Marian makes mild thespic waves as Dyesebel
By Nestor Torre
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:30:00 05/09/2008
MANILA, Philippines—At the end of the first week of “Dyesebel” on GMA-7, title role player, Marian Rivera, finally made her first appearance as the teen mermaid. Throughout the second week that’s just ended, she firmed up her portrayal, as the new teleserye focused on the developing romantic relationship between Dyesebel and her human lover, Fredo (Dingdong Dantes). As the second week progressed, therefore, we were able to size up Marian’s new TV characterization in greater detail:
Despite espousals to the contrary, it turned out that there really wasn’t that much difference between her depictions of Marimar before and Dyesebel now. Both characters are young, playful and loving, so it really wasn’t that much of a stretch for Marian to portray her new role.
Challenge
We do appreciate the difficulty of playing a mermaid—wearing a fishtail, swimming underwater, and spending so many hours shooting in the briny deep. On point of thespic challenge, however, Dyesebel isn’t all that big a deal.
This is borne out by the recent scene in which Dyesebel had to save Fredo from certain death after he was bitten by a poisonous sea snake. She was supposed to be gravely conflicted in this scene, because interacting with humans was strictly forbidden to mermaids. And yet, Marian’s performance in this sequence generally made light of that thespic conflict.
Playing more for “kilig factor” rather than emotional believability, Marian simpered and cooed as she embraced Fredo, despite many warnings that she was placing her own life in dire danger. Marian’s ditzy approach was fan-friendly, but belied her character’s allegedly conflicted feelings.
This became even more flawed in a succeeding scene, where Dyesebel was supposed to passionately defend her actuations when she was haled before the queen to answer for the “crime” of consorting with humans.
‘Heroic’
In this sequence, the heretofore playful and ditzy mermaid suddenly became serious and even “heroic” in her self-defense—a veritable St. Joan of Arc in a fishtail!
But, the thespic shift was spurious and superficial, at best, because Marian’s heart clearly wasn’t in her “impassioned” performance. For a portrayal to be good, greater involvement, consistency and emotional follow-through are required.
Some people will say that “Dyesebel” is “just” a TV series, so we really shouldn’t expect much thespic fealty from its cast members. They point out that TV acting has become both kuwela and fast, so we should take it for what it is: telegenic popcorn.
We submit, however, that this is taking the easy and even lazy way out, and that local viewers deserve better. They want to get involved in the stories the teleseryes are spinning, and for this to happen, those stories need to be believable, felt, and told and acted with sensitivity, conviction and empathy.
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