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I've always thought of Elizabeth Taylor as a play actress; she has always seemed to be going through the emotions like a high school student, very aware of what kinds of things she is supposed to be conveying. She does have a talent for anger and outrage, though, and she got to use this a lot in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" for which she got a lot of praise. I think she's about half-good in that picture. I think she let the extra weight she gained take over, and she gave a pretty lazy performance in it. Nevertheless, she is memorable in the picture, and she became typecast, I suspect, because a lot of the qualities in Martha were also in Taylor, and it became the way Liz went to middle-age. By 1971, she was probably getting pretty bored with acting. But in "X, Y and Zee," she gets lines that make her come alive, and she gets to have a great time. I don't think that her acting ability had necessarily improved: there is one scene where her Zee is supposed to be depressed, and Taylor throws it away. She's not at all believable when she's acting here, and it's as if she's marking time to get back to being that fun, rowdy broad again. If her acting hasn't necessarily improved, then it's obviously the script that she's responding to... And, along with Robert Altman's "Three Women", Edna O'Brien's screenplay for "X, Y and Zee" is my favorite. The lines come tumbling out of the characters. Whatever thoughts or feelings get expressed in this movie, each character is at their best when they shoot their lines through with sarcasm. There is a wonderful lack of earnestness in this picture. Even though the characters are suffering for most of the movie, they are way past showing pain. One of the movie's main accomplishments is that it has presented this somewhat melancholy story with an edgy spirit, and it shows the humor that can exist within sad people. Or better yet, it shows the humor and anger that comes out of people when they are sad. Each of the main characters has been fortified with their own wit, which in this case are their defense mechanisms - and the screenplay's strength makes the battle turn out to be who can be the most clever with their verbal tactics. I think this is a resounding accomplishment. The writing is way beyond clever, because the wit has subtext. Michael Caine and Susannah York give even, compelling performances that held my attention. And Edna O'Brien's screenplay is very astute not to deny these characters terrific humor aimed at Zee. But because their characters are tired and passive, their verbal defenses are also less useful to them: these two people just want to be left alone. Taylor's Zee is woman who is a combination of angry and bored, quite funny in itself, whose energy comes out in her deeply, deeply funny words. I couldn't get enough of her. The only time the movie doesn't work is when Zee becomes gloomy because her character would never do that. And Taylor obviously identifies with Zee: Taylor was getting older and was probably becoming a bit anxious about her indolent lifestyle. Zee goes to parties and shops and wears a feather in her hat and "loves snacking in between meals" and has all the time in the world to observe and judge others. Taylor's Zee is particularly adept at mocking and mimicking others. Zee says clever, funny things all throughout the movie. (Edna O'Brien has obviously done some time socializing with these people.) But when these "skills" are given a purpose, which Zee has probably never had, she can serve up her lines with all that developed capacity to perceive and judge - with the dormant passion of a tidalwave. And Taylor is intuitively faithful to Zee. Except for the one scene, she never stops being Zee. I know most people haven't even heard of this movie, and it's not easily available on video, but it deserves much for what it accomplishes... I don't know why it got such dismissive reviews when it came out. It's certainly better than "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" which it resembles in some ways. But that movie had qualities that were much easier to get at, and could share a stronger common denominator with its public. "X, Y and Zee" is interested in smaller revelations, but they are dramatized with unerring accuracy. If you liked "Virginia Woolf" then give "X, Y and Zee" a chance!
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