You
could say Peter and Catharine Robb Whyte were the Wyeths of Banff. They were
definitely the first family of Canadian landscape painting. She originally
hailed from Concord, MA, but she took to Banff and the husband who brought her
there, like her WASPy, society family could hardly believe. Their outdoorsy
love story is the focus of Markus Rupprecht’s Drawing Home (trailer
here), which
opens tomorrow in New York.
Catharine
Robb was always closer to her father than her mother, but Edith Morse Robb
quite encouraged her relationship with John D. Rockefeller III. Yet, it was fellow
art student Peter Whyte who won her heart. He was rather at a disadvantage
living in the Canadian Rockies, but when she finally visited Banff, she fell for
him and the rugged countryside. Before too long, the It Happened One Night-style Jericho Wall curtain separating the couple
comes crashing down.
Lady
Edith just doesn’t get it, but they have the support of Whyte’s parents and his
mentor, naturalized German landscape painter, Carl Rungius. They are happy
together, until tragedy strikes the ski lodge operated by the Whyte Brothers in
1933. Frankly, their mathematician pal Kit Paley acted like a jerk, but Whyte
still takes his death hard.
Frankly,
the screenplay co-written by Rupprecht and Donna Logan short-changes Peter
Whyte in favor of his wife. They completely ignore his WWII service, taking him
on a steep decline from the Paley accident to his eventual death, interrupted
only by the brief redemption made possible by CRW.
Nevertheless,
Rupprecht manages to integrate the work of both painters reasonably well and he
fully capitalizes on the picturesque Banff landscape. Drawing also features a warm supporting turn from Rutger Hauer,
letting him show a side we rarely get to see, with his charismatic portrayal of
Rungius. Julie Lynn Mortensen and Juan Riedinger are relatively pleasant and
credibly down-to-earth as the Whytes, but neither really puts a distinctive
stamp on the film. Kate Mulgrew is also largely stuck playing a stereotypical
snobby mother-in-law, but Kristin Griffith brings some heart and energy to the
proceedings as Jean Caird, the Robb family nanny-housekeeper-busybody.
Cinematographer
Patrick McLaughlin, composer Ben Holiday, and the design team all contribute to
the film’s gauzily nostalgic vibe. The Whytes painted landscapes, but at times,
the late 1920s and early 1930s scenes suggest
the look of fellow Massachusetts resident Norman Rockwell’s work. It is
generally a nice film—sometimes too nice. Recommended for sentimental patrons of
nature art and conservation, Drawing Home
opens tomorrow (12/22) in New York, at the Cinema Village.
