Early in The Chaperone, you can see what appealed to Elizabeth McGovern about playing Norma, a frustrated woman from Wichita, Kan., society who escapes her comfortable but strained life by accompanying a teenager to New York City as her chaperone. It’s 1922, and the 16-year-old just happens to be Louise Brooks, on the cusp of silent movie stardom.
The film follows the journey of both women, and it’s most interested in how Norma’s uptight mores and Louise’s adventurousness clash and combine. Louise is heading to New York for a tryout with the modern Denishawn dance company (as she actually did); Norma (who’s fictional) wants to discover the identity of the birth parents who gave her up for adoption as a toddler.
The implication is that Louise learns vital life skills from Norma, while Norma grasps from Louise that her own happiness may require the loosening of her stiff morality. Her marriage is unhappy for reasons only gradually revealed, and when a kind Eastern European handyman (Géza Röhrig, Son of Saul) befriends her, you know what’s next.
McGovern is as captivating as always, and as Louise, Haley Lu Richardson (Five Feet Apart) is sweet, although without the haunting screen presence of the real Miss Brooks. Supporting roles are ably handled by Campbell Scott (the inconstant husband), Miranda Otto (dance legend Ruth St. Denis), Blythe Danner (a vivid cameo) and others.
The Chaperone was produced by PBS, adapted (from Laura Moriarty’s novel) by “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes and helmed by frequent “Downton” director Michael Engler. It has a sensibility of a classy TV movie rather than a more nuanced indie drama. Everything is exactly as it appears, and all conflicts can be neatly resolved. Fellowes’ screenplay has some genuinely poignant moments, but it’s not a deep dive into 1920s feminism, as McGovern may have hoped. Instead, it’s a good, diverting soap opera with really nice costumes.
Starts May 24 at the Fine Arts Theatre
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