Here’s a bit about something that’s been bothering me for a couple of days since I saw the film on HBO.
I remember being excited when they announced the cast for The Special Relationship, the third in the trilogy of Michael Sheen taking on Tony Blair. First was The Deal, second was The Queen and third was The Special Relationship. I was most excited to see the ever reliable Hope Davis playing Hillary Clinton, as well as Dennis Quaid taking on President Bill Clinton.
But I have to say how disappointed I was in the Hillary Clinton role in the film. Most of the film takes place towards the end of the Clinton administration after she gets reamed over the coals because of health care. Her big scenes are all about Bill telling her about the Monica Lewinsky affair. It was just so sad to me that most all we saw of her was her getting woken up to be confronted with another one of her husband’s revelations. At least they through her a bone in the end and showed her after she won the Senate race.
Now granted the film was about Blair and Clinton — it was actually more about Tony Blair than anyone else — but when you involve an actress of Hope Davis’ caliber and make a big deal when it is cast, I really expect a little more than just window dressing. Helen McCrory who played Cherie Blair at least got to show some personality.
Did you see the film? What did you think?
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“Most of the film takes place towards the end of the Clinton administration after she gets reamed over the coals because of health care.”
Her healthcare proposal came out about a year after Bill Clinton was first elected president.
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I was actually pleased by the film’s presentation of Hillary Clinton — and hand it to the BBC for a smart, nuanced film. An angry criticism leveled at Clinton was not about her views/ability/voting record, but instead about WHY she stayed with Bill (often by women in relationships with cheats). This film humanizes marriage and that decision — flipping the roles between couples and showing the complexity of relationships, both those of power and those of love. The mind and the heart are two realms of connection, and the film shows how Blair’s solid marriage does not, however, call upon each other as decision-making partners, while the Clintons’ does; and yet, the affairs of the heart are equally important and complicated… Just as Tony Blair’s reputation switches with Bill Clinton’s, so do our empathies…showing us that first impressions can be both truthful and deceiving, or, rather, can be partnered with baggage that makes things not so simple. Clinton is shown clearly as an equal to her husband, as a trusted consigliere even after the Lewinski affair. I felt that Hope Davis’ role rescued Clinton from the simple-minded criticisms of her as foolish cuckolded spouse or busybody 1st lady/wife. Instead, it shows her strength, her smarts, her humanity, and her competence. (I think the film’s contribution is also important for politics — it shows how her competence is not wasted. And hopefully, this can help change people’s knee-jerk reactions so that in future elections with women involved, we’ll be able to actually discuss the content of their voting records and policy plans, rather than their body types and marital issues.)