“A New Leaf,” Elaine May’s 1971 feature début, is one of the best romantic comedies ever made, tnyfrontrow writes. “The turmoil it spins around wealth is funny and absurd, and it also veers toward desperate, reckless tragedy.”
What people do for money and with it, what having money or losing it does to them, is the raw material for “A New Leaf,” the first feature by Elaine May, from 1971. The movie is one of the best romantic comedies ever made. The turmoil it spins around wealth is funny and absurd, and it also veers toward desperate, reckless tragedy. It is in the story’s grimmest and darkest turns that May locates the roots, even the essence, of rapturous romance.
Henrietta’s teeming fortune has enabled her single-minded enthusiasm for botany—she’s a passionate amateur in the field, and this takes up most of her time. While Henry’s money allows him to cultivate his exquisite tastes for fine art, clothing, wine, and cars—he’s less an aesthete than a sybarite who takes enormous pleasure in and comfort from the best of everything—Henrietta’s wealth insulates her from judgment and experience.
At the time of making “A New Leaf,” May was already a famous entertainer, part of a celebrated improv-comedy duo with Mike Nichols. The pair broke through in 1960, when their act went to Broadway; they played the 1962 Madison Square Garden party for President John F. Kennedy which is mainly remembered for Marilyn Monroe’s performance. At the height of their fame, they broke up the act—over creative differences involving a play she’d written and that he was going to star in.
But May’s psychological acuity and emotional audacity are even more radical than her comedic vision. “A New Leaf” hurtles, Bluebeard-like, toward the death of an innocent who’s pure of heart; this is the very essence of the love story. Henrietta truly loves Henry, at least as he presents himself to her. He defends her against a haughty hostess, treats her clumsiness as a non-issue, and puts her chaotic household in order .
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