The Magdalene Review

According to this article, from The Sydney Morning Herald’s website, The Da Vinci Code left the Cannes audience unimpressed:

The sound of no hands clapping

When, finally, the camera swept back to Hanks, gazing through the glass roof of the Louvre’s foyer to where he had deduced – how is uncertain, but never mind – that Mary Magdalene’s sarcophagus now lay, there was the deathly sound of no one clapping. A few people whistled – a sign of derision in Europe – but, in truth, The Da Vinci Code was not actually bad enough for anyone to enjoy tearing strips off it. Like Hanks, whose face seemed to be pursed in perplexity throughout the film, it just took itself way too seriously. If the novel was popcorn, Howard’s film was a badly overcooked goose.

Of course, this is the Cannes audience, notoriously more picky than the American public (and I say this not to criticize the Cannes audience…*cough*), so it could still go blockbuster here in the United States. I’ll be attending on Saturday, so for better or worse, I’ll post my own thoughts on the film sometime this weekend. In the meantime, there are several brief comments from critics, such as the one that follows, in the article above:

Mike Goodridge, Screen Daily “A pulpy page-turner in its original incarnation as a huge international bestseller has become a stodgy, grim thing in the exceedingly literal-minded film version of The Da Vinci Code.”

It doesn’t sound terribly promising, but on a positive note, it appears that the film contains slight adjustments to deflect criticisms from the Roman Catholic Church and Opus Dei. Little is said, apparently, of any conspiracy by the early Church against Mary Magdalene, and the Opus Dei angle has been softened by making the villains members of an offshoot sect. I’ll be interested in seeing what other compromises, if any, Howard and company have made to minimize the controversy. Of course, it sounds like the biggest controversy of all (and you know the one to which I’m referring) is still present. It wouldn’t really be the same story without it, now would it?