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"Cheri" at Maiden Alley Cinema

By Todd Hatton

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-857505.mp3

Paducah, KY – The films of screenwriter Christopher Hampton and director Stephen Frears often explore the relationships between power and gender; for example, Frears' The Queen, Hampton's Atonement, or their collaboration, Dangerous Liaisons. Dangerous Liaisons star Michelle Pfeiffer reunites with Frears and Hampton for Cheri, playing this week at Maiden Alley Cinema in Paducah. Based on the novel by Colette, Pfeiffer plays a courtesan in pre-World War One Paris who finds something she never expected when she seduces a flamboyant young man. Todd Hatton speaks with Maiden Alley's Larry Thomas about the film.

CHERI
Starring Michelle Pfeiffer & Academy Award Winner Kathy Bates

It is turn of the century in Belle Epoque Paris and a scandalous romp is underfoot. The sensational tale begins as the ravishing Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer) contemplates retirement from her renowned stature as Paris's most envied seductress to the rich and famous. Her plans are cut short when she is approached by a former courtesan and arch rival, the barb-throwing gossip Charlotte Peloux (Kathy Bates), who encourages Lea to teach her disaffected 19 year-old son a bon vivant nicknamed "Ch ri" (Rupert Friend) a thing or two about women. The resulting escapades involve power struggles over sex, money, age and society - and unexpectedly, love itself as a boy who refuses to grow up collides with a woman who realizes she cannot stay young forever. Director Stephen Frears ("The Queen") and screenwriter Christopher Hampton ("Atonement") reunite ("Dangerous Liaisons") to playfully bring Colette's unconventional romance, CHERI, to the screen.

1 HOUR & 32 MINUTES