Review: City real star of ‘Bride of the Wind’

Max Jacobson

Friday, July 20, 2001 | 9:03 a.m.

What magic allure would be necessary for one woman to make four of the most creative minds in Central Europe fall head-over-heels in love with her?

That's the premise behind "Bride of the Wind," a faithful but somewhat plodding recreation of imperial Vienna in the early part of the tumultuous 20th century. The story tells the improbable tale of Alma Mahler-Gropius-Werfel (nee Schindler), a headstrong, talented, beautiful hottie who was immortalized in a 1964 song written by then popular satirist Tom Lehrer.

It happens that Lehrer's song, "Alma," with lyrics such as "while married to Gus she met Gropius, and soon she was swinging with Walter, Gus died and her teardrops were copious, she cried all the way to the altar," stands up a lot better than this rather turgid film. The film is, anyway, recommendable for fans of Jugendstil architecture, Mahler's symphonic forms or the performance of actor Vincent Perez, who, as expressionist artist Oskar Kokochka, almost rescues the movie outright.

But what it lacks is an answer to the question about Alma's obviously unavoidable charms. Cast as Alma, the beautiful-but-wooden Sara Wynter, who wanted this role as much as Pinocchio wished to be a real boy, projects coolness more than unrepentant sexuality, restraint more than unbridled passion. For the part, this well-known cover girl (Vanity Fair) and actress learned to speak with a continental lilt, and even to play the piano acceptably. It's just that she's not the bombshell Alma must have been, and the movie lags as a result.

There are other annoying glitches. Screenwriter Marilyn Levy has ripped off one or two famous lines from history and incorporated them into her script. Early in the film during a discussion of Mahler's music, someone comes forth with the pithy observation that "Mahler's music is better than it sounds." That's a good line, except that is was first used by Mark Twain to describe the music of Richard Wagner.

Then later in the film a bigwig with the Viennese State Opera, who once criticized Mahler for being Jewish, says, "I'll decide who is a Jew and who is not a Jew." Once more, a good line, but unfortunately one attributed to Hermann Goering, much later in history. Levy also inserts a few howlers into her script. What are we supposed to make of a line such as, "War brings out the worst in men ... and the best." Maybe there is an opening on "The Young and the Restless."

After the tragic death of Mahler's first daughter, Maria (beside whom the great composer is buried), the film comes to life somewhat. Alma repairs to a sanitarium, where she meets the young, handsome architect Walter Gropius, later is to found the Bauhaus school, a refutation of the classical style that has dominated Central Europe for nearly a hundred years.

Because in that period Alma meets Kokoschka (Swiss-born Vincent Perez), who loves her obsessively, inspiring him to paint his masterpiece, "Bride of the Wind," after which the film is named. Perez, who scored in Indochine, a French film, and more recently bombed in the Kim Basinger fiasco "I Dreamed Of Africa," infuses the film with energy and wild artistic passion. Pity he couldn't have pumped some of that into Wynter.

The other performances are perfectly fine. Jonathan Pryce is accomplished and believable as Mahler, and Lord knows he looks like the Great Man, while Gregor Seberg does a nice and all-too-brief turn as Werfel, the writer who was Alma's last husband.

The most enduring star of the film, however, proves to be Vienna itself. With authentic locations such as the Viennese Opera House and various squares in and around the city, the production design is a wonder. What a wonderful place Vienna in 1902 must have been, with Czech artists such as Kokoschka pouring in from rural places in the empire, and the cafes filled with pastry and conversation.

Costume designer Shuna Harwood ("Notting Hill") also deserves a nod. Many of the dresses worn by Wynter are authentic, relics that have been preserved down through the century, and the remainder are beautiful and striking.

The real Alma must have been some woman indeed.