I never heard of The Balcony until someone recommended it highly to me, and perhaps it's understandable why it sits still in obscurity. The name Jean Genet is far from unfamiliar to theater-buffs, and in fact he was one of those real surrealist playwrights that stretched the boundaries of what was possible to portray on the theater. In the case of this play it's about manufacturing dreams, of control during wartime and the cynical belief that people can be dominated by desire and thought and deed, which maybe isn't far from the truth. It's a very strangely structured play, but its unpredictability is a major asset; we may predict that another fetish or some kind of subversive ideal will be projected, but the way its written about and acted about is the amazingly peculiar thing. Genet teases and prods human nature while going into something new we haven't seen before. It's a challenge I was glad to take.
This being said, I cannot recommend The Balcony as if it's one of the all-time great "lost" treasures or other. At best it made me very intrigued to see how it would be done on stage, perhaps (or just most likely) in an off-Broadway production. It's not without a sturdy cast, with Shelley Winters turning a good performance as the "madaam" of the fantasy brothel of sorts where outside there's chaos and war but inside she controls all (it's not a total knockout performance like say Lolita's mother, it's about right for the character though nothing really remarkable except in small bits), and Peter Falk as a personally wounded and disgruntled army person. Lee Grant is also a sight to see, as is Jeff Corey as a mixed-up Bishop, and Leonard Nimoy (yes, Spock) appears with a couple of minutes of real inspiration.
That isn't necessarily the problem though. If there's anything that could be pointed out it's just the way the film is shot and music is used and little important film-making things like that. Joseph Strick isn't a bad director, matter of fact he has a few moments of crazy inspiration that make it worthwhile (i.e. the three "guys" going around the rubble and addressing the "crowd" of stock-footage), but he doesn't bring any truly fantastic style to make this during-apocalyptic tale something haunting. Many shots are too static, and the music by whoever it is comes off as out of place or not matching well enough the surreal nature of the material. In fact, this might be one of the handful of projects I would be interested in seeing as a remake. It's prime material, daring and provoking in the best ways. It's just missing "something" to it, which may explain it's slightly obscure status.
This being said, I cannot recommend The Balcony as if it's one of the all-time great "lost" treasures or other. At best it made me very intrigued to see how it would be done on stage, perhaps (or just most likely) in an off-Broadway production. It's not without a sturdy cast, with Shelley Winters turning a good performance as the "madaam" of the fantasy brothel of sorts where outside there's chaos and war but inside she controls all (it's not a total knockout performance like say Lolita's mother, it's about right for the character though nothing really remarkable except in small bits), and Peter Falk as a personally wounded and disgruntled army person. Lee Grant is also a sight to see, as is Jeff Corey as a mixed-up Bishop, and Leonard Nimoy (yes, Spock) appears with a couple of minutes of real inspiration.
That isn't necessarily the problem though. If there's anything that could be pointed out it's just the way the film is shot and music is used and little important film-making things like that. Joseph Strick isn't a bad director, matter of fact he has a few moments of crazy inspiration that make it worthwhile (i.e. the three "guys" going around the rubble and addressing the "crowd" of stock-footage), but he doesn't bring any truly fantastic style to make this during-apocalyptic tale something haunting. Many shots are too static, and the music by whoever it is comes off as out of place or not matching well enough the surreal nature of the material. In fact, this might be one of the handful of projects I would be interested in seeing as a remake. It's prime material, daring and provoking in the best ways. It's just missing "something" to it, which may explain it's slightly obscure status.