4IN

Miss Clavel (Frances McDormand) and
Madeline (Hatty Jones) share a moment
in "Madeline."

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Michigan Department of Community Health

•

wife Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett,
skillfully weaves four of the six Made-
line books — Madeline, Madeline and
the Big Hat, Madeline's Rescue and
Madeline and the Gypsies — into a
new story set in the mid-1950s that is
faithful to the charm of the originals.
aso
Frances McDormand (an Academy
Award winner as Marge Gunderson in
Fargo and wife of its co-writer/co-pro-
ducer Joel Coen) is perfectly cast as
the loving disciplinarian Miss Clavel,
the headmistress of a school for girls
in Paris.
The French actress Chantal
Neuwirth plays Helene, the school's
cook, as a latter-day Hermoine Gin-
gold, and Nigel Hawthorne (The
Madness of King George) plays Lord
Covington, a member of the British
aristocracy who, after the death of his
wife, abruptly decides to sell her old
home in Paris which houses the
school.
It's up to the indomitable Madeline
(newcomer Harty Jones) to save the
day. A sort of Annie with a French
twist, Jones rises to the occasion.
French composer Michel Legrand
adds to the ambiance with his musical
score, but if you stick around through
the credits, you'll get to hear Carly
Simon's contribution to the project, an
original song called "Two Straight
Lines."
Simon's father, Richard Simon, a
co-founder of Simon and Shuster,
helped Ludwig Bemelmans secure his
first publishing deal with Madeline.
The author/illustrator's original paint-
ings from the book hung in Carly's
room when she was a child.
Parents should in no way hesitate
accompanying children to see this
delightful film version of Madeline. Its
cinematography re-creates some of the
book's most memorable images. And
what could be better than a quick trip
to Paris?

— Gail Zimmerman

7/10
1998

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