Joel Coen gives us elaborate settings, exact rhythms of speech and plenty to enjoy. We value the craft and the comedy, though The Hudsucker Proxy shows how easily that precision can leave the people sounding over-rehearsed.
Fi1m perspective
Paul Newman makes the elaborate dialogue of The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) sound less difficult than it is. As Sidney J. Mussburger, he seems comfortable with the exaggeration, where other exchanges have been polished until we can hear the effort. We laughed at Newman because his ease lets the comedy work without making us notice every carefully prepared line. Joel Coen’s control is useful here, but the actor’s apparent freedom within it is what we enjoy.
For much of his career, Coen worked with his brother Ethan. They began with the noir thriller Blood Simple (1984), later moving to the gangster drama Miller’s Crossing (1990). By Fargo (1996), crime and regional comedy were sharing the same film. Across those changes of genre, the taste for artificial settings and precisely patterned speech remained. Cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Carter Burwell are recurring collaborators, so the consistency of the craft cannot sensibly be credited to the director alone.
The artifice is part of the pleasure of The Hudsucker Proxy, whose Art Deco architecture gives the screwball performances a suitably exaggerated setting. Joel, Ethan and co-writer Sam Raimi clearly enjoy those old Hollywood manners, and the film is funny enough to justify the attention paid to them. Tim Robbins’s innocent Norville Barnes is less securely served. The script gives us plenty to watch without making us worry much about him, and some exchanges leave little room for surprise. The shortage of warmth keeps this enjoyable comedy from moving us as it might.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) marks a clear change in the working arrangement: it is his first solo directorial feature. Its stylised black-and-white approach keeps the emphasis on a deliberately artificial screen world. We have no wish for Coen to become a realist, but The Hudsucker Proxy makes us wish he would sometimes let the dialogue sound less prepared. For a way into the work, try that film and listen to what Newman makes sound easy.
Biography
Joel Coen is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and editor. He has worked extensively with his brother Ethan Coen; the pair are known collectively as the Coen brothers. Their joint credits include directing and writing Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991) and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994).
Coen was born on 29 November 1954 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. He studied at Bard College at Simon's Rock and New York University. The brothers have frequently shared editing duties under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes. Coen received sole directing credit on their films until The Ladykillers (2004). He made his solo directorial debut with The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021).
Together the Coens have received multiple Academy Award nominations and wins, including for Fargo (1996) and No Country for Old Men (2007). They won the Palme d'Or for Barton Fink at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Coen is married to the actor Frances McDormand.
