Tootsie

Unmask The Voice.

Pollack has got his finest project out. A perfect balance of humor and comedy. Both illuminating and inspiring. Probably because it judges its own host, the protagonist, in the most subtle mature way possible. There is this one line that is enacted in its first stage by the protagonist, and then later that very same line by the antagonist. This is how balanced the world is. The director Sydney Pollack’s romance between the characters is his sharpest knife.

He cuts deep with supporting characters, like when Hoffmann when dressed as a woman is forced just after he is being proposed by being sung in front of his apartment. That scene that may draw in the laughs is so beautifully haunting as the kraken is released in that very stage after being teased in the entire film. And these subtle nuances where some director keeps inappropriately touching and controlling his lead actress, is done so brilliantly that without any such loud intentions, he fights for equal rights like no one.

If Dustin Hoffman through his body language attracts you heavily with his performance, Jessica Lange in her completely opposite cloak oozes warmth and somehow the film has managed to be balanced again. This brilliant never-taken-for-granted concept is buoyant as far as the gags are concerned, after a certain while, this transformation of Hoffmann is considered to be the apparatus of the scene that is actually set in a backdrop of something beyond valuable than it. The supporting cast like hilarious Bill Murray, incredibly moving Charles Durning and brilliant George Gaynes have definitely helped in creating this ultimate illusion. Just like the pleased people of the soap opera viewers, Tootsie- if I may call her that- deserves the fame and respect she and he gets.