Are you a head person, someone who processes everything through your rational faculties? Or are you more of a heart person who feels everything deeply? Each of us, of course, has a bit of both of these, and oh, what a mess it is when head and heart are in conflict. The Triumph of Love, based on an eighteenth century French comedy by Pierre Marivaux, will speak to both your heart and your head with its witty commentary on sexual politics, philosophy, and the exhilarations of falling in love.
In the most inventive and taxing role of her film career, Mira Sorvino shines as a princess whose father put her on the throne by usurping the place of another. Prince Agis (Jay Rodan) was born in prison and has been raised in an isolated villa by a rationalist philosopher, Hemocrates (Ben Kingsley), and his spinster sister, Leontine (Fiona Shaw). They have trained him to hate the princess and to despise the bothersome and unwieldy emotion of love.
Much to the surprise of the princess, she spots him in a field one day and is swept away by feelings of attraction to him. This leads to the concoction of a clever scheme. The princess dresses up as Phocion, a philosophy student, and along with her lady-in-waiting (Rachel Stirling), who pretends to be a valet, begins a mission to convince Agis of her love and to restore him to his rightful place on the throne as king.
Clare Peploe (Rough Magic directs this madcap comedy and draws out a giddy performance from Mira Sorvino. It is a sheer delight to watch the princess in action as a charming seducer. She weaves a web of enchantment around Leontine who falls for Phocion’s ardor. She convinces Agis to be her best friend and later leads him to much more. But the most surprising seduction is that of the cool Hemocrates, who sees through the disguise immediately but then allows this beautiful woman to steal his head and put him in a swoon.
The Triumph of Love is a most delightful fairy tale that will send you from the theater feeling light-headed and gleeful.
