EmmyWatch: Bill and Hillary Dominate ‘Special Relationship’

Pic from the NY Times

At first I thought that the HBO film, The Special Relationship, was going to be like Peter Morgan’s The Queen, where Tony Blair (played again by Michael Sheen) grinds against a world leader, this time Bill Clinton (a brilliant and unrecognizable Dennis Quaid). ¬†But because of the strength of Hope Davis’ performance as Hillary Clinton, at some point the title of the film becomes more clear – the “Special Relationship” really refers to Bill and Hillary much more so than it does Blair and Clinton.

Structurally, The Special Relationship is similar to The Queen in that they both monitor the main character’s refusal to give in to public pressure until they are forced to do so. ¬†And in both cases, these leaders had to deliver a bizarre, live mea culpa to their public. ¬†And all the while, there is Tony Blair apologizing for them until he can’t do it anymore – looking more and more foolish while doing so. ¬†Blair enjoys what their friendships do for his career, and he seems to bond with them in a genuine sense, but at some point, it all comes crashing down.

As an American and a supporter of Bill Clinton, I remain baffled that any of this became a legal affair, tried in courts with special prosecutors. ¬†This was a private matter between a husband and his long-suffering wife. ¬†It was none of our business except in the way that it affected how our President led this country. ¬†Of course, it affected and distracted him greatly, to the point where he almost couldn’t lead – we needed him to be focused on the job, not wasting precious time defending himself for having cheated on his wife.

The Special Relationship brought this all back up again. ¬†No one could understand why Hillary stayed with Bill Clinton until years later, when she became a senator and later, Secretary of State. ¬†Being Bill’s wife was a life-changing career move, just as it was with Elizabeth Edwards and Jackie Kennedy and Maria Shriver. ¬†It doesn’t help that Clinton admired John F. Kennedy — if he could cheat, and Jackie could look the other way, and he could still go down as one of our greatest leaders, what incentive does Clinton have to keep it in his pants?

The great crime here was Clinton’s refusal to come clean for so long. ¬†It is always the lying that hurts more than the act itself. ¬†Had he stepped forward and come clean would the public have let him get away with it? And how badly would that have hurt Hillary? ¬†Or how about he just stop with the sex already while he’s in the White House?.

Dennis Quaid and Hope Davis are exceptionally good as the Clintons. ¬†So much so that you forget entirely that you’re watching actors.

Monica Lewinsky hovers like a ghost in media clips, like Princess Diana does in The Queen. It is so much more powerful than having an actor play someone that notorious. ¬†The telefilm doesn’t pack the same punch as The Queen, but that’s because The Queen was a character much more sympathetic than Clinton, someone who brought all of the scandal upon himself.

I was surprised by my own reaction to The Special Relationship. ¬†I was perfectly content taking the Clintons’ side all these years. ¬†But in retrospect, and especially how it is depicted in this film, the fault lies squarely with Bubba, not because he should have stayed faithful to Hillary — that is not my business — but because he should have stayed faithful to the American public. ¬†We couldn’t afford to lose him.