Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 14, 1995 TAG: 9510190004
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT WOLF ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Medium
Travis Holloway, an Oklahoman working as a chef at a U.S. Army base in England, meets local housewife Maggie Leyland, head of the welcoming committee. They share a waltz and, from there, launch an affair while Maggie's husband, Edward, is away in the navy.
And though Edward - himself a philanderer - would disapprove of his wife's adultery in any context, his reaction is intensified because Maggie is white, and Travis black.
The film builds to a courtroom conclusion in which both races lose out. Only time, the script suggests, can begin to mend a tragic wrong.
The film, an HBO Showcase-BBC co-production, stars Courtney B. Vance and Kerry Fox, with singer and actor Harry Belafonte on hand as executive producer. It premieres tonight at 8, with additional showings Tuesday and Oct. 22, 25 and 30.
Belafonte said by telephone from New York that he was drawn to ``The Affair'' by its fresh setting.
``Too many films have continued to reflect an idea that the dominant energy and dominant force of black life in America is urban violence,'' he said, ``and we have begun to look rather one-dimensional as a people. The idea of urban violence is beginning to wear thin.''
By contrast, Belafonte said, ``The Affair'' was ``very, very delicate.''
Black men in World War II, he said, had to confront both white American soldiers as well as the British. ``There were incredible strains put among people,'' Belafonte said.
In a separate interview, Vance said ``The Affair'' was the kind of film he preferred.
``I like actor pieces,'' said Vance, a Detroit native who began on the New York stage in plays like John Guare's ``Six Degrees of Separation'' and Athol Fugard's ``My Children! My Africa!'' before moving to Los Angeles and on to films including ``Panther.''
``This is about an interracial relationship, which is something very rare,'' he said. ``It's the same thing that grabbed me about `Six Degrees' - it's about trying to find an equilibrium, and struggling.''
Maggie and Travis aren't the film's only mixed-race couple to confront bigotry and violence.
A parallel tale is told of Barrett (Leland Gantt), a fellow black GI, and Esther (Beatie Edney), the local good-time girl whose wish to improve her reputation comes at the cost of the truth.
Gantt, a Pennsylvania-born Brooklyner in Britain for the first time, appreciated Belafonte's point that ``The Affair'' had moved away from the conventions of city violence.
``I'm playing a human being - a three-dimensional human being with wants, needs, desires other than for my next fix or my next holdup for my next piece of change,'' he said.
Co-producer John Smithson said ``The Affair'' was a natural Anglo-American co-venture.
``Where co-productions start getting into trouble is where you have to invent characters just to get the financing,'' said Smithson, an Englishman working for the third time with HBO.
``The beauty of this story is that from day one it has real roles for Americans, real roles for Britons.''
It also raises real practical issues, like finding actors with the proper footwork.
That task fell to two English women, Carol Fletcher and Jo Sexton, who put the cast through their paces on the waltz, fox trot and jitterbug.
Vance, reflecting on his own dance floor prowess, breathed a sigh of relief: ``I'm actually surprised I can waltz and talk at the same time. I was very nervous about that.''
by CNB