THE CRUCIBLE (72)

Directed by: Nicholas Hytner

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Paul Scofield, Joan Allen

The Pitch: The hunt for witches among 17th-century Puritans in the town of Salem, Massachusetts escalates into a paranoid orgy of accusation.

Theo Sez: A bit like sitting down in a restaurant to a plate of foie gras and a glass of Dom Perignon: a food critic may reasonably point out that the chef could have done more with his ingredients, but it would take a very jaded diner not to enjoy the meal. Hytner doesn't reimagine the material the way recent Shakespeare adaptations have reimagined the Brad (though, to be fair, they'd probably have been less adventurous too with Shakespeare himself looking over their shoulder), or even in the way Scorsese insinuated his own sensibility into THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. There are no telling cutaways here, no highlighted "incidental" details - almost every shot is plot-driven, people listening or talking, and the only stylistic commitment is to a harsh naturalism (Proctor's teeth getting progressively yellower as the film proceeds). The film's viewpoint is inevitably modern - when the Rev. Hale speaks of "all the invisible world, all the incubi and succubi" it can't resist a mocking low-angle shot to exaggerate his fervour - but it's mostly content to let the material speak for itself (and through some superbly-controlled performances). Like Miller himself, the man-of-the-soil playwright, it's muscular and committed, with a fierce integrity. A powerful version of a very great play.