Ayn Rand is an intriguing subject. Her life - her escape from Soviet Russia and integrating into American society, her ideology, her bizarre personality cult - is far more interesting than her novels. She receives passable treatment in Showtime's The Passion of Ayn Rand (2000), which casts Helen Mirren as Objectivism's founder.Passion draws on Barbara Branden's (Julie Delpy) memoir of Rand. Along with her husband Nathaniel Branden (Eric Stoltz), she meets Rand while in college and falls into her orbit in the early '50s. The Brandens become key members of The Collective, Rand's school of likeminded thinkers. Rand enters into a relationship with Nathaniel while writing her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. The Brandens soon realize that Rand believes her self-interested philosophy applies only to her.
Director Christopher Menaul faces the typical biopic hurdle, balancing Rand's personal and literary lives. The Brandens claim The Fountainhead changed their lives, but we see nothing of the novel; we see only fragments of Atlas Shrugged and some lectures on Objectivism. While I consider Rand's novels impenetrable, faux-Nietzschean sludge, it's worth considering why they have such broad, lasting appeal. Instead, Passion tastelessly intercuts Ayn and Nathaniel's trysts with her typing John Galt's speech.
Menaul is more interested in probing Rand's personal application. Rand's logic insists on pure self-interest, rejecting altruism and wearing a dollar sign pendant. She "logically" browbeats Barbara and her husband, Frank O'Connor (Peter Fonda) into accepting her affair with Nathaniel. But logic is a one-way street, as she turns on Nathaniel for pursuing a student (Sybil Temchen) and refuses Barbara's entreaties for help. Rand excommunicates followers for minor disagreements, demanding lockstep conformity with her whims.
Helen Mirren's faultless performance helps Passion along. Mirren makes Rand accessible with charm and a surprising reserve of wit, presenting her ego and intellect matter-of-factly. Eric Stoltz's earnest engagement proves a good match, though Julie Delpy is one-note bewildered. Peter Fonda (resembling William F. Buckley more than O'Connor) meekly paints and gardens while Rand holds court.
The Passion of Ayn Rand at least demonstrates the pitfalls of implementing high-flown philosophy. Today, many government officials, economists and teenaged libertarians swear by Rand's work as a societal blueprint. They should consider how Rand implemented her own ideals before inflicting them upon the rest of us.
