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Zellweger dazzles Berlin with new romantic comedy
2009-02-12
BERLIN (AFP) - Oscar winner Renee Zellweger on Thursday captivated the Berlin Film Festival with "My One and Only," a romantic comedy set in the 1950s, as the race for the Berlin Film Festival's coveted Golden Bear neared its climax. Appearing for the first time opposite "JFK" star Kevin Bacon, Zellweger plays Ann Devereaux who leaves her adulterous but rich musician husband (Bacon) and hits the road with her two teenage sons, George and Robbie, in search of a suitable replacement. The film, a contender for the festival's Golden Bear top prize, follows the trio's progress along a madcap road trip from New York to Hollywood that sees Ann begin a succession of affairs that inevitably end in catastrophe. Along the way, she encounters a drunk who steals her money, a communist-bashing psychopathic soldier who turns violent and a pervert who pushes her out of the car when she refuses his advances. Asked whether she did any research into playing a "desperate woman looking for love," Zellweger quipped: "Err, experience, is that what you're trying to say?" before asking, "Can I just say no comment?" Zellweger said she relished making the movie, particularly the road trips. "I've been making films for 20 years -- oh my God! -- but I can't think of a film that I've enjoyed more. I love the film, I just loved the film," she said. Ann's journey continues until Mr Right hoves into view and proposes to her, only for it to emerge he is a lunatic who has popped the question to at least 11 women before. The family's funds dwindle and Ann goes from posh Boston hotels to down-and-out tenaments, her impoverished sister's house in St Louis and even prison after a detective she chats up in a bar arrests her, believing she is a prostitute. As the trip lurches from disaster to disaster, 15-year-old George (Logan Lerman) -- based on a young George Hamilton, the 60s and 70s Hollywood star -- becomes increasingly exasperated, threatens to leave several times and even does once. But he eventually comes to appreciate his mother's tenacity and "never say die" spirit. George's half-brother Robbie (Mark Rendall), an effiminate would-be actor who is constantly embroidering, tries to defuse the tensions between George and their mother with a stream of hilarious and inappropriate quips. The film, made by a previous winner of the festival's Silver Bear for directing, Richard Loncraine, drew thunderous applause from the packed cinema and hearty laughs throughout. Also vying for the Golden Bear Thursday was "La Teta Asustada" ("The Milk of Sorrow,") a tale of survival in the wake of Peru's two decades of terror inflicted by the Shining Path guerilla group between 1980 and 2000. The festival runs until Sunday, with the prize winners revealed the night before.
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