Lost and Delirious

Lost and Delirious
The promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Léa Pool
Produced by	Greg Dummett Lorraine Richard Louis-Philippe Rochon
Screenplay by	Judith Thompson
Based on	The Wives of Bath  by Susan Swan
Starring	Piper Perabo Jessica Paré Mischa Barton
Music by	Yves Chamberland
Cinematography	Pierre Gill
Editing by	Gaétan Huot
Studio	Greg Dummett Films Cite-Amerique
Distributed by	Seville Pictures (Canada) Lions Gate Entertainment (USA)
Release dates	January 21, 2001 (2001-01-21) (Sundance Film Festival) June 20, 2001 (2001-06-20)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English
Box office	$307,233[1]

Lost and Delirious is a 2001 Canadian drama film directed by Léa Pool and loosely based on the novel The Wives of Bath by Susan Swan. Lost and Delirious is filmed from the perspective of Mary (Mischa Barton), who observes the changing love between her two teenage friends, Pauline (Piper Perabo) and Victoria (Jessica Paré). The film premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.^[2]

Plot summary

When shy and introspective Mary arrives as a new student at an all-girls boarding school, she shares a dorm room with Paulie and Victoria (nicknamed Tori). In contrast to the timid Mary, Paulie is full of life. For example, at one point she turns a quiet afternoon on the campus into a loud dance party and spikes the punch. In an effort to break Mary out of her shell, Paulie and Tori involve her in their activities, such as running in the morning. When Mary's roommates learn that her mother recently died, Paulie nicknames her "Mary Brave".

Mary observes the intimacy between her two roommates. Peering out a window at night, she sees them kissing on a roof. At first, she thinks that they are practicing kissing in order to prepare themselves for kissing men, but she soon realises the nature of their romance. This also manifests itself in Paulie coming to Tori's rescue. For example, Paulie defends Victoria from a frustrated math teacher who unintentionally humiliates her when she does not understand a mathematical equation.

Over time, Paulie and Tori become more comfortable showing affection in front of Mary. It progresses from a quick kiss on the lips in front of her to the two sharing a bed and having sex while they think Mary is sleeping. At first, Mary is shy about sharing a room with the two lovers and feels like an intruder. After a few days, she finds their kissing and murmuring comforting and familiar.

When the three are running one day, Paulie comes across a hurt falcon, which she befriends. After reading up on falcons, she trains the animal and becomes obsessed with caring for it as she believes that something untoward has happened to its parents. While Paulie tends to the orphaned falcon, Mary and Tori meet some boys from the nearby boys' school. One of the boys, Jake, flirts with Tori, asking if she will be attending her brother's 18th birthday party and making it clear that he is interested in her. When Mary and Tori are alone, Tori expresses disgust at the boy's interest in her, saying, "He liked my tits." When Mary asks if she'll go to the party, Tori says, "And have all those gross guys groping me? No, thanks. I'd rather stay home and do math."

One morning, Victoria's sister, Allison (Emily VanCamp), and her friends rush into the room to wake up the older girls. Paulie is lying in Tori's bed, both naked. Mary pushes Tori's sister out of the room and closes the door. After the younger girls leave, Tori, her head in her hands, decides at that moment to end whatever intimate relationship she had with Paulie, who claims that she loves her. Tori refuses outright, fearing that Alison will tell their parents. Tori then angrily tells Paulie to get out of her bed. When confronted by Allison, Tori tries to extinguish her sister's suspicions by telling her Paulie has an unrequited crush on her and crawled into her bed. Her sister promises to "fix" the rumors about Tori and not tell their parents anything. As she walks away from this conversation, Victoria collapses into tears.

In the library, Victoria explains to Mary that her family is strongly opposed to homosexuality, and she must stop the relationship to prevent their rejection. Mary sympathizes with both of her friends, as she too feels rejected by her father, who does not bother to show up to a father/daughter dance. In the forest at night, Tori and Jake have sex against a tree. Both Mary and Paulie accidentally witness this scene and run back to their room before Tori returns.

When Tori returns to the room, Paulie asks her where she's been and Tori says she was with a friend. Paulie lashes out at her by telling her that she saw what Tori and Jake were doing in the woods. Tori tells Paulie that the intimacy that they had shared will never happen again but she (Tori) would always love her.

