Zandalee (1991) - Review

Zandalee is a romantic tragedy starring Judge Reinhold, Nicolas Cage, and Erika Anderson. Reinhold is a former poet, Thierry Martin, who has taken up work at his father's former company and abandoning his artistic pursuits. This is a point of contention with him and his wife Zandalee (Anderson), who notices the lack of passion Thierry has for his life and for her as he pursues maintaining his father's legacy. Johnny Collins (Cage), an artist and former colleague of Thierry, enters their life and begins ongoing romantic liaisons with Zandalee. The film focuses on these three as they move through the next seasons of their lives, dealing with the consequences of their circumstances.

Zandalee is a heartbreaking study into the lives of people who have lost their aim in life. Reinhold's Thierry is a conflicted soul who has taken up a profession that is contrary to his artistic nature, which drains his passions for the things that should mean the most to him - most importantly his wife. Anderson's Zandalee still has the passion for her husband, who continues to neglect her sexual desires, and is similarly tortured about how her circumstances have changed. This leads her into the arms of Thierry's friend Johnny, who since the moment he lays eyes on Zandalee has pursued her relentlessly. Johnny's lifestyle of continuous hedonism and debauchery acts as a rift between the married couple with no clear discernable goal for the remainder of his life. The tension between the three members of the love triangle carries through all of their interactions, not even just between each other. The progression of the characters through this tension and their realization that their lives are falling apart shows the raw skill that each actor brings to their role. The chemistry that Reinhold and Cage have is strong in their first and last reunion in a film since Fast Times at Ridgemont High a decade earlier. Reinhold's pent up anger in Thierry's newfound, buttoned-up persona and Cage's anarchic antagonistic role are perfect complements to one another as their conflict comes to a head. Likely due to the character driven nature of the story and the continuous ratcheting up of the tension, Zandalee feels much longer than its hour and thirty nine minute runtime, however that is not to its detriment. Even the brief appearances of Steve Buscemi as a ne'er-do-well on the streets of New Orleans leads to a moment where comedy meets tragedy, when his playfulness extends to the same sense of somberness that is pervasive throughout the movie. Because of the highly sexualized nature of the film, it is difficult to recommend to anyone and everyone. Zandalee is a gem nestled deep within Cage's filmography. It is not a normal occurrence for Cage to engage in a study of love, grief, and loss, and I wonder if he will enter this deep and fundamental aspect of the human condition later in his career.