Minor Grievance

About seven years ago now, Roger Ebert reviewed Woody Allen's film Anything Else. He didn't object, as I recall, to anything in the film itself; he was struck by how it was marketed. Anything Else, in case you don't remember, starred Christina Ricci and Jason Biggs. Allen himself was prominently featured in the film, but not in its trailer. In fact the only mention of him was at the end of the trailer, with a card: "From Woody Allen." Wrote Ebert at the time: "It's as if they have the treasure of a Woody Allen movie and they're trying to package it for the "American Pie" crowd."

I bring this up because I noticed a few parallels between the marketing of that film and the marketing by NBC of tonight's episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. America was given a not-dissimilar treasure: a very, very rare U.S. television appearance by Isabelle Huppert, that majestic French actor, whose performance I am still coming down from. And although Huppert was seen in the spots leading up to the broadcast, the announcer never mentioned her. I can only surmise that someone or other at NBC deemed Huppert's name too difficult for the announcer to pronounce. (It's YUPPAIR, for the curious.) The announcer, I noticed, navigated Sharon Stone's name with considerable dexterity. By the way, Stone is a very, very welcome sight on television. What a state of affairs for an American teevee drama in 2010 to find room for Isabelle Huppert and Sharon Stone and be effective and compelling television.

Another thing--during tonight's telecast, NBC took pains to tell us that Monday night will see only the season finale of Law & Order. I don't know what's more distressing: the cancellation of perhaps the best drama on television after twenty years, or the fact that NBC can barely bring itself to tell you that it's over. Do you think a moment of silence would be appropriate?

AUTHOR'S NOTE 5/20/10 1:17PM EDT: This piece was written a a bit of a frenzy--fourteen hours' distance and reading a few reviews lead me to this conclusion, and I think even Huppert herself would agree: If you're looking for the subtlety that has made Huppert a household name with housewives from Paris to the Pyrenees and everywhere in between, Law & Order: SVU is not the place to start. The Piano Teacher , in stark contrast, is a far more stark and subtle piece.

This revision also corrects the phonetic pronounciation of Huppert's name.