Words and Pictures, starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche, is not a great movie—not even a good movie, but it is a good chick flick and makes for a great date movie. Owen and Binoche are terrific actors who manage to salvage a weak plot and turn it into a story that is charming, funny and poignant. Women and men will laugh and maybe shed a tear, but everyone will leave the theater in high-spirits.

Jack Marcus (Clive Owen) is a poet working as an English teacher in a prep school; however, he hasn’t written anything in years and is quickly becoming less than a functioning alcoholic. Dina Delsanto, an accomplished and successful artist (Juliette Binoche who is radiant is this movie and does all her own painting), is hired as the new art teacher. Like Marcus, she too must contend with her own share of personal problems. Initially, sparks don’t fly between the two, but their contentious relationship sparks something in them and in their students.

I was lucky enough to see a preview of this film at 92Y and even luckier to be able to hear Owen interviewed afterwards — he is even better looking and more eloquent than I would have imagined. Discussing his career, which started on the stage and transitioned into film, he hinted that he is looking for the right project that could lure him back to the stage (I’d pay full price to see this!). He covered past films, why he gets involved in producing some and the camaraderie between the actors and creative team in Words and Pictures.

Like a line in the film “yesterday’s haiku is today’s tweet”, Words and Pictures is an old-fashioned love story that superficially deals with contemporary topics. Although far from brilliant film making, or one the critics will love, I found this film thoroughly enjoyable and engaging. LAR 

Directored by: Fred Schepisi     Screenwriter: Gerald Di Pego 

Opens 5/23 with a limited run.

PG-13, 1 hour, 51 minutes

To see the Clive Owen from 92Yinterview: http://92yondemand.org/?utm_source=mail2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Talks052214