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‘Death and the Maiden’
By Desson Howe
Washington Post Staff Writer
January 13, 1995
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In Roman Polanski's latest, Sigourney Weaver is a former political prisoner (in an unnamed South American country) who believes Ben Kingsley -- a stranger who gave her husband a ride home -- is her former torturer. After cold-cocking Kingsley, Weaver binds the stranger and -- wielding a gun -- refuses to release him until he confesses on videotape that he raped her repeatedly. Kingsley, a doctor, insists he is innocent and wasn't even in the country when the alleged assaults took place.Conveniently, Weaver's husband (Stuart Wilson), who's powerless to intercede, happens to be the government appointee to investigate such crimes. What follows is a psychological kangaroo trial, in which Weaver must convince her husband of Kingsley's guilt and get her prisoner to confess. Weaver is fairly persuasive as a traumatized victim determined to use force to bring justice. Kingsley is appropriately ratty; and Wilson is convincingly torn between belief in his wife and reasonable doubt. But the Polanski touch -- apart from a little suspense here and there -- is limited. And the story, which Ariel Dorfman adapted from his radical-chic play, is too contrived and smug to really hold. Its characters are merely political viewpoints posing as humans. "Death and the Maiden" contains brutality, profanity and frank descriptions of rape and torture.
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