The Business of Strangers [DVD] [2002]

Your tendency is to think the Julie and Paula are women at the opposite ends of the same road, but that is only partially true at best. For Julie the job has become everything: she is an "uberfrau," to quote Paula, who is divorced, childless, and drinks scotch just like a man. In contrast, Paula dismisses her work as "only a money job," declaring she is really a writer, collecting observations of the human condition as she makes a buck. Despite some rough spots, the two get along together pretty well, playing a quick mind game in the elevator with some businessmen, playing around in the pool during a swim, and chatting in the sauna. But then Nick Harris (Frederick Weller) shows up. He is an executive headhunter than Julie called in when she thought she was going to need a job. He ends up stuck overnight when all the flights get cancelled and he joins the two women. Julie thinks nothing of it, but Paula is very cold because she knows Nick, and when she tells Julie what Nick did one weekend in Boston, the move veers off towards a much darker direction.

Nick is just a pawn and not a player in this drama, mainly because nobody else can really fit comfortably onto the screen in any of the scenes between Julie and Paula. Clearly Paula is playing some sort of a game here, but exactly what sort, what the rules are, and what it all means is unclear. But the result is intriguing, from the time the two women start drinking double shots of the most expensive cognac at the hotel bar to the end of the film. Even if we question the actions of the characters, most specifically in terms of their motivations, the performances are compelling enough to keep us along for the ride.

Off the top of my head I cannot think of another film in which an older woman and a young woman go at it like this; the conventional Hollywood film is more likely to flip the genders rather than the ages of the two battling characters. I have to admit I was surprised to find the film was written and directed by Patrick Shettner, because that sort of undermines the idea that we are being offered insights into the psyche of the modern businesswoman. But that may explain as well as anything while the end of the film strikes such a discordant note with viewers. But you have to admit that few parts of this story take the conventional route and in the end the performances of Channing and Stiles, going after each other in ways I do not recall seeing before, is enough to justify watching the film. There are really no extras on this DVD, but that seems to make sense with "The Business of Strangers"; take this film at face value and make of it what you will.

This is the "business of strangers." And this is the story within the story. Paula is the diabolical kind of person who is dedicated to introducing people to themselves so that she can watch them twist, a privileged, under-achieving Ivy League girl with machinations. Julie is a community college workaholic who never had time for a family, or love, or self-discovery, a lonely woman whose life is a parade of sterile hotel rooms, anonymous strangers, alcohol and pills. Although the story drags in a little in spots, the overall effect is edgy and fascinating, and the contrast between the principals keeps us wondering who is going to come out on top.

The action really begins when Julie, in an expansive mood with some booze and her promotion to CEO, shows some interest in the girl she just fired for being late to a presentation. It's not clear what sort of interest that is. Julie responds as a spider coaxing a fly into the web, but it's not clear what she's up to. They go to the pool and play around, get on the treadmills at the gym and run. They go back to Julie's suite and drink some more.

At this point I'm afraid that the film will deteriorate into a politically correct cliché of some kind, or a lesbian wish-fulfillment debacle, without anything really happening. Enter (or actually re-enter) Nick Harris (Fred Weller) who, Paula has confided to Julie, raped her best friend when they were undergraduates in Boston. This excites Julie's loathing and so the two women play out an improvised and drunken revenge scenario that is a bit over the top, but psychologically correct.

After some intense emotional interaction, the film resolves surprisingly and rather neatly, allowing us to see that Paula has indeed spun out a tale whose moral might be, "watch out for young foxes." The scene in the airport emphasizes this, with Julie and Nick sheepishly sorting out last night's bizarre debauchery while trying to maintain their dignity, with Paula poised brazenly in plain sight wearing earphones, a smug silhouette in the distance.

Patrick Stettner wrote the script, which, judging from the series of stationary settings and the limited cast, I suspect was originally a stage play. He also directed in a business-like manner, getting a saucy and smirk-laden performance from Stiles, whose originality and talent is obvious, and a steady and believable one from veteran Channing. Incidentally, Channing is a Harvard graduate who is perhaps best known for her performance as Betty Rizzo in Grease (1978) playing a teenager when she was 32-years-old! Here she braves some close camera work that starkly reveals the 57-year-old actress beneath the makeup. Yet, as always, Stockard Channing pleases us.

But see this for Julia Stiles, a thoroughly professional player, whose arrogant, sneering, and edgy style add spice to, and partially disguise, her youthful mastery of the fine art of acting.