In 1988, the sadly short-lived career
of American writer-director Tina Rathbone began with her semi-autobiographical
feature film debut Zelly and Me, a film that has all but been forgotten
by the general public but remains a fascinatingly dark curiosity for being the very
first official acting role of film director David Lynch.Prominently starring Isabella Rossellini who
was good friends with Rathbone when she was dating Lynch at the time, the film
is a heavy Southern fried coming-of-age drama whose ability to evoke childhood
despair remains unparalleled. A quiet collection of memories from an
unhappy upbringing, Zelly and Me concerns 11-year-old girl Phoebe
(Alexandra Johnes) orphaned after an airplane crash claimed the lives of her
parents.Now living in Virginia under
the care of her wealthy but strict grandmother Co-Co (Glynis Johns), she is
subjugated to an ongoing series of psychological and emotional abuses in order
to “break her of her will”, even going as far as sending friends and loved ones
away who in her mind pose a threat to her carefully constructed co-existence.Phoebe’s only respite from her childhood
miseries comes in the form of Zelly (Isabella Rossellini), a governess who
proves to be a stronger and more loving maternal figure than Phoebe’s
sociopathic and domineering grandmother.
Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Co-starring Joe Morton (Terminator
2: Judgment Day) as one of Phoebe’s servants and friends as well as David
Lynch in a bit part as Zelly’s on and off boyfriend who takes an interest in
her plight to protect Phoebe from the suffocating matriarch.Primarily done to overcome his own fear of
acting outside of director cameos in Dune, Lynch’s involvement in the
film also secured a directing job for Tina Rathbone who took on episodes for
both the first and second seasons for Twin Peaks.For a first-time filmmaker, Rathbone’s film
is an impressive debut with startling technical merits to boot! The film was shot in soft light levels
but future The Abyss and Backdraft cinematographer Mikael Salomon,
evoking the rural settings and encroaching suffocation of the household, pretty
to look at but dead on the inside.Equally startling is the involvement of legendary Brian De Palma
composer Pino Donaggio who serves up a modest and affecting score.Some may say Donaggio might have been
overqualified for this task, but getting to hear him do something a bit quieter
and more leisurely paced was a revelation in and of itself. Acting-wise, Lynch fans will no doubt
be attracted to seeing the legendary surrealist onscreen though his performance
in this is serviceable at best, years before he learned a thing or two about
acting as well as comic timing.The real
stars of this piece are Alexandra Johnes who as a child actress is tasked with
portraying emotions children shouldn’t be abused into feeling.It’s a hard, painful performance to watch but
Johnes rises to the occasion and makes you fully empathize with her depressing
plight.Also strong is Isabella
Rossellini who is clearly the heroine of the film, caring deeply for Phoebe’s
welfare while also trying to stay on Co-Co’s good graces. Glynis Johns as Co-Co is currently the
oldest living actress from the original Golden Age of Hollywood, surviving
Olivia de Havilland and taking the top spot.Always known for being an upbeat presence in the movies, her performance
here as Co-Co will come as a shock to fans of hers.While not actually evil, sometimes too much
love can be smothering and damaging in and of itself and Johns all but
completely inhabits this frankly intolerable witch of a grandmother who will
fire you if you so much as undermine her “authority” in the slightest.It’s almost as hard to watch a fully grown
adult unhealthily manipulating her granddaughter as it is for us to see Phoebe
on the receiving end of it.
Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Still not available on DVD, blu-ray or
streaming platforms, Zelly and Me is a rare little undiscovered gem
boasting good performances, a compelling story, strong technical merits and being
the film that helped Lynch move from behind the camera to in front of it. For some this might be too draining of a
viewing experience to sit through and the film doesn’t have a formal plot so
much as it is trying to focus on one woman’s selfless actions to protect a child
from her irascible and arguably psychotic blood relative. It is a shame this didn’t catch on with
audiences and that Tina Rathbone’s career fizzled out not long after taking the
Twin Peaks directing gig cause what’s here was a solid little character
driven movie about the bonds of love and how to find inner peace in a world
that doesn’t play nice or fair.
