The Wisdom of Crocodiles [Immortality] **** (1998, Jude Law, Elina Löwensohn, Timothy Spall, Jack Davenport) – Classic Movie Review 381

Written by Paul Hoffman and directed by Po-Chih Leong, the deliciously sleek, creepy and romantic 1998 vampire thriller The Wisdom of Crocodiles [Immortality] is set in contemporary London. There the handsome scoundrel and seducer, Steven Grlscz (Jude Law), is on the prowl for the perfect woman of his nightmares, the one who hopefully will redeem him.

Of course, because he’s a vampire, all of his relationships are going to end tragically. But then, after a while, he meets Anne Labels (Elina Löwensohn), a lovely, strong-willed woman and a class above the rest. And it emerges that only one of them will survive this relationship.

The suitably seductive young Law is ideally cast – and at his most alluring. Löwensohn is just right as the woman that Law wants. These are two posh, full-blooded performances, helping the movie to be thoroughly enjoyable.

Meanwhile Timothy Spall is very entertaining in a gloriously quirky, hammy turn as Inspector Healey, the police inspector on the case. Well, we can’t just have vampires going around killing folk in London when they feel like it, can we?

It’s like Spall is playing in a different film entirely, an old British B-movie thriller. So his performance shouldn’t really work or gel with the rest. But somehow it does. And it adds greatly to the film’s oddness as well as entertainment value.

Jack Davenport also has a little bit to do as Spall’s fellow officer Sergeant Roche. And Colin Salmon as Martin, Kerry Fox as Maria Vaughan, Stuart Bowman, Anastasia Hille as Karen, Nick Lamont, Joseph O’Conor, Ashley Artus and Antony Cotton are also in the cast.

The title refers to a quote from Francis Bacon, who wrote about crocodiles who shed tears when they devour their prey.

Anthony Minghella’s wife, Hong Kong–born choreographer and dancer Carolyn Jane Choa (married 1985), produced the film and watched the dailies at home each evening with Minghella, who admired Jude Law’s performance and cast him the following year as Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999). He must have admired Jack Davenport too, because Law and Davenport both star in the Mr Ripley film, but they do not share any scenes.

The love poem in the movie is from the Bible – The Song of Solomon.

English writer Paul Hoffman (born 1953) wrote the script for The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998). Part of his 2000 first novel The Wisdom of Crocodiles is loosely based on the film. His second novel, a dark comedy entitled The Golden Age of Censorship (2007), is based on his experience as a film censor at the British Board of Film Classification.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 381
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