CINEMA: JAUNTY RIDE

IN FIRST KNIGHT, NOBODY SINS, AND EVERYBODY'S TERRIBLY NICE

RICHARD GERE'S LANCELOT IS A cheeky existentialist. Julia Ormond's Guinevere is all up-to-date feminist spunk. Sean Connery's King Arthur is a leader for the Clinton era, well-meaning, essentially temporizing, as he impotently watches a great dream dwindle.

Camelot is, in spirit, more a modern gated community than a myth- enshrouded 6th century realm. And the great romance that was played out there--legend's Ur-Triangle--comes across in First Knight as not much more consequential than suburban adultery. Or, to be strictly accurate, adulterous yearnings. Guinevere and Lancelot never actually consummate their affair in this movie. A couple of kisses aside, they sin entirely...

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