Paulie cannot handle Tori's withdrawal from the relationship. She smashes a mirror and hurls a dish cart to the ground and begins to act out in other ways. A rejection letter from the agency that handled Paulie's adoption, which informs her that her birth mother denied a request from Paulie to get in touch, further sends her over the edge. Upset, Paulie leaves the building and runs into Mrs. Vaun, with whom she discusses her love for Tory, and Mrs. Vaun tells her she understands. Paulie then goes on to say "Without her, I would just die." Meanwhile, Victoria creates an image of heterosexuality to her friends and her sister, dating Jake Hollander (Luke Kirby) from a nearby all-boys school and avoiding Paulie.

Paulie declares a duel to the death with Jake. Jake is not taking her seriously until he ends up on the ground, with Paulie brandishing a sword above him. She demands that he give up Tori. When he refuses, she stabs him in the leg. Mary rushes to stop her and Paulie runs off. Mary runs to Victoria's soccer match, where the headmistress, math teacher and fellow students are congregated. Upon reaching the group, Mary sees Paulie, sobbing from the top of a building while holding her falcon. Whispering "I rush into the secret house," a Shakespearean reference to suicide, Paulie jumps to her death and the movie ends with the falcon flying in the background.

Differences from the novel

• Mary never pretends to be a boy in the film.
• A major theme of the novel is "Paulie's crime", murder, which is entirely absent from the film.
• In the book, Mary is described many times as having a spinal malformation which affects her ability to walk normally and gives her a hunchbacked appearance, but such a deformity doesn't exist in the film.

Cast

• Piper Perabo as Pauline "Paulie" Oster
• Jessica Paré as Victoria "Tori" Moller
• Mischa Barton as Mary "Mouse" Bedford
• Jackie Burroughs as Fay Vaughn
• Mimi Kuzyk as Eleanor Bannet
• Graham Greene as Joe Menzies
• Emily VanCamp as Allison Moller
• Caroline Dhavernas as Kara
• Luke Kirby as Jake Hollander
• Alan Fawcett as Bruce Moller
• Peter Oldring as Phil
• Grace Lynn Kung as Lauren
• Stephen Mwinga as John
• Lydia Zadel as Monica

Reception

The film garnered a mixed reaction from critics. Based on 58 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes it is certified "rotten", with an approval rating of 50%. The consensus reads, "Lost and Delirious becomes exactly that, as the film sinks into overwrought melodrama and cliched, obvious symbolism."^[3]

The performances of Perabo, Paré and Barton were, however, widely praised.^[4] Perabo's performance in particular received critical acclaim, which Loren King of the Chicago Tribune remarked was her "breakout performance".^[5] Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman called her "an actress of glittering ferocity" and her performance "a geyser of emotion".^[6] Jim Lane of the Sacramento News & Review said that "Perabo is a revelation, wild and fiery — it’s a breakthrough performance, astonishing in its fervency"^[7] and Roger Ebert praised her performance for its sincerity and "wonderful abandon and conviction". Ebert went on to give the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, writing that the film "stirred within me memories of that season in adolescence when the heart leaps up in passionate idealism--and inevitably mingles it with sexual desire." Ebert praised Pool as she "creates a lush, thoughtfully framed, and composed film; her classical visual style lends gravitas to this romantic story."^[8]

Awards and honours

Production details

The movie was filmed in Lennoxville, Quebec on the Bishop's University Campus and across the St Francis River at Bishop's College School. Students attending summer classes there during filming were used as extras.

Soundtrack

• Original score by Yves Chamberland

• "Beautiful"

Written and Performed by Meshell Ndegeocello

Maverick Records

• "Add It Up"

Performed by Violent Femmes

Written by Gordon Gano

Beyond Music

• "You Had Time"

Written and Performed by Ani DiFranco

Righteous Babe Records

• "River Waltz"

Performed by Cowboy Junkies

Written by Michael Timmins

Cowboy Junkies Inc.

• "Sanctus" from Missa Luba

Performed by Muungano National Choir

Universal Music

References

External links

• Lost and Delirious at the Internet Movie Database
• A tribute website
• Film Trailer