Drama is lacking in the Wizard of Lies
The show: The Wizard of Lies The moment: The failed suicide Financier Bernie Madoff (Robert De Niro) has confessed to perpetrating a Ponzi scheme that robbed investors of $65 billion. Ruth (Michelle Pfeiffer), his wife of 50 years, lays her jewelry on their bed.
“I’m going to give this to family and then kill myself,” she tells him. “With what?” he asks. “Something nice,” she says. “Maybe Ambien.”
They dump medications into a crystal dish. Cut to them lying in bed, dish empty, watching Meet Me in St. Louis. “Our last night on Earth will be you, me and Judy Garland,” Ruth says. “How romantic.” “Don’t start,” he replies. She falls asleep. He hallucinates. In the morning she shakes him awake. “Well, we’re still here,” she says.
I’ve watched this scene three times and I still don’t get it. Is it supposed to be ironic? It’s not in character for either one. There’s no emotion to it. Later, a real, heartbreaking suicide occurs, making this sequence even odder.
This scene’s failure is this telefilm’s failure: director Barry Levinson never figured out how to tell it. The Madoff story devastated thousands, but it isn’t inherently dramatic. We don’t see him do the crime. He turns himself in, so there’s no chase. He pleads guilty: no courtroom drama. He acted alone: no twists.
We do see him asked, repeatedly, about the toll it took on him. But like the man behind the curtain, De Niro is a blank; his steady, stony expression gives nothing away. All we see is that Madoff’s psyche is impenetrable. Where’s the drama in that? The Wizard of Lies has repeat airings on HBO Canada through June 10 and is available on demand. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop-culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.