Halle Berry: Will she find favour in Calcutta?

One a villain, the other an anti-hero. One was real, the other a figment of the imagination. There are more differences than similarities, but one fact holds true for both Aileen Wuornos and Patience Phillips — although they later became ‘criminals’, they were two women victimised through life who emerged as strong characters, capturing minds and carving a niche for themselves in a man’s world.

Aileen Wuornos is the serial-killing prostitute played by Charlize Theron in the film Monster, which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress this year. Patience Phillips is Catwoman, portrayed on the silver screen by another Oscar-winning actress, Halle Berry, in the film of the same name.

Monster, which hit Calcutta halls on July 31 without as much as a murmur, disappeared from the scene after just one week. Catwoman — which managed close to $18 million in its opening weekend in the US — releases on August 6 with far greater fanfare.

So why did the critically-acclaimed movie that won the South African actress so many rave reviews, bomb at our box office, while yet-another Hollywood action film is billed to rake it in?

At INOX (City Centre and Forum) and 89 Cinemas, the unlikely love story between a prostitute and a young girl (Selby Wall, played by Christina Casper Ricci) opened with two shows each. At INOX, the audience response was 30 per cent, while at 89 Cinemas, less than a hundred viewers braved the gritty true tale of a victim who never had a second chance.

The reasons for the low response were many, say officials manning the halls and monitoring footfall. “Competition with Bollywood blockbusters like Mujhse Shaadi Karogi was tough. Plus, three new releases in one week with so many other films doing quite well meant Monster had to be replaced,” was the word from INOX.

89 Cinemas had another crib point: poor publicity. “The exposure wasn’t enough,” complained general manager Prashant Srivastava.

Then there was the violence weal. “Some people couldn’t deal with the very real aspect of rape,” said INOX and 89 Cinemas.

That’s where Catwoman comes in — a female ‘hero’, plenty of action but with special effects and a U certificate. It opens with three shows at INOX and 89 Cinemas as well as in a few other halls, and the expectations, though not great, are good enough. Definitely better than Monster, that is.

Although some comic book fans might be disappointed — Catwoman does not conform to DC Comics books since there is no Batman, she is a black woman and her boyfriend is cop Tom Lane (Benjamin Bratt) — the Spider-Man-effect has not diminished yet. She’s not a hero — Halle Berry is quoted as saying, “She’s not Superman. She’s not trying to save the world. Catwoman is out to save herself” — but she’s the boss. Besides, Sharon Stone is the bad girl in this film.

There’s no denying that Monster has been relegated to the back benches by the Calcutta audience. Worldwide, too, the film didn’t do too well at the box office, grossing only $28 million in the first eight weeks of its tenure. However, it did bring the former model and ballet dancer to the forefront. Putting on weight, false freckles and altering her face with make-up to look unattractive is not something all actresses pine for, but it was the least of Theron’s problems.

In an interview online, she said, “Aileen… (when) she got really upset she’d tend to underline things by opening her eyes (wide). And I tend to do the opposite. When I underline things, I get very squinty. And so it was very strange for me to do that.”

What the Monster of a flop does underline about the Calcutta audience is that experiments with celluloid truth find little favour here.