'Norman': EW review
In the eyes of the powerful men and women that he’s constantly badgering, Norman Oppenheimer is a small man. An invisible, inconsequential New York Jew with delusions of grandeur. He claims to be connected to the upper echelons of finance and politics, but his insistence on doing favors makes him come across as needy and slightly annoying. If you mention the name of a big-time CEO, philanthropist, or cabinet member, Norman will insist that he or she is a “close friend”-even if he’s never met them. He’ll do this as he places his hand on your arm in an overly familiar way. There’s a desperation to him. And, as impeccably played by Richard Gere, an air of deep, tragic sadness.
Once upon a time, Gere was of course one of the biggest stars and sex symbols on the silver screen. At age 67, he can now look in the rearview mirror and see two or three generations that have assumed that role since then. But instead of resting on past glories, Gere has been quietly turning in some of the strongest and subtlest performances of his long career recently. So much so that you might want to go back and watch his films from the 80s and see what you missed the first time around when you were too busy being seduced by his physicality. He’s a former leading man who’s aged into a first-rate character actor.
Written and directed by Joseph Cedar (2011’s wonderful Footnote), Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer is a pretty good movie featuring a very good turn from Gere. As the story opens, Norman attempts to ingratiate himself with a rising Israeli politician named Micha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi). Norman just wants a moment of his time, a split-second of connection to hand him his business card and be able to say that he knows him. He’s like a well-dressed, well-spoken version of an autograph-hungry fan waiting three-rows deep next to the red carpet at a movie premiere. He’s like Rupert Pupkin with a subscription to The Jerusalem Post. And he seems to exist solely for the opportunity to commune with power and add another name to his Rolodex. But something miraculous happens when he meets Eshel outside of an expensive clothing store. Eshel humors him, and even warms to him after Norman insists on buying him a $1200 pair of shoes as a gift. It’s a small price to pay to have a future star like Eshel in his debt.
It will turn out that Norman bet on the right horse. Three years later, Eshel has leapfrogged from low-level Knesset member to the Prime Minister’s office. And when Eshel returns to New York, he embraces Norman like a dear old friend. He’s not just pretending to be plugged-in anymore, Norman actually is. And everyone is kissing his hem to get Eshel’s ear. After a lifetime of being a fly buzzing around s-, he’s the s-. But Norman is too tragic a figure to not screw up his good fortune.
Cedar has created a classic cautionary tale in Norman, and Gere flawlessly turns his tragic hero into someone who’s sympathetic and human. But Cedar doesn’t seem to trust the depth and width of his story. What should have stayed a modest, small-scale character study balloons into an unbelievable and far-fetched whopper with too many soap-opera twists and hokey flourishes in the homestretch. While Norman the man only knows how to dream big, Norman the film would have been better served had it stayed small. Still, Gere soars. B
